1996 Speedway Grand Prix
2nd season of the Speedway Grand Prix
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The 1996 Speedway Grand Prix was the 51st edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3] It was the second season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and was used to determine the Speedway World Champion.
| 1996 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | May 18 - September 21 |
| Events | 6 |
| Cities | 6 |
| Countries | 6 |
| Riders | 17 permanents 1 wild card(s) |
| Heats | 144 (in 6 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion |  USA Billy Hamill |
| Runner-up |  DEN Hans Nielsen |
| 3rd place | USA Greg Hancock |
The world title was won by Billy Hamill; it was his first and only World Champion title.[4][5] Defending champion Hans Nielsen was set to win his fifth world crown with a nine-point lead going into the last of the six events at Vojens. However Hamill won the event gaining 25 points and Nielsen only managed 14 points leaving the Dane two points behind the American in the final standings.[6]
Event format
During 1996 the initial SGP scoring system used in 1995 remained in place. Each rider raced every other in the meeting with the top 4 qualifying for a final - the points for all other riders determined their finishing position in the meeting and therefore their championship Grand Prix points. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with the remainder scoring 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Qualification for Grand Prix
The 1996 season had 17 permanent riders and one wild card at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
Calendar
| Round | Date | City and venue | Winner | Runner-up | 3rd placed | 4th placed | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 18 |  Wrocław , Poland Olympic Stadium |
Tommy Knudsen |
 Tony Rickardsson |
Hans Nielsen |
Billy Hamill |
results |
| 2 | June 14 |  Lonigo , Italy Santa Marina Stadium |
Hans Nielsen |
Billy Hamill |
Tony Rickardsson |
Tommy Knudsen |
results |
| 3 | July 6 |  Pocking , Germany Rottalstadion |
Hans Nielsen |
Peter Karlsson |
Henrik Gustafsson |
Tony Rickardsson |
results |
| 4 | August 10 | Linköping , Sweden Motorstadium |
Billy Hamill |
Henrik Gustafsson |
Tomasz Gollob |
Greg Hancock |
results |
| 5 | August 31 |  London , Great Britain London Stadium |
 Jason Crump |
Hans Nielsen |
Billy Hamill |
Greg Hancock |
results |
| 6 | September 21 | Vojens , Denmark Speedway Center |
Billy Hamill |
Mark Loram |
Greg Hancock |
Sam Ermolenko |
results |
Final standings
| Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series |
| Full-time Grand Prix rider |
| Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL | ITA | GER | SWE | GBR | DEN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
(5) Billy Hamill
|
113 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 25 | 18 | 25 |
 |
(1) Hans Nielsen
|
111 | 18 | 25 | 25 | 9 | 20 | 14 |
 |
(4) Greg Hancock
|
88 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 18 |
| 4 | (2) Tony Rickardsson
|
86 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 7 | 11 |
| 5 | (8) Henrik Gustafsson
|
80 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 20 | 11 | 13 |
| 6 | (12) Peter Karlsson
|
62 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 12 |
| 7 | (6) Mark Loram
|
58 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 20 |
| 8 | (7) Chris Louis
|
54 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 9 |
| 9 | (3) Sam Ermolenko
|
52 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 16 |
| 10 | (15) Jason Crump
|
45 | 1 | ns | 7 | 6 | 25 | 6 |
| 11 | (11) Tommy Knudsen
|
44 | 25 | 16 | – | – | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | (16) (19) Tomasz Gollob
|
43 | 11 | – | ns | 18 | 14 | ns |
| 13 | (13) Joe Screen
|
38 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 7 |
| 14 | (17) Craig Boyce
|
30 | ns | 12 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 15 | (9) Leigh Adams
|
28 | 2 | ns | 8 | 11 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 | (14) Gary Havelock
|
27 | 13 | 14 | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | (18) Andy Smith
|
19 | ns | 11 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ns |
| 18 | (10) Marvyn Cox
|
15 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1 | ns | 1 |
| 19 | (16) Gerd Riss
|
12 | – | – | 12 | – | – | – |
| 20 | (16) Stefano Alfonso
|
6 | – | 6 | – | – | – | – |
| 21 | (16) Piotr Protasiewicz
|
3 | – | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| Rider(s) not classified | ||||||||
| (20) Jan Stæchmann
|
— | – | – | – | ns | ns | – | |
| (21) Mikael Karlsson
|
— | – | – | – | ns | – | – | |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL | ITA | GER | SWE | GBR | DEN |