Crump fourth as local riders blitz

Poland's Tomasz Gollob has romped to a 24pt maximum in his home world speedway grand prix, completing his imperious outing with victory in the final ahead of compatriots Rune Holta and Jaroslaw Hampel and Australian Jason Crump.

After an untidy couple of rounds, it was a welcome return to form for Crump, who fared immeasurably better than his countryman Chris Holder.

Holder man lost control going into turn three in heat 14 and was sent sprawling across American Greg Hancock's path.

The American's footrest clipped Holder's arm and the 22-year-old was left in agony on the shale. Initial reports suggested he had broken his arm, but he was hopeful it was just muscle damage and was set to undergo x-rays.

Crump is now fourth in the standings on 58pts, behind Gollob (78), Hampel (75) and Kenneth Bjerre (59), Holder is in ninth position.

"I am not quite at the ultimate place where I am going all out to win it but it is coming," Crump said. "I needed to make the cut tonight and I did that, but I wasn't quite good enough in the final race.

"In my semi I didn't quite have the confidence to take the outside gate, so I took gate one because I thought it gave me a better chance to get a win and make the final. It didn't quite work out for me

"It was a bit frustrating, but with the way things have been going in the last few GPs it is still a big step forward.  There are now three weeks until Cardiff (Wales) which gives me six meetings to get going, and hopefully that is what I need."

It has been 37 years since a Pole was last crowned world individual champion, but Gollob feels he is in the form of his life and is ready to realise his dream of becoming No.1.

He said: "I'm very happy; that was absolutely fantastic. Congratulations to Rune and Jarek because that last heat was very hard. Getting maximum points is great for me and now I am in first position.

"It's going to be hard work in the next six GPs. But I was in good form tonight. I was always having a fantastic race with the bikes.

"I think I may be strong for the next six rounds of the GP. This year my dream is to be the world champion. The 2010 world champion will be Polish - me or Jarek."

The victory was Gollob's ninth in his home grand prix. Gollob won the first Polish GP way back in 1995, which is when the multi-round world championship first began. Hancock is the only other rider who remains from the original 1995 'class'.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tomasz Gollob 78, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 75, 3 Kenneth Bjerre 59, 4 Jason Crump 58, 5 Rune Holta 48, 6 Andreas Jonsson 46, 7 Hans Andersen 46, 8 Nicki Pedersen 44, 9 Chris Holder 41, 10 Magnus Zetterstrom 37, 11 Chris Harris 36, 12 Greg Hancock 34, 13 Freddie Lindgren 33, 14 Emil Sayfutdinov 27, 15 Tai Woffinden 22, 16 Janusz Kolodziej 12, 17 Adrian Miedzinski 6, 18 Antonio Lindback 6, 19 Piotr Protasiewicz 5, 20 Matej Kus 3, 21 Leon Madsen 3, 22 Nicolai Klindt 1.

HEAT SCORERS:
Tomasz Gollob (3-3-3-3-3) 15
Jason Crump (3-2-3-2-3) 13
Rune Holta (3-3-2-3-1) 12
Jaroslaw Hampel (3-3-1-3-1) 11
Hans Andersen (1-2-2-1-2) 8
Tai Woffinden (2-0-0-3-2) 7
Nicki Pedersen (X-1-2-2-2) 7
Adrian Miedzinski (2-1-0-X-3) 6
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Chris Holder (1-2-3-X-N) 6
Magnus Zetterstrom (1-0-3-1-1) 6
Freddie Lindgren (1-2-1-0-2) 6
Greg Hancock (2-1-2-1-0) 6
Piotr Protasiewicz (0-0-0-2-3) 5
Chris Harris (2-1-0-1-1) 5
Kenneth Bjerre (0-3-1-0-0) 4
Andreas Jonsson (0-0-1-2-0) 3
Artur Mroczka (X) 0
Maciej Janowski (-) 0

Semi-Final 1: Gollob, Hampel, Pedersen, Woffinden.
Semi-Final 2: Holta, Crump, Andersen, Miedzinski.
Final: Gollob, Holta, Hampel, Crump.