Late rally by Kasprzak in Ullevi (From Bournemouth Echo)

Late rally by Kasprzak in Ullevi

11:22pm Saturday 24th May 2008 in

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KRZYSZTOF Kasprzak continued his poor run in this year's World Championship when he picked up only five points in the Swedish Grand Prix at Gothenburg tonight.

The Pirates star was well off the pace on an enormous 416 metres track inside the Ullevi Stadium as he failed to pick up any points in his opening three rides.

But, with a semi-final place already out of reach, Kasprzak bounced back well late in the meeting to get five points from his remaining two outings.

The Pole is now equal 14th in the overall standings with 14 points after three of 11 rounds.

Surprise packet Freddie Lindgren, who had reeled off six straight victories before the climax in front of a 17,658 crowd, won the GP with 22 points despite not finishing first in the final.

He was second behind Rune Holta in that race.

But the Norwegian, who burst from last to first to triumph in heat 23, had the consolation of qualifying for the $200,000 Super Prix race-off at Gelsenkirchen after the German GP in October when the winner will pocket $120,000 (about £60,000).

Holta finished third overall in Gothenburg on 14 series points, with reigning champion Nicki Pedersen second with 16.

Pedersen also leads the series with 49 points, 10 ahead of Tomasz Gollob.

At least Kasprzak, who beat Pedersen by 30 metres in his last ride, kept out of trouble during a meeting controversially staged on a rutty, bumpy, track that caused almost half the field to crash heavily.

Hans Andersen, Greg Hancock, Scott Nicholls, Lukas Dryml and Niels-Kristian Iversen, who was forced to withdraw after two rides with a suspected dislocated shoulder, all suffered bad falls.

The worst, however, involved Gollob and Andreas Jonsson, who could not line up in the semi-final after a heat 19 collision between the two riders.

The Swede, who fell off his bike and hit the safety fence hard while chasing Gollob down one of the straights, sustained suspected lower back muscle damage and had to pull out of the semi-finals.

Pirates skipper Bjarne Pedersen sat out his second successive GP round with a broken wrist injury.

The Dane, who is expected to make his Poole return at home to Peterborough on June 4, should be able to make a World Championship comeback in Copenhagen on June 14.

Inactive Bjarne fell to 19th in the overall standings, 24 points adrift of a top-eight automatic re-qualification place for next year's series.

Former Great Britain boss Neil Middleditch was back in the GP mix again after teaming up with Nicholls.

Poole's team manager, who relinquished the national post earlier this year, was in the Eastbourne rider's camp.

The many falls, and constant re-grading of the temporary track late in the meeting, meant it took four hours 10 minutes to get through the event.

Finishing at 11.10pm Swedish time, it is believed to be the longest running GP round since the competition began in 1995.

Swedish Grand Prix, Gothenburg Qualifying heats: Fredrik Lindgren (3-3-3-3-3) 15, Nicki Pedersen (2-1-3-3-2) 11, Jason Crump (3-3-1-2-1) 10, Rune Holta (3-1-2-0-3) 9, Tomasz Gollob (0-2-3-fell exc-3) 8, Andreas Jonsson (2-2-1-3-fell exc) 8, Leigh Adams (2-1-2-2-1) 8, Hans Andersen (1-3-3-fell-0) 7, Jonas Davidsson (ret-3-1-1-2) 7, Scott Nicholls (1-2-2-fell exc-2) 7, Greg Hancock (3-0-0-3-fell exc) 6, Krzysztof Kasprzak (0-0-0-2-3) 5, Lubos Tomicek (0-2-0-1-2) 5, Chris Harris (1-1-2-0-1) 5, Lukas Dryml (1-0-1-1-fell exc) 3, Niels-Kristian Iversen (2-fell exc-0-ns-ns) 2. Reserves: Billy Forsberg (2) 2, Sebastian Alden (0-0) 0.

Referee: Tony Steele.

Ht 1: Crump, Jonsson, Nicholls, Kasprzak.

Ht 2: Holta, N Pedersen, Andersen, Gollob.

Ht 3: Hancock, Iversen, Dryml, Davidsson (retired).

Ht 4: Lindgren, Adams, Harris. Tomicek.

Ht 5: (re-run) Crump, Tomicek, Holta, Iversen (fell excluded).

Ht 6: Davidsson, Gollob, Harris, Kasprzak.

Ht 7: Lindgren, Jonsson, N Pedersen, Hancock.

Ht 8: Andersen, Nicholls, Adams, Dryml.

Ht 9: Gollob, Adams, Crump, Hancock.

Ht 10: Lindgren, Holta, Dryml, Kasprzak.

Ht 11: Andersen, Harris, Jonsson, Alden, Iversen (non-starter).

Ht 12: N Pedersen, Nicholls, Davidsson, Tomicek.

Ht 13: (re-run) N Pedersen, Crump, Dryml, Harris.

Ht 15: Jonsson, Adams, Davidsson, Holta.

Ht 16: (2nd re-run) Lindgren, Forsberg, Nicholls (fell excluded), Gollob (fell excluded), Iversen (non-starter).

Ht 17: Lindgren, Davidsson, Crump, Andersen.

Ht 18: Kasprzak, N Pedersen, Adams, Alden.

Ht 19: (2nd re-run) Gollob, Tomicek, Jonsson (fell excluded), Dryml (fell excluded).

Ht 20: (re-run) Holta, Nicholls, Harris, Hancock (fell excluded).

Semi-finals Ht 21: Lindgren, Holta, Adams, Jonsson (non-starter).

Ht 22: N Pedersen, Crump, Andersen, Gollob.

Final Ht 23: Holta, Lindgren, N Pedersen, Crump.

Grand Prix points: (after three rounds of 11) 1 N Pedersen 49, 2 Gollob 39 pts, 3 Lindgren 36, 4 Hancock 34, 5 Adams 34, 6 Crump 30, 7 Jonsson 29, 8 Andersen 28, 9 Holta 26, 10 Iversen 20, 11 Harris 17, 12 Nicholls 16, 13 Hampel 16, =14 Dryml 14, =14 Kasprzak 14, 16 Tomicek 8, =17 Davidsson 7, =17 M Zagar 7, 19 B Pedersen 4. Wild Card rider.