The 2002 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 12 riders that would qualify for the 2002 Speedway Grand Prix^[1] to join the other 10 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 2001 Speedway Grand Prix.^[2]

The format changed significantly, in that only 6 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge.^[3] The other six places would go to riders seeded through - Rune Holta, Matej Ferjan, Andreas Jonsson, Grzegorz Walasek, Sebastian Ułamek and Krzysztof Cegielski.

Greg Hancock won the GP Challenge.^[4]

Format

• First Round - 5 riders from Sweden, 5 from Denmark, 3 from Norway, 3 from Finland to Scandinavian Final
• First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals
• First Round - 6 riders from British Final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 5 riders from Australian Final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 1 rider from Canadian 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 - 9 riders (outside the top 10) from the 2001 Grand Prix & World U21 champion to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 5 riders from the Continental Final to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 9 riders from the Intercontinental Final to GP Challenge
• Final Round - 6 riders from the GP Challenge to the 2002 Grand Prix

First round

Continental quarter finals

QF (28 Apr Lonigo) Pos Rider Points 1 Krzysztof Jabłoński 15 2 Armando Castagna 14 3 Andrea Maida 12 4 Mirko Wolter 10 5 Alessandro Dalla Valle 8 6 László Szatmári 8 7 Pavel Ondrašík 8 8 Sergej Darkin 8 9 Steffen Mell 7 10 Jernej Kolenko 6 11 Manuel Hautzinger 6 12 Piotr Dym 5 13 Francesco Ulian 5 14 Oleg Kurguskin 3 15 Igor Borisenko 2 16 Igor Epifanov 1 17 Simone Tadiello 1

QF (1 May Debrecen) Pos Rider Points 1 Marián Jirout 14 2 Robert Kościecha 14 3 Tomasz Bajerski 13 4 Sándor Tihanyi 13 5 Andrej Korolev 10 6 Walter Nebel 9 7 Attila Stefáni 9 8 Matej Žagar 8 9 Thomas Stadler 8 10 Sandor Fekete 6 11 Alexander Biznya 5 12 Josef Koren 4 13 Christian Miotello 3 14 Soni Francovig 2 15 Uilke Kooistra 1 16 Eddie Turksema 1 17 Csaba Hell 0

QF (12 May Krško) Pos Rider Points 1 Aleš Dryml Jr. 14 2 Sebastian Ułamek 12+3 3 Václav Milík Sr. 12+2 4 Lukáš Dryml 11 5 Zlatko Krznaric 10 6 Izak Šantej 10 7 Jacek Rempala 10 8 Jacek Krzyżaniak 10 9 Michal Makovský 9 10 Björn Danielczyk 5 11 Adrian Rymel 5 12 Stéphane Trésarrieu 4 13 Stephan Katt 4 14 Christophe Dubernard 1 15 Fabrice Ostyn 1 16 Stanko Glava 1 17 Primoz Klenovsek 1 18 Thomas Cyril 1

QF (26 May Pocking) Pos Rider Points 1 Wiesław Jaguś 14 2 Antonín Kasper Jr. 13+3 3 Bohumil Brhel 13+2 4 Róbert Nagy 11 5 Robbie Kessler 10 6 Damian Baliński 10 7 Eduard Shaihullin 8 8 Joachim Kugelmann 7 9 Norbert Magosi 7 10 Matthias Kröger 7 11 Rene Aas 6 12 Rinat Mardanshin 6 13 Josef Franc 3 14 Richard Wolff 3 15 Radek Smolik 1 16 Dennis Popovic 1

Second round

Scandinavian Final

8 riders to Intercontinental Final

(17 June 2001 Pori)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Kai Laukkanen	15
2	Andreas Jonsson	12
3	Stefan Andersson	11
4	Lars Gunnestad	10
5	Hans Clausen	10
6	Niklas Karlsson	10
7	Jesper B Jensen	9
8	Kauko Nieminen	9
9	Bjarne Pedersen	8
10	Charlie Gjedde	7
11	Björn G Hansen	5
12	Stefan Ekberg	5
13	Freddie Eriksson	3
14	Joonas Kylmäkorpi	3
15	Claus Kristensen	2
16	Roy Håland	1

Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final

SF 16 June 2001 Terenzano Pos. Rider Points 1 Wiesław Jaguś 12 2 Bohumil Brhel 12 3 Michal Makovský 12 4 Alessandro Dalla Valle 11 5 Damian Baliński 10 6 Zlatko Krznaric 10 7 Andrea Maida 10 8 Robert Kościecha 9 9 Aleš Dryml Jr. 8 10 Attila Stefáni 6 11 Joachim Kugelmann 5 12 Krzysztof Jabłoński 5 13 Matej Žagar 4 14 László Szatmári 3 15 Norbert Magosi 3 16 Walter Nebel 0 17 Adrian Rymel 0 18 Jernej Kolenko 0

SF 16 June 2001 Mšeno Pos. Rider Points 1 Sebastian Ułamek 15 2 Tomasz Bajerski 11 3 Róbert Nagy 11 4 Jacek Rempala 9 5 Armando Castagna 9 6 Andrej Korolew 9 7 Marián Jirout 9 8 Antonín Kasper Jr. 8 9 Sergej Darkin 8 10 Robbie Kessler 6 11 Sándor Tihanyi 5 12 Eduard Shaihullin 5 13 Izak Šantej 4 14 Jacek Krzyżaniak 4 15 Thomas Stadler 3 16 Steffen Mell 2 17 Pavel Ondrašík 2

Third round

• 9 riders (outside the top 10) from the 2001 Grand Prix & World U21 champion to GP Challenge

Continental Final

• 5 riders to GP Challenge
• 12 August 2001 Gdańsk

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Sebastian Ułamek	13
2	Bohumil Brhel	12
3	Wiesław Jaguś	12
4	Antonín Kasper Jr.	11
5	Damian Baliński	11
6	Tomasz Bajerski	10
7	Andrej Korolew	10
8	Jacek Rempala	8
9	Róbert Nagy	7
10	Armando Castagna	6
11	Robert Kościecha	6
12	Zlatko Krznaric	6
13	Marián Jirout	4
14	Andrea Maida	3
15	Michal Makovský	1
16	Alessandro Dalla Valle	0

Final Round

GP Challenge

6 riders to 2002 Grand Prix

• 13 October 2001 Krško

Pos.	Rider	pre-event	main-event	sf	Final
1	Greg Hancock	x	2, 3	2	3
2	Nicki Pedersen	x	1, 3, 3	2	2
3	Scott Nicholls	0, 3, 3	3, 2	3	1
4	Lukáš Dryml	3, 2	0, 3, 3	3	0
5	Carl Stonehewer	x	2, 1, 2	1	x
6	Andy Smith	x	3, 3	1	x
7	Peter Karlsson	x	2, 2,	0	x
8	Piotr Protasiewicz	x	0, 2, 2	0	x
9	Chris Louis	2, 1, 3	3, 0, 1	x	x
10	Andreas Jonsson	1, 2, 2	2, 0, 1	x	x
11	Sebastian Ułamek	3, 1, 2	3, 1, 0	x	x
12	Sam Ermolenko	3, 3	1, 2, 0	x	x
13	Brian Andersen	x	1, 1	x	x
14	Matej Ferjan	x	1, 1	x	x
15	Bohumil Brhel	2, 3	0, 0	x	x
16	Stefan Andersson	3, 2	0, 0	x	x
17	Jason Lyons	1, 3, 1	x	x	x
18	Damian Baliński	2, 0, 1	x	x	x
19	Kai Laukkanen	2, 0, 0	x	x	x
20	Gary Havelock	0, 2, 0	x	x	x
21	Wiesław Jaguś	0, 1	x	x	x
22	Lars Gunnestad	1, 1	x	x	x
23	Sean Wilson	1, 0	x	x	x
24	Antonín Kasper Jr.	0, 0	x	x	x

References