TONY Rickardsson remains deadlocked on 89 points with Nicki Pedersen at the top of the World Championship Grand Prix leaderboard after the Scandinavian round in Gothenburg.

But the top Swede and Pirates spearhead could not have imagined before the meeting the circumstances in which he would still have been tied for top spot following the bizarre abandonment of the GP in the Ullevi Stadium.

Poole Meridian Lifts riders Bjarne Pedersen and David Ruud had both trailed in third in their opening outings on what can only be labelled as a joke of a track in Gothenburg.

Then the meeting was abandoned after only three heats had been completed because it was quite clear the one-off track, laid by SVEMO, the Swedish speedway authority, was too dangerous for the event to go on.

Rickardsson, who had declared before the meeting that he was still "not 100 per cent" fit following concussion after a track spill in Sweden, addressed an angry crowd in the stadium.

And, on behalf of all the riders, he explained why the meeting had to be abandoned over the centre green announcer's microphone.

The GP will now be staged at the same venue next Saturday, August 30, when event organisers Benfield Sports International have stressed the track will be ready and safe for racing on.

John Postlethwaite, of BSI, said: "We are very sorry that we have had to call off the event.

"We think it right for World Championship riders that we give them a track that they can compete on properly. We will do everything we can do to put on a great event next Saturday.

"The track was not prepared with the right materials. It is nothing to do with the rain that caused practice to be cancelled," he said.

"The material was spongy and soft and we couldn't get it to combine. The decision to abandon the meeting was an easy one.

"It was a tough decision to set next Saturday as the re-staging date as I do realise a number of riders will already have racing commitments elsewhere that they will be obliged to break. Next Saturday we will have a track surface that we can be proud of.

" I have asked Ole Olsen to stay on in Sweden and oversee the track preparations. But I must stress that this track had nothing to do with Ole and his team.

"Under our contract with SVEMO, track preparation was entirely their responsibility. Afull refund of tickets will be available to anyone who can make it next Saturday."

Rickardsson, meanwhile, definitely lines up in Craig Boyce's testimonial meeting at Poole on Wednesday.

Boyce said: "Tony rang me up and asked what is going on with my testimonial and whether there was a space for him to ride.

"It means a lot to me that he is riding. In fact it is a an honour for Tony to be turning out in my testimonial."

SCANDINAVIAN GRAND PRIX At Stockholm. Pre-main event: Ht 1: Protasiewicz, Sullivan, B Pedersen, Ljung (fell). Ht 2: Wiltshire, Holta, Ruud, Lyons. Ht 3: Max, Loram, Andersen, P Karlsson. Meeting abandoned, track too dangerous. Scandinavian GP to be re-staged on Saturday, August 30, at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg. Standings: 1 Trickardsson 89, 2 N Pedersen 89, 3 L Adams 78, 4 J Crump 72, 5 G Hancock 69, 6 L Dryml 58, 7 T Gollob 56 8 R Holta 56, 9 R Sullivan 54, 10 S Nicholls 50, 11 T Bajerski 41, 12 P Protasiewicz 35, 13 M Max 29, 14 A Jonsson 27, 15 J Lyons 20, 16 B Pedersen 18, 17 T Wiltshire 15, 18 K Cegielski 15, 19 B Brhel 14, 20 M Loram 12, 21 L Richardson 12, 22 H Andersen 7. Overall GP standings (after five rounds of nine): Story so far: May 17, European GP, Chorzow, Poland: 1 Rickardsson, 2 N Pedersen, 3 L Dryml, 4 Gollob. May 31, Swedish GP, Avesta: 1 Sullivan, 2 L Dryml, 3 Adams, 4 Hancock. Jun 14, British GP, Cardiff: 1 Pedersen, 2 Crump, 3 Rickardsson, 4 Hancock. Jun 28, Danish GP, Copenhagen: 1 Crump, 2 Rickardsson, 3 Hancock, 4 N Pedersen. Jul 12, Slovenian GP, Krsko: 1 Adams, 2 N Pedersen, 3 Nicholls, 4 Gollob. Remaining rounds: Aug 30, Scandinavian GP, Gothenburg. Sep 6, Czech Republic GP, Prague. Sep 20, Polish GP, Bydogoszcz. Oct 4, Norwegian GP, Hamar.