FIM FIAT VANS BRITISH SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX ROLLS INTO MILLENNIUM STADIUM

The FIM Fiat Vans British Speedway Grand Prix takes place this Saturday night, June 11, and the action gets underway from 7:00pm.

Five time World Champion, Tony Rickardsson of Sweden, will wear the series leaders Yellow Race Jacket for the night, he currently holds an 11 point lead over reigning World Champion Jason Crump of Australia, with Nicki Pedersen of Denmark in third place in the standings.

Grand Prix series regulars, Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson alongside wild-card entry David Norris, will lay down the British challenge.

Richardson, who finished on the podium in third place here last year, is looking forward to the action getting underway. “For every rider out there Cardiff is special, the noise, the atmosphere of the place and the size of the crowd are unbelievable. But as an Englishman walking out into that sea of flags, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I want to go better than last year; it’s the one that we all want to win. The bikes are going really well now, I’ve been testing down at Poole this week and it seems to have all come together at the right time.”

Nicholls is also looking forward to Saturday night. “It’s simply the biggest spectacle that the sport has, no other stadium that we race in can compete in terms of facilities, atmosphere and size of the crowd. The track itself is also getting better and better every year. It’s always going to be quite slick, but that makes for close competitive racing, which makes it very exciting. I’m looking forward to it, I feel fit, confident and I really believe that I can beat anybody out there, I will certainly give it my all.”

The track preparations got underway on Sunday night, under the watchful eye of FIM Race Director Ole Olsen. On Tuesday the process of bring in some 2,400 tons of limestone began and by Wednesday morning the track was ready for compacting and grading.

“The track is looking really good right now,” says Olsen, “The team have put in a huge amount of hard work to get us where we are right now. We have put in five degree of banking on the corners to ensure spectacular racing on Saturday night.”

The compacting and grading work will continue right through to rider practice on Friday afternoon. Tickets available @
Millennium Stadium Ticket office 98 St Mary St Cardiff or 08705 582 582.