Nicki Pedersen
Personal Information
Nationality	Denmark
Date of birth	April 2, 1977 (1977-04-02) (age 31)
Place of birth	Odense, Denmark
Website	www.nickipedersen.com
Current Club Information
Polish League	Częstochowa
Swedish League	Lejonen
Danish League	Holsted
Russian League	Mega Lada Togliatti
Career History
Filbyterna (SWE) Newcastle Diamonds Gniezno (POL) Wolverhampton Wolves Västervik (SWE) Grudziądz (POL) King's Lynn Stars Gdansk (POL) Smederna (SWE) Zielona Góra (POL) Oxford Cheetahs Eastbourne Eagles Rybnik (POL) Hammarby Bajen (SWE) Stal Rzeszów (POL) Lejonen (SWE) Włókniarz Częstochowa (POL) Mega Lada (RUS)		1997-1998 1998 1999 1999-2000 1999-2001 2000 2001-2002 2001 2002-2005 2002, 2004-2005 2003 2003-2007 2003 2006-2007 2006-2007 2008- 2008- 2007-
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	2003, 2007 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 2004, 2007 1997, 1998 2002, 2007 2003 2006, 2007 2006 2007 2007, 2008
Team Honours
World Cup Winner Polish Div Two Champion Danish League Champion	2006, 2008 2001, 2002, 2003 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004

Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977 in Odense, Denmark)^[1] is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He was the Speedway World Champion of 2003 and 2007 and a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner.^[2]

Career Summary

League Teams

Pedersen began speedway racing aged 11 at Danish club Fjelsted. He started his Polish speedway career in 1999 with Polish second division club Startu Gniezno and has since ridden for GKM-u Grudziądz, Wybrzeża Gdańsk, ZKŻ Zielona Góra and RKM-u Rybnik. Between 2006 and 2007 he rode for Stal Rzeszów and for the 2008 Ekstraliga season he has signed for Włókniarz Częstochowa.

Pedersen rides for Lejonen in the Swedish Elitserien, and Holsted in the Danish speedway league.^[3]

Nicki's 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 before leaving 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 BSPA.^[4] Although Nicki is still an asset of Wolverhampton, he ruled out a return to the club for 2008.^[5] Pedersen was left without a team in the British Elite League for the 2008 season.

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 and 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.

2004 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 the best of 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 in Latvia, and winning the season ending race in Poland.

Pedersen was dominant in 2007, winning four of the eleven Grand Prix, and finishing runner-up in two. He and dropped only one point in the opening two rounds and he 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.^[6]

Speedway Grand Prix results

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 +3	13
2 /11	European SGP	1	23	(3,2,3,3,3) +3 +3	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 +2	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 +3	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 +2	11
9 /11	Polish SGP	3	19	(2,3,3,3,3) +3 +1	16
10 /11	Slovenian SGP	1	23	(3,2,3,3,3) +3 +3	14
11 /11	German SGP	8	9	(1,1,1,3,3) +E	7

2008 Speedway Grand Prix

Final Championship standings:				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
4 /11	Danish SGP
5 /11	British SGP
6 /11	Czech Rep. SGP
7 /11	Scandinavian SGP
8 /11	Latvian SGP
9 /11	Polish SGP
10 /11	Italian SGP
11 /11	German SGP

References

External links

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

2008 Speedway Grand Prix riders
1	N. Pedersen	2	Adams	3	Crump	4	Gollob	5	Andersen
6	Hancock	7	Holta	8	Nicholls	9	Harris	10	Jonsson
11	B. Pedersen	12	Iversen	13	L. Dryml	14	K. Kasprzak	15	Lindgren