Danish GP: It's wild-card Andersen.

Hans Andersen wrote his own Danish fairytale in Copenhagen on Saturday with a stunning victory in the fifth Grand Prix of the 2006 series.

Andersen, controversially omitted from the GP line-up this season, but given a wild card for this event, responded in brilliant fashion with his second Grand Prix win, having previously won the Scandinavian title in Gothenburg two years ago.

Andersen finished as the third highest scorer in the qualifying heats, behind Greg Hancock - who topped the charts for the third time this year - and Leigh Adams.

But he won his semi-final, from Antonio Lindback, Adams and Scott Nicholls and crucially had first choice of gate in the final. Not surprisingly he chose red, the same gate as he had in his semi, and managed to beat Crump to the first turn in the final to set up his victory.

Championship leader Crump, who had won the previous three rounds and was looking to equal Tony Rickardsson's record of four on the trot, tried inside and out for four laps but couldn't overhaul the flying Andersen.

"Of course I was disappointed to be left out and am determined to show that I deserve a place," said Andersen. "To win a Grand Prix is great and this one, in front of such a big Danish crowd, was fantastic."

Andersen said that he had learnt much from watching Crump, his team-mate in Poland, but his form this year has been outstanding. "I have been going well in Poland, Sweden and Britain," said Andersen, "but this was my first meeting of the year in Denmark."

Crump said that while he was disappointed to lose this was almost as good as a win, finishing only behind the wild card and further extending his World Championship lead to a commanding 41 points.

Bjarne Pedersen, whose GP campaign has not quite fired this year, secured his first rostrum place of the season. "This was a great night and the crowd lifted us as well," he said.

Hancock topped the qualifying heats for the third time this year but is still waiting for his first GP win. He had first choice of gates in his semi but made a small slip from the start and, though he briefly passed Pedersen,
he was quickly back in third place.

For the first time this year both British riders, Lee Richardson and Nicholls, reached the semis but neither could make the last four. Sweden's Lindback reached his first final of the 2006 series but was a disappointing fourh.

It was another miserable night for defending World
Champion Tony Rickardsson who collected only five from his qualifying races. Pre-meeting Nicki Pedersen had another night to forget and has now scored only 10 points in the last two meetings to slip to 50 points adrift of Crump.

Adams looked unbeatable in his first four races, winning them all, but then came last in his fifth and then third in his semi despite having first choice of gate.

Dansk Metal Grand Prix of Denmark:
H.Andersen (Denmark) 25, J.Crump (Australia) 20, B.Pedersen (Denmark) 18, A.Lindback (Sweden) 16, G.Hancock
(USA) 13, L.Adams (Australia) 12, L.Richardson (Great Britain) 9, S.Nicholls (Great Britain) 8, N.Iversen (Denmark) 8, A.Jonsson (Sweden) 7, N.Pedersen (Denmark) 6, T.Rickardsson (Sweden) 5, M.Zagar (Slovenia) 4, T.Gollob
(Poland) 3, J.Hampel (Poland) 2, P.Protasiewicz (Poland) 1, K.Bjerre (Denmark) 1, C.Gjedde (Denmark) 1.

World Championship:
J.Crump 115, G.Hancock 74, N.Pedersen 65, T.Gollob 55, A.Jonsson 50, B.Pedersen 48, J.Hampel 48, L.Adams 46, M.Zagar 44, T.Rickardsson 41, A.Lindback 41, S.Nicholls 39, L.Richardson 26, N.K.Iversen 25, H.Andersen 25, P.Protasiewicz 11.