PIRATES star Tony Rickardsson may have come second in Bydgo-szcz but he actually increased his lead at the top of the overall Grand Prix standings to 12 points.

The 31-year-old Swedish international might have been forced to play second fiddle to the enigma that is Tomasz Gollob in the Pole's hometown.

But Rickardsson - adding 20 points to the 25 he picked up for winning the Norwegian GP earlier this month - is now a dozen clear of his nearest challenger Ryan Sullivan.

The Australian leads a posse of pretenders to the Poole Meridian Lifts rider's World Championship crown that includes Gollob, Jason Crump, Mark Loram and Leigh Adams.

However, it is the Swede who leads the GP series going into the third of this year's 10 rounds at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, June 8.

Rickardsson - gunning for his fifth World title - was made to work hard for his second place finish in the Polish GP in front of a partisan 25,000 crowd.

But he went so close to winning this second GP of the campaign after he had gated in front of Gollob in the final in Bydgoszcz.

Rickardsson, off trap two, got away in front of Loram and Gollob, who had sandwiched him in gates one and three, respectively, before the tapes went up on the race.

The Swede, after a terrific gate, got to the first corner in front and ventured quite wide as he rounded the bend on the second corner.

At first, he must have thought he had kept both Gollob and Loram, who was driving hard on the inside line, behind him as he looked down the back straight.

The Pole, however, had other ideas and he dared to go even wider than Rickardsson on the second bend in search of the dirt and extra grip.

His daring move paid off as Gollob squeezed between Rickardsson and the gap between the air fence to scorch into the lead down the back straight.

Rickardsson immediately tried to dive inside the Pole on the fourth bend, but Gollob held his line and the race was won there and then.

The Pirate tried everything to find a way past Gollob but had to be content with second, especially as Rickardsson also had to work hard to keep Loram behind him in third right up until the finish line.

Crump came fourth in the final but after missing the gate off trap four was never in the hunt for a podium place.

It was a fantastic climax to a superb meeting in which all the top names expected to do well in this year's series showed themselves.

Gollob, Loram, Crump and semi-finalists Ryan Sullivan, Leigh Adams and Billy Hamill all served notice that Rickardsson would not have it all his own way in 2002 as the title chase hots up.

The Poole rider still came up with a brilliant result, though, on a night when he won his first two outings at a canter.

Rickardsson jumped out of the gate in heat nine and waltzed to a comfortable victory over the three Australians' Crump, Wiltshire and Adams.

Off gate one again, Rickardsson scorched to a second successive tapes-to-chequered-flag victory in heat 13 in front of surprise packet Rune Holta, Mikael Karlsson and Gollob.

The Swede didn't have it all his own way in heat 19 but still picked up second place to reach the semi-finals.

Outgated by Hamill, Rickardsson was also passed by Sullivan down the back straight, so was third going into the fourth bend of the second circuit.

That's when Sullivan dived under Hamill and Rickardsson followed suit to grab second place behind the Australian and relegate the Ameri-can to third.

Drawn on the inside gate in heat 24, Rickardsson got out of the tapes first, but saw Adams cut inside him to take the lead on the second bend.

The Swede, always close behind the Australian, finally found a way past Adams on the inside of the third bend on the third lap.

It was a move that began Adams' downfall as he was pipped for second, and a place in the final, by Crump on the run-in to the line off the last corner.

Gollob got the better of Rickard-sson in the final, but the Swede wasn't complaining.

Indeed, no true speedway fan could begrudge Tomasz his victory.

He had given his all in each of the seven races he rode on his hometown track.

And his Bydgoszcz success means Gollob is back in the title race.

HEAT DETAILS

Referee: Mick Posselwhite (Great Britain).

Pre-main event

Ht 1: Cegielski, Loram, Nicholls, Hampel.

Ht 2: Jonsson, Protasiewicz, Han-cock, Smith (retired).

Ht 3: (re-run) Gollob, Pedersen, Dryml, Ferjan.

Ht 4: Ulamek, Klingberg, Holta, Wala-sek.

Ht 5: Nicholls, Smith, Walasek, Dryml.

Ht 6: Holta, Hancock, Hampel, Fer-jan.

Ht 7: Gollob, Protasiewicz, Cegielski, Klingberg.

Ht 8: Loram, Ulamek, Pedersen, Jon-sson.

Ht 9: Rickardsson, Crump, Wiltshire, Adams.

Ht 10: Sullivan, Stonehewer, Hamill, Karlsson (retired).

Ht 11: Jonsson, Nicholls, Hancock, Cegielski.

Ht 12: Smith, Holta, Pedersen, Kling-berg.

Main event

Ht 13: Rickardsson, Holta, Karlsson, Gollob.

Ht 14: Loram, Wiltshire, Nicholls, Stonehewer.

Ht 15: Hamill, Crump, Protasiewicz, Smith.

Ht 16: Adams, Sullivan, Jonsson, Ula-mek.

Ht 17: Protasiewicz, Karlsson, Ula-mek, Stonehewer.

Ht 18: Gollob, Jonsson, Smith, Nicholls.

Ht 19: Sullivan, Rickardsson, Hamill, Wiltshire.

Ht 20: Crump, Loram, Adams, Holta.

Ht 21: Holta, Hamill, Jonsson, Prota-siewicz.

Ht 22: (race awarded) Adams, Gol-lob, Wiltshire, Karlsson.

Semi-finals

Ht 23: Gollob, Loram, Sullivan, Holta.

Ht 24: Rickardsson, Crump, Adams, Hamill.

Final

Ht 25: Gollob, Rickardsson, Loram, Crump.

Riders in italics eliminated.

Polish GP points: 25: T Gollob (Pol). 20: Rickardsson (Swe). 18: M Loram (GB). 16: J Crump (Aus). 13: L Adams (Aus), R Sullivan (Aus). 11: B Hamill (US), R Holta (Nor). 8: T Wiltshire (Aus), A Jonsson (Swe). 7: P Protasiewicz (Pol), M Karlsson (Swe). 6: A Smith (GB), S Ulamek (Pol). 5: C Stonehewer (GB), S Nicholls (GB). 4: N Pedersen (Den), G Hancock (US). 3: N Klingberg (Swe), K Cegielski (Pol). 2: J Hampel (Pol), G Walasek (Pol). 1: L Dryml (Czech Rep), M Ferjan (Slovenia).

Overall GP standings: 1 Rickardsson 45 pts. 2 Sullivan 33. =3 Gollob, Crump 32. =5 Loram, Adams 26. 7 Karlsson 25. 8 Hamill 22. 9 Wiltshire 19. 10 Stonehewer 18. =11 Hancock, Holta 12. 13 Jonsson 11. 14 Smith 10. 15 Walasek 9. =16 Ulamek, Nicholls, Klingberg 8. =19 Cegielski, Protasiewicz 7. =21 L Gunnestad (Nor), K Laukannen (Fin), Pedersen, Dryml 6. =25 Hampel, Ferjan 2.

Remaining rounds: Jun 8 British GP, Cardiff. Jun 22 Slovenian GP, Krsko. Jul 6 Swedish GP, Stockholm. Jul 20 Czech Republic GP, Prague, Aug 31 Scandinavian GP, Gothenburg. Sep 14 European GP, Chorzow. Sep 28 Danish GP, Vojens. Oct 26 Australian GP, Sydney. Previous round: May 11 Norwegian GP, won by Rickardsson.