2020 Speedway Grand Prix
| 2020 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | 28 August - 3 October |
| Events | 8 |
| Cities | 4 |
| Countries | 2 |
| Riders | 15 permanents 1 wild card(s) 2 track reserves |
| Heats | 184 (in 8 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion | File:Flag of Poland.svg POL Bartosz Zmarzlik |
| Runner-up | File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg GBR Tai Woffinden |
| 3rd place | File:Flag of Sweden.svg SWE Fredrik Lindgren |
The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 26th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 75th FIM Speedway World Championship.[1][2] It was the 20th series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company
A new points system was introduced with overall positions deciding the number of championship points a rider scored from a Grand Prix (GP), and points scored in each individual heat used to determine a rider's progress in a GP.
The series was dominated by Polish venues with six of the eight races held in Poland.[3] Bartosz Zmarzlik was the defending champion, having won the 2019 Speedway Grand Prix series, and he successfully retained his title in 2020 by winning four of the eight rounds. Former three-time champion Tai Woffinden finished second after winning a run-off with Fredrik Lindgren. Maciej Janowski, Leon Madsen and Jason Doyle completed the top six, thus earning places in the 2021 series.
Qualification
[edit | edit source]For the 2020 season there were 15 permanent riders, who were joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.
The top eight riders from the 2019 championship qualified automatically.[4] These 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 2019 season.[5]
Qualified riders
[edit | edit source]| # | Riders | 2019 place | GP Ch place | Appearance | Previous appearances in series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95 | Poland Bartosz Zmarzlik | 1 | — | 5th | 2012–2015, 2016–2019 |
| 30 | Denmark Leon Madsen | 2 | — | 2nd | 2013, 2019 |
| 89 | Russia Emil Sayfutdinov | 3 | — | 9th | 2009–2013, 2017–2019 |
| 66 | Sweden Fredrik Lindgren | 4 | — | 11th | 2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2019 |
| 54 | Slovakia Martin Vaculík | 5 | 4 | 5th | 2012, 2013, 2017–2019 |
| 71 | Poland Maciej Janowski | 6 | — | 6th | 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015–2019 |
| 69 | Australia Jason Doyle | 7 | — | 6th | 2015–2019 |
| 692 | Poland Patryk Dudek | 8 | — | 4th | 2016, 2017–2019 |
| 55 | Slovenia Matej Žagar | 9 | 1 | 10th | 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2019 |
| 88 | Denmark Niels-Kristian Iversen | 10 | 2 | 9th | 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2017, 2018, 2019 |
| 46 | Australia Max Fricke | 16 | 3 | 1st | 2016-2017, 2019 |
| 222 | Russia Artem Laguta | 11 | — | 4th | 2011, 2018–2019 |
| 85 | Sweden Antonio Lindbäck | 12 | — | 10th | 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015, 2016–2017, 2019 |
| 108 | United Kingdom Tai Woffinden | 13 | — | 9th | 2010, 2011, 2013–2019 |
| 155 | Denmark Mikkel Michelsen• | 17 | 14 | 1st | 2015, 2018–2019 |
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•Michelsen was handed a spot after initial wildcard pick Greg Hancock announced his retirement from the sport and first reserve Martin Smolinski withdrew due to injury.[6]
Qualified substitutes
[edit | edit source]The following riders were nominated as substitutes:
| # | Riders | 2019 place | GP Ch place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 115 | Poland Bartosz Smektała | 18 | — |
| 105 | Denmark Anders Thomsen | — | 5 |
| 20 | Sweden Pontus Aspgren | — | 6 |
| 96 | France Dimitri Bergé | — | — |
Calendar
[edit | edit source]The 2020 season originally consisted of 10 events, the same number as in 2019.[7] The Slovenian round had been replaced by a new round in Russia. The British Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be held on 18 July, but was cancelled on 1 June. The first round in Warsaw was postponed to 28 August, the Czech Grand Prix was postponed to 19 September and the German Grand Prix was postponed to an unknown date, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rounds in Hallstavik and Målilla were cancelled on 18 June.[8] On 29 July a final revised calendar was published by the organisers of the series, with a total of 8 rounds; 6 in Poland and 2 in the Czech Republic.
Final Classification
[edit | edit source]| Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series |
| Full-time Grand Prix rider |
| Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL Poland |
PL2 Poland |
PL3 Poland |
PL4 Poland |
CZE Czech Republic |
CZE Czech Republic |
PL5 Poland |
PL6 Poland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Poland (95) Bartosz Zmarzlik (C) | 133 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 14 | 20 |
| Silver | United Kingdom (108) Tai Woffinden | 117 | 14 | 18 | 11 | 10 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 12 |
| Bronze | Sweden (66) Fredrik Lindgren | 117 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 14 |
| 4 | Poland (71) Maciej Janowski | 107 | 18 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 18 | 18 |
| 5 | Denmark (30) Leon Madsen | 89 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 |
| 6 | Australia (69) Jason Doyle | 87 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 16 | 7 | 11 |
| 7 | Russia (222) Artem Laguta | 84 | 20 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
| 8 | Russia (89) Emil Sayfutdinov | 81 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 9 |
| 9 | Slovakia (54) Martin Vaculík | 78 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |
| 10 | Australia (46) Max Fricke | 64 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 20 | 4 |
| 11 | Slovenia (55) Matej Žagar | 46 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| 12 | Poland (692) Patryk Dudek | 39 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| 13 | Denmark (88) Niels-Kristian Iversen | 32 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| " | Denmark (155) Mikkel Michelsen | 32 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 15 | Sweden (85) Antonio Lindbäck | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 16 | Poland (16) Gleb Chugunov | 16 | 7 | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Australia (16) Jack Holder | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 7 |
| 18 | Denmark (16) Anders Thomsen | 10 | – | – | 3 | 7 | – | – | – | – |
| 19 | Czech Republic (17) Eduard Krčmář | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | – | – |
| " | Czech Republic (16) Václav Milík | 1 | – | – | – | – | 0 | 1 | – | – |
| 21 | Poland (17) Rafał Karczmarz | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| " | Poland (18) Wiktor Jasiński | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| " | Poland (18) Przemysław Liszka | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| " | Poland (17) Michał Curzytek | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| " | Czech Republic (18) Jan Kvěch | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | – | – | – |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL Poland |
PL2 Poland |
PL3 Poland |
PL4 Poland |
CZE Czech Republic |
CZE Czech Republic |
PL5 Poland |
PL6 Poland |
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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