TONY Rickardsson was in awesome form as he claimed a maximum points haul in the opening round of the World Championship Grand Prix series.

Rickardsson made a perfect start to his defence of the title in the Viking Ship Olympic stadium in Hamar, Norway on Saturday.

The Poole Pirates star proved why he is one world championship crown away from emulating the triumphs of Sweden's all-time great Ove Fundin.

And his display left his opponents wondering how and if they can up their game to prevent him winning his fourth championship in five years.

Rickardsson also had to endure two bouts of unwanted overtime on his way to a perfect five-ride unbeaten triumph with both his semi-final and the final called back after riders had fallen.

Billy Hamill caused the semi-final to be re-started when he fell towards the end of the third lap and Rickardsson, who was in total control, was astonished to see the red lights come on.

He said: "Billy and his bike were far enough off the racing line to allow us to avoid running into him and I thought perhaps the referee could have let the race run its course."

"But afterwards, Tony (Steele, the referee) came down to us to explain his position and I can accept his viewpoint. He has his job to do and the rulebook to follow and that's fair enough.

"But I think we wore out more tyres tonight than we normally do over the course of two rounds, what with the re-starts and the fact that the track was that much harder wearing."

In the re-start, Rickardsson made the task of reaching the final look that much easier as he left Mikael Karlsson to do the battling to overcome Carl Stonehewer to ensure two Swedes made the final.

Already two Australians were guaranteed places in the final as the second semi saw an all-Aussie heat which included Jason Crump.

Indeed, it was Crump who gave Rickardsson his closest challenge in this opening round as he surged down the outside, despite still carrying the effects of his track crash in Poland that had inconvenienced him in his preparations for the series.

As both Rickardsson and Crump approached the third turn for the second time, Crump began to slide out wide and could not pull it round enough to correct the move.

It left him struggling to pick his bike up off the track in a bid to get to safety, but with his elbow weak from those injuries, he could not scramble clear in time and on came the stop lights.

"Jason did all he could to try to allow the race to continue," said Rickardsson's team chief Carl Blomfeldt. "And he came over to us afterwards to apologise. Fair play to him and we don't hold anything against him, in fact we appreciate his efforts to get clear," added Blomfeldt, who also revealed that Rickardsson was riding the same engine he has been using at Poole recently.

"Tony knows just how he wants that motor set up and he seems to be able to read it perfectly. He knows just when he wants changes made and it makes our life easier when it's like that."

In the re-run of that final, Rickardsson had to work his way by Karlsson as they came out of the second turn, but, having done so, he was rapidly on his way to collecting the 25 points on offer for the winner.

Rickardsson's Poole team-mate Grzegorz Walasek had a night of mixed fortunes but managed to reach the last eight which will give him a later start in the Bydgoszcz round in a fortnight.

He survived a heat six fall when squeezed out at the first turn, an incident which Steele ruled an unsatisfactory start.

In the re-run, Walasek was able to get clear but again did not ride the turn too cleanly and it allowed Stonehewer room to go by before Rune Holta locked up badly and high-sided into Nikki Pedersen, both riders taking heavy falls.

When the heat was started for a third time, Walasek took a more cautious approach, allowing Stonehewer to run Pedersen wide, thus enabling him to switch to the inside and drive under both opponents. It was a move that eliminated Pedersen and also put Walasek into the sweet 16.

He rode his luck in heat 12 after falling, but after remounting, he continued behind Laukkanen and Smith who fell on the final turn, allowing him in for second place.

His prize was a meeting with Rickardsson and Crump and while he rode a clever first turn, he left too much of a fourth-turn hole for Crump to exploit, thus routing Walasek to another eliminator. But a slow gate preceded a first-turn fall that ended his night's work with seven points.

Standings: 1 T Rickardsson (Swe) 25, 2 R Sullivan (Aus) 20, 3 M Karlsson (Swe) 18, 4 J Crump (Aus) 16, 5 L Adams (Aus), C Stonehewer (GB) 13, 7 B Hamill (USA), T Wiltshire (Aus) 11, 9 M Loram (GB), G Hancock (USA) 8, 11 T Gollob (Pol), G Walasek (Pol) 7, 13 L Gunnestad (Nor), K Laukkanen (Fin) 6, 15 N Klingberg (Swe), L Dryml (Cze) 5, 17 A Smith (GB), K Cegielski (Pol) 4, 19 S Nicholls (GB), A Jonsson (Swe) 3, 21 N Pedersen (Den), S Ulamek (Pol) 2, 23 R Holta (Nor), M Ferjan (Slo) 1.