Nicki Pedersen

Nicki Pedersen
Born (1977-04-02) 2 April 1977
Odense, Denmark
Nationality Denmark Denmark
Website www.nickipedersen.com
Current club information
Polish league Leszno
Swedish league Dackarna
Danish league Holsted
Career history
Great Britain
1998 Newcastle Diamonds
1999-2000 Wolverhampton Wolves
2001-2002 King's Lynn Stars
2003 Oxford Cheetahs
2003-2007 Eastbourne Eagles
2011 Peterborough Panthers
Denmark
?-1997 Fjelsted
1998-1999 Holstebro
2000-2002 Brovst
2003- Holsted
Poland
1999 Gniezno
2000 Grudziądz
2001 Wybrzeże Gdańsk
2002, 2004-2005 Zielona Góra
2003 Rybnik
2006-2007 Stal Rzeszów
2008-2009 Włókniarz Częstochowa
2010-2013 Stal Gorzów
2014-2016 Leszno
Russia
2007-2010 Mega Lada
Sweden
1997-1998 Filbyterna
1999-2001 Västervik
2002-2005 Smederna
2006-2007 Hammarby Bajen
2008-2010 Lejonen
Speedway Grand Prix statistics
2009 Number 3
Starts 151[1]
Podiums 47 (15-17-15)
Finalist 63 time
Winner 15 times
Individual honours
2003, 2007, 2008 World Champion
2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, Danish Champion
2004, 2007 Elite League Riders Champion
1997, 1998 Danish Under-21 Champion
2002, 2007, 2011 European Grand Prix Champion
2003 British Grand Prix Champion
2006, 2007 Slovenian Grand Prix Champion
2006, 2009 Polish Grand Prix Champion
2007 Italian Grand Prix Champion
2007, 2008, 2012 Czech Grand Prix Champion
2012 Croatian Grand Prix Champion
2015 Finnish Grand Prix Champion
2015 Swedish Grand Prix Champion
2015 Torun Grand Prix Champion
2008, 2010 Golden Helmet of Pardubice (CZE)
Team honours
2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 World Cup Winner
2001, 2002, 2003 Polish Div Two Champion
1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, Danish League Champion
2008 Elitserien Champion

Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977 in Odense, Denmark)[2] is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He has won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008 and was a World Cup winner with Denmark in 2006, 2008 and 2012.[3] His brother, Ronni Pedersen, has also ridden in the Speedway Grand Prix and World Cup.

Career

Domestic teams

Pedersen began speedway racing aged 11 at Danish club Fjelsted. He started his Polish speedway career in 1999 with Polish second division club Start Gniezno and has since ridden for GTŻ Grudziądz, Wybrzeże Gdańsk, ZKŻ Zielona Góra and ŻKS ROW Rybnik. Between 2006 and 2007 he rode for Stal Rzeszów and since 2008 he has ridden for Włókniarz Częstochowa. Pedersen rides for Dackarna in the Swedish Elitserien, and Holsted in the Danish Super League.[4]

Pedersen's speedway career in the United Kingdom began with the Premier League team Newcastle Diamonds, before Elite League side Wolverhampton Wolves bought him for the 1999 season. He was at Wolverhampton for two years before the club loaned him out to King's Lynn, Oxford and Eastbourne. Pedersen spent four years at Eastbourne but left at the end of the 2007 season due to a change in ownership of the club and a reduction of the points limit for team building purposes by the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[5] Although Nicki is still an asset of Wolverhampton, he has ruled out a return to the Elite League.[6]

Grand Prix

Pedersen took part in his first Grand Prix in 2000, as a wildcard in Denmark and impressed by finishing in fourth place. That earned him a permanent Grand Prix spot in 2001. He showed potential in the opening round in 2001, finishing third in Germany. Consistent scoring left him in 11th place in the World Championship after his first full year.

Pedersen had a bad start to 2002, but secured his GP place in 2003 after recording the first win of his career in the European Grand Prix. He finished the year in 12th place despite an inconsistent season. In 2003, he improved massively on his 2002 performance. He finished second in the opening Grand Prix of the season, and after a 10th place in the Swedish Grand Prix, Pedersen won again in Cardiff to give him a chance of becoming World Champion. Consistent high placings and four more podium finishes, including three in a row, secured the 2003 World Championship for Pedersen.

The 2004 season was less successful for Pedersen; he failed to record a win or a podium place. He finished in fifth place in the World Championship, well behind the two leaders Tony Rickardsson and Jason Crump. A second place in Slovenia was his best result during the 2005 Grand Prix season and he finished in fourth in the World Championship. Pedersen won the opening GP meeting of the 2006 season in Slovenia, but after that he fell behind championship leaders Rickardsson and Crump. He improved to finish third in the World Championship however, after a podium place in Latvia and a win in Poland.

Pedersen was dominant in 2007, winning four of the eleven Grand Prix, and finishing runner-up in two. He dropped only one point in the opening two rounds and had a run of six consecutive finals, which ended after an exclusion in the semi final in Great Britain. Pedersen won the penultimate Grand Prix in Slovenia and in doing so became the 2007 World Champion after accumulating an unassailable lead at the head of the standings.[7]

Speedway Grand Prix results

Year Position Points Best Finish Notes
2000 20th 17 4th Fourth placed as a wild card in Danish Grand Prix
2001 11th 52 3rd Third in German Grand Prix
2002 12th 73 Winner Won European Grand Prix
2003 1st 152 Winner Won British Grand Prix
2004 5th 113 4th
2005 4th 102 2nd Second in Slovenian Grand Prix
2006 3rd 134 Winner Won Slovenian and Polish Grand Prix
2007 1st 196 Winner Won in Italian, European, Czech Republic and Slovenian Grand Prix
2008 1st 174 Winner Won in Czech Republic Grand Prix
2009 6th 110 Winner Won in Polish Grand Prix
2010 10th 91 5th
2011 10th 89 Winner Won European Grand Prix
2012 2nd 152 Winner Won Czech Republic and Croatian Grand Prix
2013 5th 121 3rd Third in New Zealand, Swedish and Czech Republic Grand Prix
2014 3rd 134 2nd Second in New Zealand and Latvian Grand Prix
2015 3rd 131 Winner Won Finnish, Swedish and Third Polish Grand Prix
  permanent speedway rider
  wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
  rider not classified (track reserve who did not start)

References

  1. ↑ Świat Żużla, No 2 (78) 2009, page 7, ISSN 1429-3285
  2. ↑ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  3. ↑ Bamford, R.(2007). Speedway Yearbook 2007. ISBN 978-0-7524-4250-1
  4. ↑ "Nicki Pedersen Profile". NickiPedersen.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  5. ↑ "Eagles confident of survival - but without Pedersen". The Argus. 2008-11-15. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  6. ↑ "Snub's still a pain for Ped". Daily Mirror. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  7. ↑ "Nicki Pedersen wins Slovenian GP and secures second world title.". WorldSpeedway.com. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
2011 Speedway Grand Prix riders
1 Poland Gollob 2 Poland Hampel 3 Australia Crump 4 Poland Holta 5 United States Hancock
6 United Kingdom Harris 7 Denmark Bjerre 8 Australia Holder 9 Sweden Jonsson 10 Denmark Pedersen
11 Sweden Lindgren 12 Russia Sayfutdinov 13 Russia Laguta 14 Sweden Lindbäck 15 Poland Kołodziej
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