2001 Speedway Grand Prix
# 2001 Speedway Grand Prix

The 2001 Speedway Grand Prix was the 56th edition of the official World Championship and the seventh season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and is used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

## Event format

The system first used in 1998 continued to be adopted with 24 riders, divided into two classes. The eight best would be directly qualified for the "Main Event", while the sixteen others would be knocked out if they finished out of the top two in 4-man heats on two occasions – while they would go through if they finished inside the top two on two occasions. This resulted in 10 heats, where eight proceeded to the Main Event, where exactly the same system was applied to give eight riders to a semi-final.

The semi-finals were then two heats of four, where the top two qualified for a final and the last two going towards the consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th to 8th scoring 15, 14, 12 and 10-point, and after that 8, 8, 7, 7, etc. Places after 8th place were awarded according to the time a rider was knocked out and, secondly, according to position in the last heat he rode in.

## Qualification

The 2001 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.

Joe Screen had also qualified as a permanent rider for the 2001 season however as a result of injury he did not take part in any Grand Prix. He was replaced by first reserve, Henrik Gustafsson.

## Calendar

| Round | Date | City and venue | Winner | Runner-up | 3rd placed | 4th placed | Results |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | May 5 | Berlin , Germany F. L. Jahn Stadium | Tomasz Gollob | Henrik Gustafsson | Nicki Pedersen | Tony Rickardsson | results |
| 2 | June 9 | Cardiff , Great Britain Millennium Stadium | Tony Rickardsson | Jason Crump | Tomasz Gollob | Niklas Klingberg | results |
| 3 | July 28 | Vojens , Denmark Speedway Center | Tony Rickardsson | Jason Crump | Leigh Adams | Tomasz Gollob | results |
| 4 | August 18 | Prague , Czech Republic Markéta Stadium | Billy Hamill | Tony Rickardsson | Jason Crump | Tomasz Gollob | results |
| 5 | September 8 | Bydgoszcz , Poland Polonia Stadium | Jason Crump | Tony Rickardsson | Mikael Karlsson | Billy Hamill | results |
| 6 | September 29 | Stockholm , Sweden Stockholms Stadion | Jason Crump | Mikael Karlsson | Ryan Sullivan | Mark Loram | 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 | GER | GBR | DEN | CZE | POL | SWE |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | (3) Tony Rickardsson | 121 | 16 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
| | (4) Jason Crump | 113 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 25 | 25 |
| | (7) Tomasz Gollob | 89 | 25 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 6 |
| 4 | (9) Ryan Sullivan | 80 | 10 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 14 | 18 |
| 5 | (6) Leigh Adams | 69 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 14 |
| 6 | (2) Billy Hamill | 61 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 16 | 8 |
| 7 | (15) Mikael Karlsson | 59 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 18 | 20 |
| 8 | (8) Todd Wiltshire | 56 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | (1) Mark Loram | 54 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 16 |
| 10 | (21) Niklas Klingberg | 54 | 4 | 16 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| 11 | (13) Nicki Pedersen | 52 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| 12 | (12) Carl Stonehewer | 46 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 12 |
| 13 | (5) Greg Hancock | 43 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 10 |
| 14 | (14) Rune Holta | 41 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 5 |
| 15 | (11) Peter Karlsson | 39 | 15 | – | 8 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 16 | (26) Grzegorz Walasek | 34 | – | 10 | 6 | 14 | 4 | – |
| 17 | (25) Henrik Gustafsson | 33 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 | (19) Brian Andersen | 23 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | (22) Matej Ferjan | 21 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 20 | (16) Piotr Protasiewicz | 20 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 | (17) Jimmy Nilsen | 20 | 1 | 12 | 7 | – | – | – |
| 22 | (20) Andy Smith | 12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 23 | (23) (27) Antonín Kasper Jr. | 11 | – | – | – | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| 24 | (24) Bohumil Brhel | 7 | – | – | – | 7 | – | – |
| 25 | (24) Jarosław Hampel | 7 | – | – | – | – | 7 | – |
| 26 | (24) Andreas Jonsson | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | 7 |
| 27 | (10) Chris Louis | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| 28 | (23) Robert Barth | 6 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 29 | (23) Hans Clausen | 6 | – | – | 6 | – | – | – |
| 30 | (23) Krzysztof Cegielski | 5 | – | – | – | – | 5 | – |
| 31 | (23) Martin Dugard | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | – |
| 32 | (23) Stefan Andersson | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| 33 | (24) Scott Nicholls | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | – |
| 34 | (24) Jesper B. Jensen | 3 | – | – | 3 | – | – | – |
| 35 | (24) Mirko Wolter | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Rider(s) not classified |||||||||
| | (18) Joe Screen | — | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | GER | GBR | DEN | CZE | POL | SWE |
