2014 Speedway Grand Prix

2014 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
Dates	5 April – 11 October
Events	12
Riders	15 permanents 1 wild card(s) 2 track reserves
Heats	276 (in 12 events)
Winners
Champion	USA Greg Hancock
Runner-up	POL Krzysztof Kasprzak
3rd place	DEN Nicki Pedersen
← 2013 Speedway Grand Prix 2015 →

The 2014 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 69th edition of the official World Championship^[1][2] and the 20th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, deciding the FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the fourteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Tai Woffinden was the defending champion from 2013.

Greg Hancock won his third world title, after taking top-five placings in all but one race he contested, including a victory at the British round, in Cardiff. Hancock won the title by eight points ahead of Krzysztof Kasprzak, who was the season's most frequent winner, with three victories. Third place in the championship was decided in a run-off at the final round of the season at Torún in Poland. Three-time world champion Nicki Pedersen and defending champion Woffinden – a winner in back-to-back events in Prague and Målilla, Sweden – finished tied on points, but Pedersen clinched the position after beating Woffinden in the run-off.

Aside from Hancock, Kasprzak and Woffinden, six other riders won rounds during the season. Martin Smolinski was the winner of the opening race in Auckland; it was his first victory in the series. Like Smolinski, Slovenia's Matej Žagar was a first-time winner in the Finnish round at Tampere, en route to a fifth-place finish in the championship. Niels Kristian Iversen and Jarosław Hampel, who finished third and second behind Woffinden in 2013, each won races; Iversen won in Copenhagen while Hampel triumphed at Stockholm. Other winners were Andreas Jonsson in Vojens and Bartosz Zmarzlik, who won on a wildcard appearance, on home soil, at the Edward Jancarz Stadium.

Darcy Ward failed a pre-meeting alcohol breath test before the Latvian Grand Prix and received an immediate ban.^[3]

For the 2014 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 2013 championship qualified automatically. In March 2014, before the start of the season, Emil Sayfutdinov – who finished sixth in 2013 – elected not to compete in 2014 series, because he has failed to recover from serious injuries sustained the previous season. He was replaced by second substitute Troy Batchelor.^[4] Those riders were joined by three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge. Since the winner of the Grand Prix Challenge, Niels Kristian Iversen, had already qualified following his third position in the 2013 championship, fourth-placed Martin Smolinski qualified.

The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2013 season.^[5] Early in October 2013, former world champion Tomasz Gollob accepted a nomination for the series, but later withdrew from the competition due to unforeseen developments in his sponsorship program. He was replaced by first substitute Chris Harris.^[6]

#	Riders	2013 place	GP Ch place	Appearance	Previous appearances in series
1	Tai Woffinden	1	—	3rd	2010, 2011, 2013
33	Jarosław Hampel	2	—	9th	2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2013
88	Niels Kristian Iversen	3	1	4th	2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013
45	Greg Hancock	4	—	20th	1995–2013
5	Nicki Pedersen	5	—	14th	2000, 2001–2013
55	Matej Žagar	7	—	4th	2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013
43	Darcy Ward	8	—	2nd	2011, 2013
507	Krzysztof Kasprzak	10	2	3rd	2004–2007, 2008, 2012, 2013
66	Fredrik Lindgren	11	—	7th	2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2013
23	Chris Holder	12	—	5th	2010–2013
100	Andreas Jonsson	13	—	13th	2001, 2002–2013
91	Kenneth Bjerre	—	3	5th	2004–2008, 2009–2012
84	Martin Smolinski	—	4	1st	2008
37	Chris Harris	20	5	7th	2003, 2007–2012, 2013
75	Troy Batchelor	—	6	1st	2013

The following rider qualified as a substitute due to their result in the Grand Prix Challenge.^[5]

#	Riders	2013 place	GP Ch place
19	(19) Michael Jepsen Jensen	21	7

The 2014 season consisted of 12 events, just like 2013.

Round	Date	City and venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd placed	4th placed	Results
1	5 April	Auckland , New Zealand Western Springs Stadium	Martin Smolinski	Nicki Pedersen	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Fredrik Lindgren	results
2	26 April	Bydgoszcz, Poland Polonia Stadium	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Darcy Ward	Jarosław Hampel	Greg Hancock	results
3	17 May	Tampere , Finland Tampere Stadium	Matej Žagar	Tai Woffinden	Fredrik Lindgren	Greg Hancock	results
4	31 May	Prague , Czech Republic Markéta Stadium	Tai Woffinden	Greg Hancock	Matej Žagar	Nicki Pedersen	results
5	14 June	Målilla , Sweden G&B Stadium	Tai Woffinden	Greg Hancock	Chris Holder	Jarosław Hampel	results
6	28 June	Copenhagen , Denmark Parken Stadium	Niels Kristian Iversen	Troy Batchelor	Greg Hancock	Peter Kildemand	results
7	12 July	Cardiff , Great Britain Millennium Stadium	Greg Hancock	Tai Woffinden	Darcy Ward	Krzysztof Kasprzak	results
8	17 August	Daugavpils, Latvia Latvijas Spīdveja Centrs	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Nicki Pedersen	Greg Hancock	Kenneth Bjerre	results
9	30 August	Gorzów Wielkopolski , Poland Jancarz Stadium	Bartosz Zmarzlik	Matej Žagar	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Michael Jepsen Jensen	results
10	13 September	Vojens , Denmark Speedway Center	Andreas Jonsson	Peter Kildemand	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Troy Batchelor	results
11	27 September	Stockholm , Sweden Friends Arena	Jarosław Hampel	Greg Hancock	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Chris Holder	results
12	11 October	Toruń , Poland Rose Motoarena	Krzysztof Kasprzak	Andreas Jonsson	Jarosław Hampel	Nicki Pedersen	results

Pos.	Rider	Points	NZL	EUR	FIN	CZE	SWE	DEN	GBR	LAT	POL	NOR	SCA	PL2
	(45) Greg Hancock	140	6	16	12	12	16	11	14	16	9	–	15	13
	(507) Krzysztof Kasprzak	132	17	18	–	7	0	7	10	17	16	12	11	17
	(5) Nicki Pedersen	121	19	5	10	10	11	5	8	18	7	8	6	14
4	(1) Tai Woffinden	121	7	5	16	18	17	9	18	8	–	7	7	9
5	(55) Matej Žagar	114	6	6	15	16	10	7	6	9	16	6	12	5
6	(100) Andreas Jonsson	103	7	10	7	7	4	6	8	6	4	15	12	17
7	(23) Chris Holder	100	11	11	10	8	15	–	–	6	9	10	13	7
8	(33) Jarosław Hampel	98	8	14	7	2	13	10	5	4	0	3	21	11
9	(75) Troy Batchelor	91	4	4	10	3	5	20	3	8	9	13	6	6
10	(66) Fredrik Lindgren	90	13	5	12	8	5	4	10	6	6	9	9	3
11	(88) Niels Kristian Iversen	87	6	10	6	13	11	16	12	7	6	–	–	–
12	(84) Martin Smolinski	81	15	7	9	6	3	5	8	6	5	6	7	4
13	(91) Kenneth Bjerre	79	11	4	3	4	10	3	4	11	10	10	1	8
14	(43) Darcy Ward	75	5	16	8	16	6	9	15	–	–	–	–	–
15	(37) Chris Harris	48	0	2	4	6	5	3	6	3	6	5	4	4
16	(19) Michael Jepsen Jensen	42	–	–	–	–	–	8	9	–	14	7	4	–
17	(16) Peter Kildemand	33	–	–	–	–	–	15	–	–	–	18	–	–
18	(16) Bartosz Zmarzlik	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17	–	–	–
19	(16) Adrian Miedziński	14	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9
20	(17) Kjasts Puodžuks	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10	–	–	–	–
21	(16) Thomas H. Jonasson	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	–
22	(16) Peter Ljung	7	–	–	–	–	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
23	(18) Mikkel B. Jensen	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	–	–
24	(20) Maciej Janowski	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7
25	(16) Joonas Kylmäkorpi	5	–	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
26	(17) Kauko Nieminen	4	–	–	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
27	(17) Paweł Przedpełski	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
28	(16) Andžejs Ļebedevs	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–	–	–	–
29	(20) Kim Nilsson	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–
30	(16) Jason Bunyan	2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
31	(16) Craig Cook	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	–	–	–	–
32	(16) Vaclav Milik	2	–	–	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
33	(17) Adrian Cyfer	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	–	–
34	(18) Lukasz Kaczmarek	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	–	–
35	(18) Lasse Bjerre	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–
Pos.	Rider	Points	NZL	EUR	FIN	CZE	SWE	DEN	GBR	LAT	POL	NOR	SCA	PL2

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