Nicki Pedersen

Nicki Pedersen
Personal information
Nationality	Denmark
Date of birth	2 April 1977 (1977-04-02) (age 34)
Place of birth	Odense, Denmark
Website	www.nickipedersen.com
Current club information
Polish league	Gorzów Wielkopolski
Swedish league	Vargarna
Danish league	Holsted
Career history
Great Britain Newcastle Diamonds Wolverhampton Wolves King's Lynn Stars Oxford Cheetahs Eastbourne Eagles Peterborough Panthers Denmark Fjelsted Holstebro Brovst Holsted Poland Gniezno Grudziądz Wybrzeże Gdańsk Zielona Góra Rybnik Stal Rzeszów Włókniarz Częstochowa Stal Gorzów Russia Mega Lada Sweden Filbyterna Västervik Smederna Hammarby Bajen Lejonen Vargarna	1998 1999-2000 2001-2002 2003 2003-2007 2011 ?-1997 1998-1999 2000-2002 2003- 1999 2000 2001 2002, 2004-2005 2003 2006-2007 2008-2009 2010- 2007-2010 1997-1998 1999-2001 2002-2005 2006-2007 2008-2010 2011-
Speedway Grand Prix statistics
2009 Number	1
Starts	77[1]
Podiums	28 (9-10-9)
Finalist	35 time
Winner	9 times
Individual honours
World Champion Danish Champion Elite League Riders Champion Danish Under-21 Champion European Grand Prix Champion British Grand Prix Champion Slovenian Grand Prix Champion Polish Grand Prix Champion Italian Grand Prix Champion Czech Grand Prix Champion Golden Helmet of Pardubice (CZE)	2003, 2007, 2008 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 2004, 2007 1997, 1998 2002, 2007 2003 2006, 2007 2006 2007 2007, 2008 2010
Team honours
World Cup Winner Polish Div Two Champion Danish League Champion Elitserien Champion	2006, 2008 2001, 2002, 2003 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004 2008

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 and 2008.^[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 GKM-u Grudziądz, Wybrzeże Gdańsk, ZKŻ Zielona Góra and RKM-u Rybnik. Between 2006 and 2007 he rode for Stal Rzeszów and since 2008 he has ridden for Włókniarz Częstochowa. Pedersen rides for Lejonen 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 Vojens
2001	11th	52	3rd	First year as a permanent GP rider
2002	12th	73	Winner	Won in Poland – only final of the season
2003	1st	152	Winner	Won in Cardiff. 2003 World Champion.
2004	5th	113	4th	Only reached one final in the season
2005	4th	102	2nd	Runner-up in Slovenia
2006	3rd	134	Winner (twice)	Won first and last races in the season (Slovenia, Poland)
2007	1st	196	Winner (four times)	Won in Italy, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia. Runner-up in Denmark and Latvia. 2007 World Champion.
2008	1st	174	Winner	Won in Czech Republic, finished on the podium at all but two GPs. 2008 World Champion.

2007 Speedway Grand Prix - 1st place

Final Championship standings:		1st	196	Riding No (3)
	Grand Prix	Pos.	Pts.	Heats	Draw No
1 /11	Italian SGP	1	24	(3,3,3,3,3) +3 +6	13
2 /11	European SGP	1	23	(3,2,3,3,3) +3 +6	3
3 /11	Swedish SGP	4	11	(0,3,3,X,3) +2 +0	9
4 /11	Danish SGP	2	16	(T,3,3,1,2) +3 +4	6
5 /11	British SGP	6	12	(2,3,2,3,2) +X	9
6 /11	Czech Rep. SGP	1	24	(3,3,3,3,3) +3 +6	7
7 /11	Scandinavian SGP	5	16	(3,3,3,3,3) +1	12
8 /11	Latvian SGP	2	19	(3,3,1,3,2) +3 +4	11
9 /11	Polish SGP	3	19	(2,3,3,3,3) +3 +2	16
10 /11	Slovenian SGP	1	23	(3,2,3,3,3) +3 +6	14
11 /11	German SGP	8	9	(1,1,1,3,3) +E	7

2008 Speedway Grand Prix - 1st place

Final Championship standings:		1st	174	Riding No (1)
	Grand Prix	Pos.	Pts.	Heats	Draw No
1 /11	Slovenian SGP	2	17	(3,2,3,1,1) +3 +4	11
2 /11	European SGP	3	16	(3,2,1,3,3) +2 +2	3
3 /11	Swedish SGP	3	16	(2,1,3,3,2) +3 +2	7
4 /11	Danish SGP	2	20	(3,3,3,2,3) +2 +4	13
5 /11	British SGP	3	11	(2,1,2,0,3) +3 +f	10
6 /11	Czech Rep. SGP	1	22	(3,2,3,3,3) +2 +6	10
7 /11	Scandinavian SGP	3	14	(2,2,0,3,3) +2 +2	14
8 /11	Latvian SGP	2	18	(2,3,3,3,0) +2 +4	1
9 /11	Polish SGP	2	21	(3,3,2,3,3) +2 +4	10
10 /11	Italian SGP	11	6	(1,x,3,0,2)	8
11 /11	German SGP	5	13	(3,3,1,2,3) +1	7

	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 978-07524-4250-1
4. ^ "Nicki Pedersen Profile". NickiPedersen.com. 2008. http://www.nickipedersen.com/Default.aspx?ID=395. Retrieved 2008-05-02. 
5. ^ "Eagles confident of survival - but without Pedersen". The Argus. 2008-11-15. http://www.theargus.co.uk/search/display.var.1836419.0.eagles_confident_of_survival_but_without_pedersen.php. Retrieved 2008-05-02. 
6. ^ "Snub's still a pain for Ped". Daily Mirror. 2008-10-23. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more/2007/10/23/snub-s-still-a-pain-for-ped-89520-19993511/. Retrieved 2008-05-02. 
7. ^ "Nicki Pedersen wins Slovenian GP and secures second world title.". WorldSpeedway.com. 2007-09-23. http://www.worldspeedway.com/artman/publish/article_4241.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-02. 

External links

• Official website
• Rider page at speedwayworld.tv
• Rider page at armchairgm.com

2011 Speedway Grand Prix riders
1	Gollob	2	Hampel	3	Crump	4	Holta	5	Hancock
6	Harris	7	Bjerre	8	Holder	9	Jonsson	10	Pedersen
11	Lindgren	12	Sayfutdinov	13	Laguta	14	Lindbäck	15	Kołodziej

Persondata
Name	Pedersen, Nicki
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	2 April 1977
Place of birth	Odense, Denmark
Date of death
Place of death