Crump vaults into SGP lead
The Aussie thoroughbred's now leading the 2012 Speedway World Championship after finishing second at a star-studded final in the Czech capital of PragueAustralia’s Jason Crump leads the 2012 Speedway World Championship after topping the score chart at round three in Prague.
The three-time world champion won three of his five heats at the Marketa Stadium before winning his semi-final and then nailing second in the final, the latter behind Dane Nicki Pedersen.
Pole Tomasz Gollob and American Greg Hancock were third and fourth in the final.
Crump said: “I was close to a win, but in the final Nicki just made too good a start for me off gate two. I couldn’t get there with him.
“It has been a good night. I got a fair few points. I got a good total in the heats, won my semi and obviously 6pts in the final (for a win) would have been nicer than four, but you can’t win them all.
“I was as surprised as anybody when they told me I was leading the world championship. That’s a bonus.”
Crump, whose last GP win was in April, 2010, vaulted up three spots in Prague to hit the championship lead – but it’s a congested affair. Crump is on 44pts, ahead of Hancock (43), Gollob (43), Pedersen (42), Jaroslaw Hampel (39) and Australia’s second rider, Chris Holder (35). Nine rounds still remain.
Holder bowed out at the semi-final stage, while other riders to be eliminated at the same juncture were Russian Emil Sayfutdinov, Antonio Lindback and wildcard surprise packet Josef Franc.
Next up is the FIM Swedish SGP in Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium on May 26.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Jason Crump 44, 2 Greg Hancock 43, 3 Tomasz Gollob 43, 4 Nicki Pedersen 42, 5 Jaroslaw Hampel 39, 6 Chris Holder 35, 7 Antonio Lindback 26, 8 Emil Sayfutdinov 25, 9 Fredrik Lindgren 22, 10 Andreas Jonsson 20, 11 Hans Andersen 17, 12 Kenneth Bjerre 15, 13 Bjarne Pedersen 15, 14 Peter Ljung 15, 15 Chris Harris 14, 16 Josef Franc 9, 17 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 7, 18 Jason Bunyan 1.
FIM MITAS CZECH SGP SCORES
1 Nicki Pedersen 19, 2 Jason Crump 20, 3 Tomasz Gollob 12, 4 Greg Hancock 12, 5 Chris Holder 12, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov 10, 7 Josef Franc 9, 8 Antonio Lindback 9, 9 Hans Andersen 6, 10 Jaroslaw Hampel 6, 11 Bjarne Pedersen 6, 12 Chris Harris 6, 13 Fredrik Lindgren 6, 14 Peter Ljung 5, 15 Kenneth Bjerre 3, 16 Andreas Jonsson 3.
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