Gold for Gollob in Czech world speedway

Polish speedway icon Tomasz Gollob gave his hopes of winning a first-ever world championship a massive boost after winning the Czech GP last Saturday night.

Gollob left Prague's Marketa Stadium with 17pts to his name after defeating Nicki Pedersen, fellow countryman Jaroslaw Hampel and Swedish surprise package Magnus Zetterstrom in the final.

For many years he has been regarded as the greatest rider never to top the GP series rostrum. But a strong start to his 2010 campaign has left many questioning whether this could be his year.

While Gollob is now just 3pts behind world championship leader Kenneth Bjerre and one behind Hampel in second, Australia's defending world champion Jason Crump slipped to fourth in the standings after another listless outing.

Crump just scraped into the semi-finals on a countback over four other riders - one including countryman Chris Holder - but he was then fourth in the second semi behind Hampel, Pedersen and Bjerre.

"I am struggling at the moment," Crump admitted. "I am not riding great and to be honest I feel I am out of form.

"It was really disappointing tonight, I went from the bike I thought would work best at this track to my favourite engine then to the one I was least comfortable on during practice and everything ran opposite.

"I am just genuinely having a rough run, it happens to everyone at some point and the only way out of it is too keep riding."

Gollob was involved in the night's major talking point in semi-final one when Swede Andreas Jonsson fell as the world No.2 dived under him on turn three.

Despite television footage showing the 39-year-old had touched the Swede, Jonsson was excluded. Gollob went on to win the rerun and take the gold.

A fiercely competitive night's racing ended in disaster for Russian Emil Sayfutdinov. He was taken to hospital after suffering a break to his upper left arm, when he collided with Chris Harris' back wheel and hit the fence at full speed in heat 15.

He underwent an operation to have his arm plated and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Round four is in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 5.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after three rounds):
1 Kenneth Bjerre 42, 2 Jaroslaw Hampel 40, 3 Tomasz Gollob 39, 4 Jason Crump 33, 5 Nicki Pedersen 31, 6 Andreas Jonsson 30, 7 Emil Sayfutdinov 27, 8 Chris Holder 26, 9 Greg Hancock 25, 10 Hans Andersen 24, 11 Magnus Zetterstrom 24, 12 Rune Holta 23, 13 Freddie Lindgren 19, 14 Chris Harris 18, 15 Janusz Kolodziej 12 16 Tai Woffinden 10, 17 Antonio Lindback 6, 18 Matej Kus 3.

HEAT SCORES
Andreas Jonsson (3-2-3-2-3) 13
Kenneth Bjerre (3-0-3-3-2) 11
Jaroslaw Hampel (2-2-3-3-1) 11
Magnus Zetterstrom (2-1-2-2-2) 9
Nicki Pedersen (0-3-2-T-3) 8
Tomasz Gollob (1-1-3-3-0) 8
Hans Andersen (2-2-2-1-1) 8
Jason Crump (0-1-R-3-3) 7

Rune Holta (0-2-0-2-3) 7
Freddie Lindgren (3-0-2-2-T) 7
Chris Holder (0-3-1-1-2) 7
Greg Hancock (1-3-1-1-1) 7
Emil Sayfutdinov (2-3-0-X) 5
Tai Woffinden (3-1-1-0-0) 5
Chris Harris (1-R-0-1-2) 4
Matej Kus (1-0-1-0-1) 3
Lubos Tomicek (0) 0
Zdenek Simota (0) 0

Semi-Final 1: (re-run) Gollob, Zetterstrom, Andersen, Jonsson (f.exc)
Semi-Final 2: Hampel, Pedersen, Bjerre, Crump
Final: Gollob, Pedersen, Hampel, Zetterstrom