Dates May 17 - October 4 Cities 9 | Events 9 Countries 7 | |
Riders 22 permanents
2 wild card(s) Heats 225 + 3 canceled (in 9 events) | ||
The 2003 Speedway Grand Prix season is the ninth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and is used to determine the Speedway World Champion.
Contents
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 - there was no consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th and 6th place getting 13, 7th and 8th 11, 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 for Grand Prix
The 2003 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
2003 Event Schedule and Winners
Calendar
Final 2003 standings