Pole-axe for Robins’ pair

But for fellow Australian Leigh Adams and his Swindon Robins teammate Lee Richardson it was a meeting to forget.

Crump, who was second in the opening round in Slovenia, stormed to victory in the final ahead of America's Greg Hancock, Matej Zagar of Slovenia and home favourite Jaroslaw Hampel.

But the failure of Denmark's Nicki Pedersen to make the final and build upon his victory in round one, means that 2004 world champion Crump now has a six point lead at the head of the championship table.

Hancock looked odds-on favourite to win the Dominet European Grand Prix winning his first four races in fine style, including a victory over Nicki Pedersen.

However, Hancock was excluded from his fifth ride for causing Bjarne Pedersen to crash.

Swindon skipper Adams made a reasonable start with six points in his first three rides including a fine win in heat nine.

But a retirement in race 13 with mechanical trouble did not help his cause and only a third in heat 17 behind Tomasz Gollob and Matej Zagar looked to have been curtains for him.

However, despite only totalling seven points Adams surprisingly crept into the semi-final as eighth highest scorer.

On the other hand Robins teammate Richardson struggled in his first four outings and only a win in race 18 improved his score to four points.

Nicki Pedersen headed the qualifying rounds scoring 14, one more than Crump.

In the semis Hancock, looking very fast all night, beat Crump with Adams third. In the second Zagar and Hampel made their first finals of the year.

Hancock actually led the final but could not stop Crump, who now races for the local Wroclaw team in the Polish League, from taking the chequered flag.

Crump was understandably ecstatic afterwards.

Not only had he collected the maximum 25 points, he had won in front of his Polish sponsors for the first time.

Hancock was also pleased with his performance, as was Zagar, now the first rider from Slovenia to win a place on the rostrum.

Defending World Champion Tony Rickardsson was strangely out of sorts all night.

He failed to win a race in five starts and did not qualify for the semis.

In fact it was a bitterly disappointing night for the Swedes, who stage round three of the World Championship in Eskilstuna on May 20.

In addition to Rickardsson, both Andreas Jonsson and Antonio Lindback were struggling.

Britain's Scott Nicholls did at least reach the semis, despite suffering an exclusion for tape-touching, but once again he failed to progress to the final four.

Disappointingly for Adams his failure to make the grand final in Wroclaw meant he only carried forward seven points to the 10 scored in Krsko and he slipped down to ninth overall on 17 his lowest placing for close on five years. Richardson is 11th on 12 points.

• TICKETS will shortly be on sale for round four of the Speedway GP series due to be staged on Saturday, June 3, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Swindon Speedway is due to receive an allocation of British Grand Prix tickets very soon and supporters can guarantee their seat by pre-paying in the Conservatory Bar on race-nights.

Tickets can be paid for by cash or cheque and will be available as follows: Block U18, priced at £29; Block L19, priced at £35 and Block M19, priced at £50.

Alternatively, postal applications are welcome and should be sent to Swindon Speedway, PO Box 323, Gravesend, Kent DA12 9BD, making cheques payable to Go Speed Ltd t/a Swindon Speedway.

EUROPEAN GP RESULT

Qualifying scores

1 Nicki Pedersen (3-3-3-2-3) 14; 2 Jason Crump (3-2-2-3-3) 13; 3 Greg Hancock (3-3-3-3-X) 12; 4 Jaroslaw Hampel (0-3-3-1-2) 9; 5 Scott Nicholls (2-3-2-Tx-2) 9; 6 Tomasz Gollob (1-1-2-2-3) 9; 7 Matej Zagar (1-2-1-3-2) 9; 8 LEIGH ADAMS (2-1-3-R-1) 7.

Top eight riders qualified for semi-finals

Non-Qualifiers: 9 Niels-Kristian Iversen (3-1-0-2-0) 6; 10 Bjarne Pedersen (1-0-1-3-1) 6; 11 Krzysztof Kasprzak (wild card, 2-2-0-1-1) 6; 12 Tony Rickardsson (2-2-1-0-1) 6; 13 Andreas Jonsson (0-0-2-1-2) ; 14 LEE RICHARDSON (1-0-0-R-3) 4; 15 Piotr Protasiewicz (0-1-1-1) 3; 16 Antonio Lindbck (0-0-0-2-0) 2. Reserves: Janusz Kolodziej (0) 0; Tomasz Gapinski (dnr).

HEAT DETAILS

• Heat 1: Crump, ADAMS, B Pedersen, Lindbck
• Heat 2: Hancock, Nicholls, Gollob, Jonsson
• Heat 3: N Pedersen, Rickardsson, Zagar, Hampel
• Heat 4: Iversen, Kasprzak, RICHARDSON, Protasiewicz
• Heat 5: Hampel, Kasprzak, ADAMS, Jonsson
• Heat 6: Nicholls, Zagar, Protasiewicz, B Pedersen
• Heat 7: Hancock, Rickardsson, Iversen, Lindbck
• Heat 8 (r/r): N Pedersen, Crump, Gollob, RICHARDSON
• Heat 9: ADAMS, Nicholls, Rickardsson, RICHARDSON
• Heat 10: N Pedersen, Jonsson, B Pedersen, Iversen
• Heat 11: Hampel, Gollob, Protasiewicz, Lindbck
• Heat 12: Hancock, Crump, Zagar, Kasprzak
• Heat 13: Hancock, N Pedersen, Protasiewicz, ADAMS (ret)
• Heat 14: B Pedersen, Gollob, Kasprzak, Rickardsson
• Heat 15: Zagar, Lindbck, Jonsson, RICHARDSON (ret)
• Heat 16 (r/r): Crump, Iversen, Hampel, Kolodziej, Nicholls (exc. tapes)
• Heat 17: Gollob, Zagar, ADAMS Iversen
• Heat 18 (r/r): RICHARDSON, Hampel, B Pedersen, Hancock (exc)
• Heat 19: (r/r): N Pedersen, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Lindbck
• Heat 20: Crump, Jonsson, Rickardsson, Protasiewicz

Semi-finals

• Heat 21: Hampel, Zagar, N Pedersen, Gollob
• Heat 22: Hancock, Crump, ADAMS, Nicholls

FINAL

• Heat 23: Crump, Hancock, Zagar, Hampel

Grand Prix points

Crump 25; Hancock 20; Zagar 18; Hampel 16; N Pedersen 14; Nicholls 9; Gollob 9; Zagar 9; LEIGH ADAMS 7; Iversen 6; B Pedersen 6; Kasprzak 6; Rickardsson 6; Jonsson 5; RICHARDSON 4; Protasiewicz 3; Lindbck 2; Reserves: Janusz Kolodziej 0.

Overall GP Standings

1 Crump (AUS) 45pts; 2 N Pedersen (DEN) 39; 3 Gollob (POL) 27; 4 Zagar (SLO) 27; 5 Hancock (USA) 25; 6 Rickardsson (SWE) 22; 7 Hampel (POL) 20; 8 Nicholls (GB) 18; 9 ADAMS (AUS) 17; 10 Jonsson (SWE) 13; 11 RICHARDSON (GB) 12; 12 B Pedersen (DEN) 11; 13 Lindbck (SWE) 11; 14 Iversen (DEN) 8; 15 Kasprzak (w/card, POL) 6; 16 Protasiewicz (POL) 4; 17 Ferjan (w/card, SLO) 3.