ANDREAS Jonsson celebrated the fourth GP win of his career in an eventful FIM Dansk Metal Nordic Grand Prix at Vojens in Denmark.
The stylish Swede had to make two starts to win the final after the first running was halted when Emil Sayfutdinov was excluded for bringing down Kenneth Bjerre on the back straight of lap three. Jonsson, who was clear at the front from Rune Holta, again took control in the re-run to head home Holta and local favourite Bjerre.
But despite not making the final for the first time this season, Jason Crump extended his advantage at the head of the World Championship leaderboard by a single point - and now has a 36-point lead with three GPs remaining. Crump scored eight points in the qualifying, crucially losing the lead to finish third in Heat 10, and missed the cut for the semi-finals on countback after finishing level with Sebastian Ulamek. But Crump's nearest challenger Tomasz Gollob lost ground on seven points, battling back from gleaning only one point in his first three rides by winning his final two, while Greg Hancock, who is third overall, failed to take full advantage when he trailed at the back in the first semi-final.
Crump, chasing his third World title, now has 134 points, with Gollob on 98 and Hancock on 97. The Vojens track had been covered to keep the rain off, and though a heavy downpour during Heat 19 threatened the final stages of the meeting, the storm clouds soon passed by. Bjerre, who rides for Vojens in the Danish Superleague, gave the home fans plenty to enthuse over by winning his first two rides, and finished joint top scorer after 20 races on 11 points, the same as Jonsson, Sayfutdinov (both of whom had overhauled Crump in Heat 10) and Fredrik Lindgren.
Hancock and reigning World Champion Nicki Pedersen scored 10 points, both recovering from exclusions to hit double figures. Pedersen was disqualified from Heat 8 when he went down on the outside of Sayfutdinov on a tight first lap, while Hancock and Gollob were both excluded from Heat 12, a race that took four runnings.
After an unsatisfactory start, Hancock was thrown out after taking Gollob off, and the Pole then earned an exclusion when he was thrown wide by a hard-riding Lindgren and collected Holta on his outside. Holta, who took a hefty high-speed fall, got up to dust himself down and beat Lindgren.
Both Pedersen and Hancock won their final two rides, Hancock fending off Russian sensation Sayfutdinov in Heat 13 and Pedersen expertly passing Lindgren in Heat 14. Holta, celebrating his 36th birthday, looked quick from the outset, and finished second behind Sayfutdinov in the first semi-final to eliminate Lindgren and Hancock. In the second semi-final Pedersen produced a brilliant cut-back on the first two turns to take the lead, but was quickly passed by Jonsson, before Bjerre lined him up as well. But with Hans Andersen lacking speed and mustering just four points on the night, Pedersen at least moved back into the top eight overall.
FIM Dansk Metal Nordic SGP scores:
Andreas Jonsson (Sweden) 20, Rune Holta (Poland) 15, Kenneth Bjerre (Denmark) 15, Emil Sayfutdinov (Russia) 14, Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden) 12, Nicki Pedersen (Denmark) 11, Greg Hancock (USA) 10, Sebastian Ulamek (Poland) 8, Jason Crump (Australia) 8, Leigh Adams (Australia) 7, Tomasz Gollob (Poland) 7, Grzegorz Walasek (Poland) 7, Hans Andersen (Denmark) 4, Scott Nicholls (Great Britain) 3, Chris Harris (Great Britain) 1, Niels-Kristian Iversen (Denmark) 1. World Championship standings: Crump 134, Gollob 98, Hancock 97, Sayfutdinov 96, Jonsson 87, Bjerre 78, Lindgren 76, Pedersen 70, Andersen 65, Holta 58, Adams 54, Ulamek 54, Harris 44, Walasek 44, Nicholls 28, *Antonio Lindback (Sweden) 27, Iversen 20, *Jaroslaw Hampel (Poland) 9, *Grigory Laguta (Russia) 6, *Edward Kennett (Great Britain) 4, *Matej Kus (Czech Republic) 1.
*denotes wild-cards. Iversen has appeared as both a wild-card and reserve.
