2016 Speedway Grand Prix

The 2016 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 22nd season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 71st FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the sixteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Tai Woffinden was the defending champion from 2015.[1][2]

2016 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
DatesApril 30 — October 22
Events11
Riders15 permanents
1 wild card(s)
2 track reserves
Heats253 (in 11 events)
Winners
Champion USA Greg Hancock
Runner-up GBR Tai Woffinden
3rd place POL Bartosz Zmarzlik

Greg Hancock won the title, the fourth of his career. He won the series by nine points from 2015 champion Woffinden, who finished second ahead of debutant Bartosz Zmarzlik. Jason Doyle was leading the series with two rounds to go, but suffered an injury in his first heat during the penultimate round in Poland and was unable to complete the season. He eventually finished fifth, behind Australian compatriot and 2012 world champion Chris Holder, who won his home Grand Prix in Melbourne (his first SGP win since 2012) to move in fourth in the standings.

The title lifted Hancock to sixth on the all-time list, joining Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson (6 each), Ove Fundin (5) and Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen (4 each) as riders to win at least four individual world championships.

Qualification

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For the 2016 season there were 15 permanent riders, joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.

The top eight riders from the 2015 championship qualified automatically. Those riders were joined by the three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge.

The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2015 season.[3]

Qualified riders

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# Riders 2015 place GP Ch place Appearance Previous appearances in series
108   Tai Woffinden 1 5th 2010, 2011, 2013–2015
45   Greg Hancock 2 22nd 1995–2015
3   Nicki Pedersen 3 16th 2000, 2001–2015
88   Niels Kristian Iversen 4 6th 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2015
69   Jason Doyle 5 2nd 2015
55   Matej Žagar 6 6th 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2015
71   Maciej Janowski 7 2nd 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015
23   Chris Holder 8 7th 2010–2015
95   Bartosz Zmarzlik 18 1 1st 2012–2015
777   Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 19 2 1st 2015
37   Chris Harris 13 3 10th 2003, 2007–2012, 2013, 2014–2015
25   Peter Kildemand 9 5 1st 2012–2015
100   Andreas Jonsson 10 15th 2001, 2002–2015
33   Jarosław Hampel 16 11th 2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2015
85   Antonio Lindbäck 17 15 7th 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015

Qualified substitutes

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The following riders were nominated as substitutes:

# Riders 2015 place GP Ch place
66   Fredrik Lindgren 4
52   Michael Jepsen Jensen 11
21   Václav Milík 26 6

Fredrik Lindgren replaced the injured Jarosław Hampel for the first six rounds. Hampel then officially withdrew from the competition on 22 August 2016,[4] promoting Lindgren to a full-time place in the series.

Calendar

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The 2016 season consisted of 11 events, one less than the 2015 series.[5]

Round Date City and venue Winner Runner-up 3rd placed 4th placed Results
1 April 30   Krško , Slovenia
Matija Gubec Stadium
  Peter Kildemand   Jason Doyle   Chris Holder   Tai Woffinden results
2 May 14   Warsaw , Poland
Stadion Narodowy
  Tai Woffinden   Greg Hancock   Matej Žagar   Chris Holder results
3 June 11   Horsens , Denmark
CASA Arena
  Maciej Janowski   Chris Holder   Tai Woffinden   Nicki Pedersen results
4 June 25   Prague , Czech Republic
Markéta Stadium
  Jason Doyle   Greg Hancock   Chris Harris   Niels Kristian Iversen results
5 July 9   Cardiff , Great Britain
Principality Stadium
  Antonio Lindbäck   Tai Woffinden   Bartosz Zmarzlik   Greg Hancock results
6 August 14   Målilla , Sweden
G&B Stadium
  Greg Hancock   Jason Doyle   Piotr Pawlicki Jr.   Chris Holder results
7 August 27   Gorzów , Poland
Edward Jancarz Stadium
  Jason Doyle   Tai Woffinden   Chris Holder   Bartosz Zmarzlik results
8 September 10   Teterow , Germany
Bergring Arena
  Jason Doyle   Bartosz Zmarzlik   Greg Hancock   Niels Kristian Iversen results
9 September 24   Stockholm , Sweden
Friends Arena
  Jason Doyle   Chris Holder   Fredrik Lindgren   Matej Žagar results
10 October 1   Toruń , Poland
Rose Motoarena
  Niels Kristian Iversen   Greg Hancock   Bartosz Zmarzlik   Matej Žagar results
11 October 22   Melbourne , Australia
Etihad Stadium
  Chris Holder   Tai Woffinden   Bartosz Zmarzlik   Antonio Lindbäck results

Final Classification

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[6]

Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
Full-time Grand Prix rider
Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
Pos. Rider Points SVN
 
POL
 
DEN
 
CZE
 
GBR
 
SWE
 
PL2
 
GER
 
SCA
 
PL3
 
AUS
 
    (45) Greg Hancock (C) 139 10 14 14 18 10 17 11 15 9 16 5
    (108) Tai Woffinden 130 10 14 15 9 15 8 15 10 11 8 15
    (95) Bartosz Zmarzlik 128 8 10 7 13 13 10 14 13 12 13 15
4   (23) Chris Holder 126 14 12 13 5 6 12 15 8 13 11 17
5   (69) Jason Doyle 123 13 5 7 17 12 17 16 17 19 0
6   (777) Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 99 8 4 5 6 14 13 10 11 10 10 8
7   (85) Antonio Lindbäck 93 10 10 10 5 18 7 4 6 4 5 14
8   (88) Niels Kristian Iversen 91 8 4 7 11 3 8 5 11 7 15 12
9   (71) Maciej Janowski 90 10 10 16 5 11 12 6 2 8 5 5
10   (55) Matej Žagar 90 4 14 8 5 8 3 4 3 15 15 11
11   (66) Fredrik Lindgren 88 7 12 2 11 2 8 11 6 14 9 6
12   (25) Peter Kildemand 68 15 6 7 6 4 9 3 6 6 2 4
13   (3) Nicki Pedersen 62 10 4 10 8 5 6 12 7
14   (100) Andreas Jonsson 53 6 8 8 6 9 2 0 7 7
15   (37) Chris Harris 40 3 3 4 10 1 2 4 6 0 3 4
16   (52) Michael Jepsen Jensen 31 7 4 10 10
17   (16) Patryk Dudek 8 8
17   (16) Martin Smolinski 8 8
17   (16) Paweł Przedpełski 8 8
20   (16) Danny King 7 7
20   (16) Krzysztof Kasprzak 7 7
22   (16) Anders Thomsen 5 5
22   (17) Kim Nilsson 5 5
24   (16) Peter Ljung 4 4
25   (16) Václav Milík Jr. 3 3
26   (17) Tobias Kroner 2 2
26   (16) Sam Masters 2 2
26   (17) Brady Kurtz 2 2
26   (19) Jack Holder 2 2
26   (17) Nick Škorja 2 1 1
30   (16) Denis Štojs 1 1
30   (17) Daniel Kaczmarek 1 1
30   (16) Jacob Thorssell 1 1
30   (17) Kacper Woryna 1 1
35   (18) Matic Ivačič 0 0
35   (18) Oskar Bober 0 0
35   (18) Max Fricke 0 0
Pos. Rider Points SVN
 
POL
 
DEN
 
CZE
 
GBR
 
SWE
 
PL2
 
GER
 
SCA
 
PL3
 
AUS
 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "2016 SGP Wildcards". SGP.
  4. ^ "Hampel withdraws from SGP 2016". SGP.
  5. ^ "2016 FIM Speedway World Championship calendar". SGP.
  6. ^ "2016 FIM Speedway World Championship standings". SGP.
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