CRUMP WINS EUROPEAN GP!

Current World Champion, Jason Crump roared to victory in the opening round of the Speedway Grand Prix series in Leszno, Poland. The 34 year old secured 19 points overall to be leading the World Championship for 2010, an ominous sign to his fellow rivals. This was a fantastic performance by Crump considering he had been suffering with injuries sustained in October where he received severe burns and broken bones. Many had doubts whether he would be fit enough to race at the start of this season, including the Aussie himself.

“I didn’t expect to be here today, so it was a bit of a bonus really. At the end of last season, I thought I would be able to start defending the World Championship in about June if I was lucky. So it’s a big bonus to be here at the start of the season and an even bigger bonus to get into the final.”

He beat off fierce competition in the final from Leszno rider, Jarek Hampel, who had top scored through the meeting with 11 points and Russian Emil Sayfutdinov.

Crump explained: “I can run, but I can’t really lift anything heavy with my left arm. So I’m very fortunate and I’m really happy to be here. I’ve always put a little bit of pressure on myself to be the world champion, and I want to try and win again.”

Home town favourite Hampel was pleased with his performance in second place after a two year break from the series.

“That was a good place for the beginning of this season. I wanted to try and win the competition but Jason was very fast from gate one in the final. I tried to close him down, but he was in front of me and I couldn’t go any faster. I like racing in the Grand Prix and I hope I race even better next time.”

Three times World Champion, Nicki Pedersen didn’t set the night on fire with a disappointing night by his standards. He ended up finishing third in the semi-final behind Crump and Sayfutdinov with a tally of nine points.

The wild-card Janus Kolodziej who rides for Leszno, alongside Hampel, was 80/1 before the meeting. He stormed into the final hoping to cause an upset amongst the GP regulars and to the delight of the massive Polish crowd. However, he was adjudged to be at fault with an incident with Sayfutdinov and was excluded in the final, causing a re-run with just three riders.

The next GP is in Gothenburg, Sweden on May 8th.

HEAT SCORES:
Jaroslaw Hampel (3-1-2-2-3) 11
Jason Crump (3-3-3-1-0) 10
Emil Sayfutdinov (3-1-1-3-2) 10
Janusz Kolodziej (1-3-3-2-1) 10
Kenneth Bjerre (1-2-2-2-3) 10
Rune Holta (2-3-1-1-2) 9
Chris Harris (2-3-0-0-3) 8
Nicki Pedersen (3-2-0-0-3) 8

Freddie Lindgren (1-1-3-3-0) 8
Hans Andersen (0-2-2-3-1) 8
Chris Holder (2-2-0-2-2) 8
Tomasz Gollob (2-0-2-1-1) 6
Andreas Jonsson (R-1-1-1-2) 5
Greg Hancock (0-0-3-0-1) 4
Magnus Zetterstrom (1-0-0-3-0) 4
Tai Woffinden (0-0-1-0-0) 1

Semi-Final 1: Hampel, Kolodziej, Holta, Harris.
Semi-Final 2: Crump, Sayfutdinov, Pedersen, Bjerre.
Final: Crump, Hampel, Sayfutdinov, Kolodziej (exc, foul riding).

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Jason Crump (19), 2 Jaroslaw Hampel (18), 3 Emil Sayfutdinov (14), 4 Janusz Kolodziej (12), 5 Rune Holta (10), 6 Kenneth Bjerre (10), 7 Nicki Pedersen (9), 8 Freddie Lindgren (8), 9 Hans Andersen (8), 10 Chris Holder (8), 11 Chris Harris (8), 12 Tomasz Gollob (6), 13 Andreas Jonsson (5), 14 Greg Hancock (4), 15 Magnus Zetterstrom (4), 16 Tai Woffinden (1).