In front of a crowd of 7,500 Danish contenders Jimmi Madsen and Michael Sandstod moved into the lead after the first night of the "Six Days of Stuggart" in southern Germany.

In the "Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle", the Scandinavian duo has got 74 points, 5 more than current runner-ups Scott McGrory and Matthew Gilmore. Behind the Aussie-Belgian pair, Andreas Kappes and Andreas Beikirch (60 points) are the best-placed Germans. Switzerland's Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart remained outside the podium places by 1 point only, but ahead of crowd favourite Gerd Doerich and his team-mate Jens Lehmann, sitting in fifth place.

Interviewed over the end of night 1, Andreas Kappes, who aims for a sixth victory in Stuttgart that would turn him into the exclusive holder of the record number of wins in this contest, said that his current form is good. Kappes' recent memories of the Stuggart track are not that good instead, as the man, probably Germany's most skilled 6-day specialist, last year crashed and broke his collarbone.

Despite being second to the Danish pair, Scott McGrory and Matt Gilmore still remain the clear favourites, in Kappes' opinion. The Aussie-Belgian duo hasn't won the "Stuggart Six" yet. They led the race for most of the time in the past two editions, but lost the overall leadership at the decisive moment. Perhaps this year may be the good one.

Even though their score was excellent, American Marty Nothstein and Italian partner Adriano Baffi lost 4 laps in the opening night, and are currently sitting in the number ten pot (out of 18 participating teams), while Bremen winners Slippens and Stam of The Netherlands lost one lap and are currently ranked seventh.

Six Days of Stuggart - Overall Standings after Night 1:

1. Jimmy Madsen - Michael Sandstod (DEN) - 74 Points

2. Scott McGrory (AUS)- Matthew Gilmore (BEL) - 69 Points

3. Andreas Kappes - Andreas Beikirch (GER) - 60 Points

4. Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (SWI) - 59 Points

5. Gerd Dörich - Jens Lehmann (GER) - 46 Points

6. Silvio Martinello - Marco Villa (ITA) - 29 Points

at 1 lap

7. Danny Stam - Robert Slippens (HOL) - 22 Points

8. Stefan Steinweg - Erik Weisspfennig (GER) - 6 Points

at 2 laps

9. Lars Teutenberg - Frank Kowatschitsch (GER) - 16 Points

at 4 laps

10. Adriano Baffi (ITA) - Marthy Nothstein (USA)- 37 points

11. Christian Lademann - Christian Bach (GER) - 20 points

12. Guido Fulst - Andreas Müller (GER) - 10 points

at 5 laps

13. Franco Marvulli - Alexander Aeschbach (SWI) - 44 points

14. Franz Stocher - Roland Garber (AUT) - 0 points

at 7 laps

15. Martin Liska - Jozef Zabka (SVK) - 6 points

16. Ronny Lauke - Jan Ott (GER) - 2 points

at 8 laps

17. Stefan Löffler - Daniel Palicki (GER) - 1 point

at 11 laps

18. Dirk Ronellenfitsch (GER) - Patrick Fäh (SWI) - 4 points