World speedway to kick off in Prague

This event has crept up on us a little bit - although Australians Jason Crump and Leigh Adams have been diligently preparing for months.

The opening round of the 2009 Speedway World Championship will be held at the much-loved Marketa Stadium in Prague on Saturday night (April 25), as Crump starts his campaign to win a third world title, and 37-year-old Adams his first.

The Northampton-based Crump, who made it onto the top 50 Australian sports earners for the first time in 2008, is a colossus, and hasn't finished outside the top three in the world championship since 2001.

That's a catalogue of success which is unmatched by his peers in this year's championship and, in full flight, the former Mildura (Vic) resident remains the most explosive rider on the planet - period.

However, the recipe for championship success is as much about consistency as raw speed, and over the last two years Dane Nicki Pedersen has perfected that mix.

Pedersen, who only became a dad for the first time a few weeks ago, may not be at his freshest as he starts his championship defence in Prague, although he did win last year's corresponding round at Marketa from Hans Andersen, Crump and American veteran Greg Hancock.

Meanwhile, in 2009 Crump has eased back in workload in domestic speedway leagues to focus most of his energies in winning a third world title.

His previous successes came in 2004 and 2006, and he was second in last year's title.

Crump is always fast at Marketa, having won in 2006 before making the semi finals in 2007.

After smashing the opposition in the 2009 Aussie speedway title, Adams has made a superb start to this year's European season, scoring heavily in the majority of meetings he has contested.

A relaxed attitude is helping, which he hopes to transfer to the world championship arena.

"I'm enjoying my speedway and that makes a lot of difference at any level of competition," said Adams. "I raced in Australia just four times during the summer, but it was enough to keep me sharp and that helped me kick things off well over here.

"It was a good thing that I did compete back home because the meetings here have been anything but warm-up events! There has been some serious early season competition and as I say I'm enjoying it"

"The Grand Prix is tough, but I have tested some really good engines this season and I will be better prepared than ever before when the tapes go up in the Czech Republic."

Of this year's 15 permanent riders, Pedersen and Crump are the only world champions, but there are a number of grand prix winners.

Other contenders this year will include Tomasz Gollob, who competed in the very first speedway GP back in 1995, Hancock, Andersen, Andrea Jonsson, Rune Holta, Scott Nicholls and Fredrik Lindgren.

The bolter could be Russian Emil Sayfutdinov, who has won the past two world junior titles, both times defeating Australia's Chris Holder. Crump, Adams and Jonsson are also past junior world champions.

The 16th rider in each world championship round will be a local wildcard, while Australia's Ryan Sullivan is a reserve rider. That means if one of the 15 regulars cannot compete, Sullivan is on the shortlist to fill the spot.

This year's championship will be held over 11 rounds, with two each in Poland, Sweden and Denmark, and one apiece in Great Britain, Latvia, Slovenia and Italy.

The British round is held at Cardiff Stadium in Wales, and is now regarded as showpiece event on the calendar.

For more information on the Speedway World Championship, click here.