Sporting Digest: Speedway

Tony Rickardsson, the Swede who rides for Ipswich, was crowned the 1998 world champion in Bydgoszcz, Poland last night. Billy Hamill, a former world champion, crashed during the Polish Grand Prix in his first ride. He suffered a suspected broken vertebra and had difficulty in breathing but he did regain full movement of his limbs.

POLISH GRAND PRIX (Bydgoszcz, Pol): 1 T Gollob (Pol, Ipswich); 2 R Sullivan (Aus, Poole); 3 J Nilsen (Swe, Swindon); 4 H Nielsen (Denmark); 5 L Adams (Aus, Swindon); 6 M Loram (Engl, Wolverhampton); 7 A Smith (Eng, Swindon); 8 T Rickardsson (Swe, Ipswich). WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Final placings (over the six grand prix rounds and qualifiers for next year's grand prix): T Rickardsson 111. Grand prix points: J Nilsen 99; T Gollob 97; H Nielsen 76; C Louis (Eng, Ipswich) 75; G Hancock (US, Coventry) 69; R Sullivan 68; J Crump (Aus, Oxford) 62.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh 56 Glasgow 34; Arena Essex 56 Sheffield 34.

PREMIER LEAGUE CUP Final, first leg: Peterborough 44 Reading 46.