Rickardsson wins British GP.

Tony Rickardsson emerged victorious from a frenetic British Grand Prix in Cardiff, beating off a determined Jason Crump in the final.

The man most likely to win all night was Tomasz Gollob but, when the pole chose gate two for the final, things turned sour for him. The winner of the opening round in Germany, Gollob had been unbeaten from gate one - the start eventually taken by Rickardsson in the final. Gollob found himself boxed out as the tapes lifted and had to settle for third.

Fourth place went to Niklas Klingberg, who was left to take the least favourable third gate, but still achieved his best finish in a GP to date in front of a noisy, partisan and enthusiastic crowd at the Millennium Stadium.

There was less fortune for the home favourites, with Mark Loram coming closest to success, but going out in the 'sweet sixteen' phase after crashing heavily, and then almost wheelying out of contention in his last chance race. The reigning champion recovered from his error, but lost out to reserve Grzegorz Walasek by the width of a wheel.

Chris Louis and Andy Smith went out early, closely followed by wild card entries Scott Nicholls and Martin Dugard. Nicholls looked likely to progress to the 'sweet sixteen', only to be thwarted by mechanical problems while leading his heat. Dugard, the reigning British GP champion went out in heat ten. Carl Stonehewer survived a brush with the barriers to make the last sixteen, but fared little better than Loram.

Full report and results to follow....

Leading finishers - British GP.

1. Tony Rickardsson
2. Jason Crump
3. Tomasz Gollob
4. Niklas Klingberg