Oxford Silver Machine's Nicki Pedersen came out on top of an incident-packed FIM Fiat Vans Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain in front of a lower than expected 36,676 crowd at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Pedersen leads heat 17 as Dryml tries to pass

Pedersen, who was second in the opening round in Poland in May, and missed Oxford's win over Peterbrough on Wednesday because of a groin strain, bounced back from a series of misfortunes to snatch a fantastic victory from Australia's Jason Crump and defending world champion Tony Rickardsson.

Oxford teammate Todd Wiltshire, runner-up here last year, won his opening two races before bailing out when trying desperately to catch the leaders in heat 13.

The fall took the edge off his form and he finally bowed out in heat 18 with a lap of honour in his final British GP before his retirement.

Pedersen had a busy night, taking eight rides and winning five of them. He also notched two second places and two thirds.

His gating was spot-on and when he did miss out, he was soon in the thick of the action to get through.

The pint-sized Pedersen is now only three points adrift of Rickardsson at the head of the overall standings, with former Cheetah Lukas Dryml, who failed to make the final for the first time this season, third.

Pedersen was delighted with his win, especially after he and Rickardsson survived separate heavy crashes in their semi-final.

Rickardsson was the first to go down after clashing with fellow Swede Andreas Jonsson, who was excluded.

In the re-run, Scott Nicholls hit a rut on the track and hurtled into Pedersen as both went crashing into the air fence. Thankfully, both Pedersen and Rickardsson got up and dusted themselves down.

Yet again, Rickardsson made the final while his two nearest rivals before the start, Dryml and Ryan Sullivan, did not.

England's Nicholls also had his best GP of 2003, reaching the semis for the first time, but the dismal run of Lee Richardson continues.

He added only four points to his tally, while wild cards Simon Stead and David Howe, and late entry Chris Harris, were soon on their way home.