The 2014 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 69th edition of the official World Championship
and the 20th season of the
Speedway Grand Prix
Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first win ...
era, deciding the
FIM
FIM may refer to:
Organizations and companies
* Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation
* Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States
* Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media
* ...
Speedway World Championship
The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official champions ...
. It was the fourteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image.
img or IMG may also refer to:
* IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...
company.
Tai Woffinden
Tai Woffinden (born 10 August 1990) is a British speedway rider. He is a three-time World Champion (2013, 2015 and 2018).
Early life
Woffinden was born in Scunthorpe, the son of former speedway rider Rob Woffinden. Although born in the Unite ...
was the defending champion from
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
.
1997 and 2011 world champion
Greg Hancock
Gregory Alan Hancock (born June 3, 1970 in Whittier, California) is an American former professional motorcycle speedway rider. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more times.
In addi ...
won a 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
Krzysztof Kasprzak (; born 18 July 1984 in Leszno, Poland) is an international speedway rider who became World Under-21 Champion in 2005 and won the silver medal during the 2014 Speedway Grand Prix. He also won five World team titles. He is a so ...
, 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
Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He has won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008 and was a World Cup winner with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. His brother, R ...
and defending champion Woffinden – a winner in back-to-back events in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
and
Målilla
Målilla () is a locality in Hultsfred Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 1,524 inhabitants in 2010.
It is more commonly known as the temperature capital of Sweden due to records, both high and low, being set there. A Swedish record high t ...
, 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
Martin Smolinski (born 6 December 1984, in Munich, West Germany) is a former international motorcycle speedway and Grasstrack rider from Germany. He is eight times champion of Germany.
Career
Smolinksi began riding in his natiove Germany for MSC ...
was the winner of the opening race in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, New Zealand; it was his first victory in the series. Like Smolinski, Slovenia's
Matej Žagar
Matej Žagar (born 3 April 1983 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider who was won two Individual Speedway European Champion titles in 2004 and 2008.
Career
In 2002, he won the 2002 Individual Speedway Junior European ...
was a first-time winner in the Finnish round at
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
, en route to a fifth-place finish in the championship.
Niels Kristian Iversen
Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (, born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014.
Early life
...
and
Jarosław Hampel
Jarosław "Jarek" Hampel (; born 17 April 1982 in Łódź, Poland) is a Polish Speedway rider. He was a participant of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix in 2007 and 2010.
He received his speedway license in 1998 with the Polish team Polonia Piła, alth ...
, who finished third and second behind Woffinden in 2013, each won races; Iversen won in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
while Hampel triumphed at
Stockholm. Other winners were
Andreas Jonsson
Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015.
Career summary
Jonsson won ...
in
Vojens, Denmark and
Bartosz Zmarzlik, who won on a wildcard appearance, on home soil, at
Gorzów Wielkopolski.
Qualification
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
Emil Damirovich Sayfutdinov (russian: link=no, Эмиль Дамирович Сайфутдинов; born 26 October 1989) is a Russian motorcycle speedway rider and member of the Russia national speedway team. He is a three times World team ch ...
– 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.
Those riders were joined by three riders who qualified via the
Grand Prix Challenge
''Grand Prix Challenge'' is a Formula One racing video game developed by Australian developer Infogrames Melbourne House and published by Infogrames for PlayStation 2. It was released in Europe on 22 November 2002, and was officially licensed b ...
. Since the winner of the Grand Prix Challenge,
Niels Kristian Iversen
Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (, born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014.
Early life
...
, had already qualified following his third position in the 2013 championship, fourth-placed
Martin Smolinski
Martin Smolinski (born 6 December 1984, in Munich, West Germany) is a former international motorcycle speedway and Grasstrack rider from Germany. He is eight times champion of Germany.
Career
Smolinksi began riding in his natiove Germany for MSC ...
qualified.
The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2013 season.
Early in October 2013, former world champion
Tomasz Gollob
Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider. He appeared in every Speedway Grand Prix series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. His brother Jacek is also a speedway r ...
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.
Qualified riders
Qualified substitute
The following rider qualified as a substitute due to their result in the Grand Prix Challenge.
Calendar
The 2014 season consisted of 12 events, just like
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
.
Classification
See also
*
2014 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship
References
External links
SpeedwayGP.com – Speedway World Championships
{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...