Jason Crump

Jason Crump
Jason Crump in Bydgoszcz, 2006
Born (1975-08-06) 6 August 1975 (age 49)
Bristol, England
NicknameCrumpy
NationalityAustralian
Websiteofficial website
Career history
Great Britain
1991, 1994–1995, 2007Poole Pirates
1992, 1996–1997, 1999Peterborough Panthers
1993Swindon Robins
1998Oxford Cheetahs
2000–2001King's Lynn Stars
2002–2006, 2008–2009Belle Vue Aces
2020–2021Ipswich Witches
2021Plymouth Gladiators
Poland
1994, 1996, 2000–2001Gorzów
1995, 1999, 2006–2010Wrocław
1997–1998Zielona Góra
2002Piła
2003–2005Toruń
2011–2012Rzeszów
Sweden
1994Getingarna
1995Rospiggarna
1997–2005Vargarna
2006–2012Vetlanda
Speedway Grand Prix statistics
Starts145
Podiums56 (23-19-14)
Finalist77 times
Winner23 times
Individual honours
2004, 2006, 2009World Champion
1995World Under-21 Champion
1995, 2007Australian Champion
1990Australian Under-16 Champion
1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004Queensland State Champion
1999, 2001, 2006, 2008Elite League Riders' Champion
1999Australian Masters Series 500 Champion
2002, 2006Golden Helmet of Pardubice
2005, 2007, 2008Edward Jancarz Memorial winner
2005, 2006Peter Craven Memorial winner
1996Australian Long Track Champion
2002Australian Long track Grand Prix
1994Wolverhampton Olympique
Team honours
1999World Team Cup
2001, 2002Speedway World Cup
1994, 1999Elite League Champion
1999, 2000, 2005Elite League KO Cup Winner
1994, 1997Elite League Fours Champion
2006, 2007Elite League Pairs Champion
1992National League Champion
1992National League KO Cup
2002European Club Champion
1995, 1997German Bundesliga Champion
1995, 2006, 2010, 2012Swedish Elitserien Champion
1995, 2006Polish Ekstraliga Champion

Jason Philip Crump[1] (born 6 August 1975)[2] is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia (UK born). He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, and a World Cup winner.[3][4][5]

In a 21-year career in Speedway, Crump finished with seven World Championship titles to his name (four individual, including the U/21 title, and three teams), making him one of the most successful Australian motorcycle racers of all time. He holds the all-time record for Grand Prix wins with 23.[6]

Family

[edit]

His father, Phil Crump, is an Australian from the country town of Mildura and was riding for the Newport Wasps when Jason was born in Bristol, England.[7] Phil, a four time Australian Solo Champion (1975, 1979, 1984 and 1988) and 13 time Victorian State Champion, finished third in the world championship in 1976 at the Silesian Stadium in Katowice (Poland) when British star Peter Collins won the title, and as part of the Australian team had won the 1976 Speedway World Team Cup Final at the White City Stadium in London. The Crump family had a home in Bristol while Phil was racing in the British League. Jason's maternal grandfather Neil Street was a former speedway rider and former long time manager of the Australian speedway team.[8] Jason Cump and his wife have two children.

Career

[edit]

After finishing second in both 1988 and 1989, Crump won his first major junior speedway title in 1990 becoming Australian Under-16 champion at the Bibra Lake Speedway in Perth, Western Australia. Crump began his European league career at the Poole Pirates in 1991, where his grandfather, Neil Street, was team manager.

His best placing in the Australian Under-21 Championship was third in 1992 at the Riverview Speedway in Murray Bridge (South Australia) behind reigning Australian U/21 and senior champion Leigh Adams and second placed Jason Hawkes, making it an all-Mildura podium. Crump didn't place in the 1993 Australian U/21 Championship at his then home track, Olympic Park, and like a number of young Aussie riders was denied the chance to win the title when it was not contested in 1994 or 1995.

Just two weeks following his 19th birthday, Crump rode in his first World Final (1994) held at the Speedway Center in Vojens, Denmark, where he finished in 11th place with six points scored. After winning his opening ride, he failed to score in his next two races before finishing with a third and second placing. 1994 was notable as it was the last year the World Championship was decided in the traditional single meeting format.

Crump, after moving his home base from Mildura to Queensland in the mid-1990s, won the Queensland State Championship for the first time in 1995. He would go on to win it on five occasions (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2004). The same year saw Crump join his father Phil as an Australian Champion,when he won his first title at the Gosford Speedway, with the pair being the first (and only) father-son combination to win the title. Later that same year he made his Speedway Grand Prix debut as a wild card in the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain at the Hackney Wick Stadium in London – he won his first three rides, but fell in the B final to finish 8th overall.

Crump's first World Championship title arrived in 1995, when he won the Under-21 World Final at the Ratinan Stadion in Finland after defeating Swede Daniel Andersson in a run-off when both riders finished on 13 points. In the run-off Andersson fell on the first lap, leaving Crump to complete three laps on his own to be crowned the champion.[9] His previous U/21 World Finals had seen him as a reserve rider in the Czech Republic in 1993 (he did not get to ride), while he had finished third in 1994 in Norway.

His first Grand Prix victory came in 1996, again riding at the British Grand Prix at Hackney Wick, although this time as a full-time Grand Prix rider. He has won the World Team Cup in 1999 in Pardubice and the new Speedway World Cup on two further occasions with the Australian team in 2001 in Wrocław, Poland and 2002 in Peterborough, England. In the 2001 World Cup, Crump became the first rider since the legendary Swede Ove Fundin in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960 to go through the entire tournament (including qualification rounds) undefeated. Like their Australian Championship record as the only father and son to win the title, Jason Crump joined his dad as a World Team Cup winner by winning the 1999 Final in Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

Crump won the 'treble' riding for the Peterborough Panthers in Britain during the 1999 season, winning the Elite League, the Knockout Cup and the Craven Shield.[10] Crump also won the 1999 Series 500 in Australia (also known as the Australian Masters Series).

Crump's first world title came in 2004 when he beat then 5-time champion Tony Rickardsson, having won two of the nine Grand Prix that season. He dominated the 2006 season winning four out of nine Grand Prix to take the title for the second time, beating American Greg Hancock into second place.[11]

By winning the 2004 Speedway Grand Prix, Crump became Australia's first Individual World Champion since Jack Young and only the fourth Australian rider to win the World Championship. By becoming World Champion in 2004, Crump also became just the third rider after Per Jonsson and Gary Havelock to win both the Under-21 and Open Individual World Championships. He also became the first rider to win the Individual Under-21, Individual and Team World Championships.

He rode for the Belle Vue Aces for five seasons until the end of 2006 when, in 2007, Crump signed for the Poole Pirates in the Elite League. Also in 2007, he won his second Australian Championship. At the end of the 2007 season, Poole announced that Crump would be leaving the club due to the large points limit reduction made by the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA) at their 2007 annual general meeting,[12]

Crump returned to Belle Vue for 2008 and signed a two-year deal to stay with the club.[13] However, in October 2008, Crump announced he will not be riding in the British Elite League in 2009 in order to reduce his fixture schedule, allowing him to concentrate on the Grand Prix series.[14]

He returned to Belle Vue in August 2009 to assist with their relegation fight and KO Cup campaign. On 14 September 2009, Crump fell during a last heat decider for Belle Vue against Ipswich, sustaining injuries to his left arm and shoulder. In spite of this he finally won his third world title in 2009.

He announced his retirement from Grand Prix racing at the end of the 2012 season on 24 September 2012. In December 2012 he confirmed that he was retiring from the sport altogether due to a back injury.[15] However, eight years after he announced his retirement, Crump returned to the sport. He joined Ipswich Witches for the SGB Premiership 2020 season.[16]

Crump rode again for Ipswich in the SGB Premiership 2021 and the Plymouth Gladiators in the SGB Championship 2021[17] but finally retired for good in 2022 to take a team management role at the newly reformed Oxford Cheetahs.[18]

World Final Appearances

[edit]

Individual World Championship

[edit]

World Team Cup/World Cup

[edit]

Individual Under-21 World Championship

[edit]

Major results

[edit]

Speedway Grand Prix

[edit]
Year Position Points Best finish Notes
1996 10th 45 Winner Won British Grand Prix
1997 18th 8 10th Only 1 ride – stand in for injured rider
1998 8th 62 Winner Won British Grand Prix
1999 8th 66 3rd Third in Czech Grand Prix
2000 4th 88 Winner Won Swedish Grand Prix
2001 2nd 113 Winner Won Polish and Swedish Grand Prix
2002 2nd 162 Winner Won Czech Grand Prix
2003 2nd 144 Winner Won Danish and Czech Grand Prix
2004 1st 158 Winner Won Czech and Danish Grand Prix
2005 2nd 154 Winner Won Swedish and Scandinavian Grand Prix
2006 1st 188 Winner Won European, Swedish and British (in succession) and Italian Grand Prix
2007 3rd 124 3rd Broken knee cap. Third in British, Scandinavian and German Grand Prix
2008 2nd 152 Winner Won British and Latvian Grand Prix
2009 1st 159 Winner Won European, Danish and British Grand Prix
2010 3rd 135 Winner Won European Grand Prix
2011 4th 110 2nd Second in Danish and Nordic Grand Prix
2012 6th 126 Winner Won Danish Grand Prix

Grand Prix wins

[edit]

World Longtrack Championship

[edit]

One Day Finals

Grand-Prix Appearance

  • 2004 1 app (20th) 12pts

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Jason Crump - About the Rider". Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  2. ^ Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
  3. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
  4. ^ "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  5. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  6. ^ Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 517. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
  7. ^ Randall, Charles (31 May 2006). "A Life in Sport: Jason Crump". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 December 2007.[dead link]
  8. ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  9. ^ "Hamill and Cross are the heroes in Cradley triumph". Birmingham Daily Post. 7 August 1995. Retrieved 10 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ Bamford, R.(2007). Speedway Yearbook 2007. ISBN 978-0-7524-4250-1
  11. ^ "Crump claims world title". BBC. 3 October 2004. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
  12. ^ "It's over". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 3 December 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  13. ^ "Crump signs new deal". Manchester Evening News. 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
  14. ^ "Crump quits Elite League". Sky Sports. 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
  15. ^ Clark, Richard (2012) "Crump quits", Speedway Star, 22 December 2012, pp. 3-5
  16. ^ "2020 Witches...Jason Crump". Ipswich Withces. 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Jason Crump". Ipswich Speedway. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Speedway legend Jason Crump to manage Oxford Cheetahs". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jason_Crump&oldid=1243297021"