# 1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 16 riders that qualified for the 1998 Speedway Grand Prix to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix.
There was a late change to the qualifying when the Grand Prix increased to 24 permanent riders. Therefore 4 riders would qualify straight from the Intercontinental and Continental finals and 9 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge (originally just 4). The final 3 GP places would go to wildcards.
Piotr Protasiewicz won the GP Challenge.

## Format

* First Round - 5 riders each from Sweden & Denmark, 3 riders each from Finland & Norway to Scandinavian Final
* First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals
* First Round - 8 riders from British final to Overseas Final
* First Round - 4 riders from Australian/New Zealand final to Overseas Final
* First Round - 4 riders from United States final to Overseas Final
* Second Round - 8 riders from Scandinavian final to Intercontinental Final
* Second Round - 8 riders from Overseas final to Intercontinental Final
* Second Round - 16 riders from Continental semi-finals to Continental Final
* Third Round - 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Grand Prix to GP Challenge
* Third Round - 2 riders from the Continental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 4 to GP Challenge
* Third Round - 2 riders from the Intercontinental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 5 to GP Challenge
* Final Round - 9 riders from the GP Challenge to the 1998 Grand Prix

## First round
### Continental quarter finals

QF (1 May Terenzano) :
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Armando Castagna | 13 |
| 2 | Zoltán Adorján | 12 |
| 3 | Alessandro Dalla Valle | 12 |
| 4 | Zdenek Schneiderwind | 11 |
| 5 | Christophe Dubernard | 11 |
| 6 | Antonín Kasper Jr. | 10 |
| 7 | Andrea Maida | 10 |
| 8 | Izak Šantej | 8 |
| 9 | Maik Groen | 6 |
| 10 | Csaba Hell | 5 |
| 11 | Sergej Eroschin | 5 |
| 12 | Stéphane Trésarrieu | 4 |
| 13 | Massimo Mora | 4 |
| 14 | Oleg Kurguskin | 4 |
| 15 | Thomas Stadler | 3 |
| 16 | Helmut Lercher | 2 |
QF (4 May Czestochowa) :
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Ułamek | 14 |
| 2 | Dariusz Śledź | 13 |
| 3 | Igor Marko | 13 |
| 4 | Rinat Mardanshin | 12 |
| 5 | Nikolaj Kokins | 11 |
| 6 | Václav Milík Sr. | 10 |
| 7 | Wieslaw Jagus | 9 |
| 8 | Vladimir Trofimov | 8 |
| 9 | Vladimir Voronkov | 7 |
| 10 | Rene Aas | 5 |
| 11 | Björn Danielczik | 5 |
| 12 | Michal Makovský | 4 |
| 13 | Mirko Wolter | 4 |
| 14 | Waldemar Walczak | 3 |
| 15 | Grigorij Charchenko | 1 |
| 16 | Frederic Brisseau | 0 |
| 17 | Robert Jucha | 0 |
| 18 | Artur Pietrzyk | 0 |
QF (4 May Ljubljana) :
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Robert Sawina | 13 |
| 2 | Piotr Świst | 13 |
| 3 | Robbie Kessler | 12 |
| 4 | Andreas Bössner | 11 |
| 5 | Matej Ferjan | 11 |
| 6 | Nikolaj Manev | 9 |
| 7 | Gerhard Lekse | 9 |
| 8 | Norbert Magosi | 8 |
| 9 | Emiliano Sanchez | 8 |
| 10 | Martin Peterca | 7 |
| 11 | Sándor Tihanyi | 4 |
| 12 | Alessandro Milanese | 4 |
| 13 | Alexander Liatosinski | 4 |
| 14 | Krunoslav Zganec | 3 |
| 15 | Milen Nikolajev | 2 |
| 16 | Renato Kuster | 1 |
QF (19 May Abensberg) :
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Gerd Riss | 15 |
| 2 | Jacek Krzyżaniak | 13 |
| 3 | Roman Povazhny | 11 |
| 4 | Tomáš Topinka | 11 |
| 5 | Robert Barth | 11 |
| 6 | Bohumil Brhel | 10 |
| 7 | Jacek Gollob | 10 |
| 8 | Sergej Darkin | 9 |
| 9 | Jaroslav Gavenda | 8 |
| 10 | Laszlo Bodi | 7 |
| 11 | Heinrich Schatzer | 4 |
| 12 | Gabor Röth | 4 |
| 13 | Vladimir Visvader | 3 |
| 14 | Alexander Biznia | 3 |
| 15 | Simone Tadiello | 1 |
| 16 | Patrik Verbrugge | 0 |

## Second round
### Overseas Final

8 riders to Intercontinental Final

### Scandinavian Final

8 riders to Intercontinental final
(7 Jun 1997 Hyvinkää) :
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Peter Nahlin | 12 |
| 2 | Jesper B Jensen | 12 |
| 3 | Stefan Dannö | 11 |
| 4 | Kai Laukkanen | 10 |
| 5 | Ronni Pedersen | 10 |
| 6 | John Jørgensen | 10 |
| 7 | Frede Schött | 10 |
| 8 | Stefan Andersson | 9 |
| 9 | Rune Holta | 8 |
| 10 | Niklas Klingberg | 8 |
| 11 | Hans Clausen | 6 |
| 12 | Lars Gunnestad | 5 |
| 13 | Niklas Karlsson | 3 |
| 14 | Marko Hyyryläinen | 2 |
| 15 | Kenneth Borgenhaug | 2 |
| 16 | Jonas Kylmäkorpi | 1 |

### Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Robert Sawina | 14 |
| 2 | Antonín Kasper Jr. | 12 |
| 3 | Piotr Świst | 12 |
| 4 | Andreas Bössner | 10 |
| 5 | Zoltán Adorján | 10 |
| 6 | Robbie Kessler | 10 |
| 7 | Armando Castagna | 10 |
| 8 | Andrea Maida | 8 |
| 9 | Zdenek Schneiderwind | 8 |
| 10 | Izak Šantej | 7 |
| 11 | Matej Ferjan | 5 |
| 12 | Alessandro Dalla Valle | 4 |
| 13 | Norbert Magosi | 4 |
| 14 | Nikolaj Manev | 2 |
| 15 | Christophe Dubernard | 2 |
| 16 | Gerhard Lekse | 2 |
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Jacek Gollob | 14 |
| 2 | Bohumil Brhel | 12 |
| 3 | Tomáš Topinka | 11 |
| 4 | Roman Povazhny | 10 |
| 5 | Jacek Krzyżaniak | 10 |
| 6 | Rinat Mardanshin | 10 |
| 7 | Robert Barth | 9 |
| 8 | Sebastian Ułamek | 9 |
| 9 | Sergej Darki | 9 |
| 10 | Dariusz Śledź | 7 |
| 11 | Gerd Riss | 7 |
| 12 | Václav Milík Sr. | 5 |
| 13 | Michal Makovský | 4 |
| 14 | Vladimir Trofimov | 2 |
| 15 | Björn Danielczik | 1 |
| 16 | Igor Marko | 0 |
| 17 | Jaroslav Gavenda (R) | 0 |

## Third round

* 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix to GP Challenge

### Intercontinental Final

2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 5 riders to GP Challenge

### Continental Final

* 2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 4 riders to GP Challenge
* 26 July 1997 Lonigo
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Armando Castagna | 13 |
| 2 | Zoltán Adorján | 12 |
| 3 | Tomáš Topinka | 12 |
| 4 | Sebastian Ułamek | 10 |
| 5 | Piotr Świst | 9 |
| 6 | Jacek Krzyżaniak | 8 |
| 7 | Antonín Kasper Jr. | 8 |
| 8 | Roman Povazhny | 8 |
| 9 | Jacek Gollob | 8 |
| 10 | Rinat Mardanshin | 6 |
| 11 | Bohumil Brhel | 6 |
| 12 | Andrea Maida | 5 |
| 13 | Robbie Kessler | 5 |
| 14 | Robert Sawina | 5 |
| 15 | Andreas Bössner | 4 |
| 16 | Zdenek Schneiderwind | 1 |
| 17 | Sergej Darkin | 0 |

## Final Round
### GP Challenge

4 riders (changed to 9) to 1998 Grand Prix
* 5 October 1997 Wiener Neustadt
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Piotr Protasiewicz | 14 |
| 2 | Stefan Dannö | 13 |
| 3 | Leigh Adams | 12 |
| 4 | Craig Boyce | 11 |
| 5 | Andy Smith | 9 |
| 6 | Chris Louis | 8 |
| 7 | Henrik Gustafsson | 7 |
| 8 | Peter Karlsson | 7 |
| 9 | Sebastian Ułamek | 7 |
| 10 | Sam Ermolenko | 7 |
| 11 | Jacek Krzyżaniak | 6 |
| 12 | Tomáš Topinka | 5 |
| 13 | Piotr Świst | 5 |
| 14 | Joe Screen | 4 |
| 15 | Kelvin Tatum | 2 |
| 16 | Sławomir Drabik | 1 |
| 17 | Ronni Pedersen | 1 |