Today, 3 June 2020, marks 20 since the Speedway Grand Prix last made a visit to Linköpings Motorstadion in East Sweden.
The winner that night was Australian, Jason Crump, whilst in second was eventual World Champion for 2000, the Brit, Mark Coram.
Of great interest to the home fans was third place rider, Tony Rickardsson, pictured above on that night in Linköping. He who would also finish third at the end of the SGP season, collecting the Bronze medal.
This was the era of the Swede’s now legendary dominance in the sport. 2000 was the only year the Avesta born rider did not win the world championship in a five year period from 1998-2002.
Having already won it in 1984, when Rickardsson won the Championship for a final time in 2005 it would mark a record equaling six wins, a record he still holds with New Zealander, Ivan Mauger.
That night 20 years ago saw a 23 year old Dane called Nicki Pedersen receive a wildcard on the track where he had raced for Swedish club, Linköping Filbyterna in 1997 and 1998. It was the first year he would participate in the competition he would go on to win four times from 2003 and onwards.
However, whilst Pedersen is still racing today, he is unlikely to race again at Linköping. That is primarily due to economic issues around the air fence. The current one does not reach contemporary health and safety standards and the cost of upgrading it to modern requirements is out of reach for the now amateur Filbyterna, who nevertheless maintain the track to a high standard.
The sport as a whole is under financial pressure and last year Motala Piraterna nearly went bankrupt, the Elitserien club that is closest to Linköping. And with the Coronavirus affecting this year’s racing, the league has said it will not be able to run on TV revenue alone but will need people to come through the turnstiles to work economically. So whilst speedway will continue in Sweden after Corona, it seems unlikely that Linköping will see another World Championship for the foreseeable future.
