IPSWICH Witches rider Pepe Protasiewicz had another poor night as Andreas Jonsson won his first speedway grand prix in Malilla, Sweden, on Saturday.Protasiewicz scored just four points to stay at the foot of the standings, but for Jonsson it was a memorable night in the rain.

By Elvin King

IPSWICH Witches rider Pepe Protasiewicz had another poor night as Andreas Jonsson won his first speedway grand prix in Malilla, Sweden, on Saturday.

Protasiewicz scored just four points to stay at the foot of the standings, but for Jonsson it was a memorable night in the rain.

He rides at Malilla in the Swedish League, and in front of a full house he laid claim to be Tony Rickardsson's successor as top Swede.

Jonsson proved the best on a treacherous surface with track staff kept busy throughout a meeting run in gradually worsening rain.

On several occasions he had to battle his way through from the back, including the final when he took advantage of leader Hans Andersen picking up unwanted drive at the end of lap two.

By this stage series leader Jason Crump had crashed out - hitting the deck on turn three and clearing the track. He had previously come to grief on the first bend, with all four riders called back for a re-run.

Crump took another step towards the title, extending his overall lead to 61 points with just 75 available from the last three events - the Australian knocking closest challenger Greg Hancock's hopes by finishing ahead of him in the semi-final.

Nicki Pedersen was excluded in the second semi-final after falling on turn four having been moved out by a hard-charging Scott Nicholls

Former Witch Nicholls was involved in more controversy with arch-rival Andersen in the re-run when Andersen fell, and an angry Nicholls was thrown out. Andersen reached his third consecutive final.

Saturday's results from the Scandinavian GP: A Jonsson 25pts, H Andersen 20, L Adams 18, J Crump 16, G Hancock 12, N Pedersen 11, J Hampel 10, S Nicholls 8, B Pedersen 8, N-K Iversen 6, T Gollob 4, L Richardson 4, P Protasiewicz 4, M Zagar 4, A Lindback 3, R Sullivan 1.

Overall standings: Crump 156pts, Hancock 95, N Pedersen 85, Jonsson 84, Adams 80, Nicholls 67, B Pedersen 66, Gollob 66, Hampel 63, Andersen 63, Zagar 58, Lindback 48, Rickardsson 41, Iversen 36, Richardson 34, Protasiewicz 18.