Rob B

AUBURN, California – Team USA had its four-year win streak broken on Friday night (October 28) as former World Speedway Champion Jason Crump led Team World to its first-ever victory in the annual USA vs. The World Speedway Motorcycle Championships here at Fast Fridays Speedway. USA vs. The World is the traditional finale of the AMA Speedway season at Fast Fridays and drew an enthusiastic crowd despite chilly weather and a forecast of rain. The program was completed just ahead of a band of rain showers. Australia’s Crump led the determined six-rider Team World to a 60-55 point lead after 18 heat races that led up to pivotal A-Main and B-Main Events. The championship was still up for grabs at that juncture, since points paid in the main events made a 21-point turnaround in team scoring possible. But the Team World pairing of Italian Captain Armando Castagna and American John Cook (representing Team World as a former Swedish National Champion) shut the door on Team USA with a 1-2 finish in the B-Main Event that swelled the World’s lead to an unbeatable 70-51. Crump’s victory in the A-Main Event then finished off the 86-59 decision in favor of Team World. This was Crump’s first-ever appearance at Fast Fridays Speedway, but the 2004 World Champion and current World No. 2 looked very much at home. He was challenged on several occasions by Team USA riders, but in the end he swept all six of his heat races as well as the featured A-Main Event. Under the unique USA vs. The World team format, both six-rider teams were divided into three pairs of riders, and each race featured one pair from each team. Crump was partnered with English star Joe Screen, and that duo was by far the most dominant on the night as Crump and Screen scored a match-high 28 points of a possible 30. The Team World pairing of Castagna and Cook put a solid 22 points on the board, while the best Team USA combinations (Faria with Bryan Yarrow and Charlie Venegas with Bobby Schwartz and reserve Buck Blair) posted 17 points each. In individual heat race scoring, Crump led the way with an 18-point maximum, followed by Castagna and Venegas with 14 each and Faria with 11. “The meeting was a lot closer than the final score suggests,” said Fast Fridays promoter Dave Joiner. “In fact, the score was tied seven times, but down the stretch the seasoned pros from Team World prevailed.” Joiner was referencing back-to-back 1-2 finishes by the veteran pairing of Castagna and Cook in Heat 18 and the B-Main Event. Those clutch performances transformed a precarious 55-47 Team World lead into an unassailable 70-51 advantage and turned the A-Main Event into an exhibition. Crump finished off his perfect 7-for-7 performance in the A-Main, finishing ahead of Team USA’s Faria and teammate Joe Screen while Team USA’s Venegas suffered an engine failure. In support class action, outstanding teenager Ricky Wells of Yorba Linda, California, captured the Youth Main Event ahead of Krystal Cramer of Chino, California. Both are 14 years old. Results Fifth Annual USA vs. The World Speedway Championship Fast Fridays Speedway – Gold Country Fairgrounds, Auburn, CA Friday, October 28, 2005 Team Scores Team World – 86 points Team USA – 59 points Note: Team points were awarded as follows: Points awarded on a 3-2-1-0 basis in 18 heat races Points awarded on a 6-4-2-1 basis in B-Main Event Points awarded on a 12-8-4-2 basis in A-Main Event Main Event Results A Main Event 1. Jason Crump, Australia (Team World) 2. Mike Faria, Reno, NV (Team USA) 3. Joe Screen, England (Team World) 4. Charlie Venegas, San Bernardino, CA (Team USA) B Main Event 1. Armando Castagna, Italy (Team World) 2. John Cook, Roseville, CA (Team World) 3. Tommy Hedden, Auburn, CA (Team USA) 4. Bryan Yarrow, Vacaville, CA (Team USA) Top 10 Individual Scorers in Heat Races Note: Each rider took part in six four-rider heat races with points awarded on a 3-2-1-0 basis. 1. Jason Crump, Australia (Team World), 18 points 2. Charlie Venegas, San Bernardino, CA (Team USA), 14 points 2. Armando Castagna, Italy (Team World), 14 points 4. Mike Faria, Reno, NV (Team USA), 11 points 5. Joe Screen, England (Team World), 10 points 6. Bart Bast, Auburn, CA (Team USA), 8 points 6. John Cook, Roseville, CA (Team World), 8 points 8. Bryan Yarrow, Vacaville, CA (Team USA), 6 points 8. Steve Johnston, Australia (Team World), 6 points 10. Freddie Lindgren, Sweden (Team World), 4 points Bill Amick

Don't know who they are but they were right in front of us, you can just see my Jason Crump cap between their arms. The lady in the pink was Swedish and was with Zetters I think.

Quite a few of us going, flying into Venice on Friday morning, hiring a mini bus and staying in Verona.

The lineups can change right upto about an hour or two before the start though.

Where on earth was the airfence in Wroclaw? Looks like BSI are desperate to save money! I would think Wroclaw is definatly a track where the air fence is needed with the speeds they are doing!

Mixture of both actually, anything on a grey background were offcial BSI graphics anything on the blue background were SKY graphics.

That referee is one of the worst about, I actually thought he had been banned from refereeing FIM meetings as he made so many cock ups in the past. Luckl;y tonight he didn't have to made too many decisions. I take it that Tony Steele is going to be the ref on Saturday seeing that he has not been used yet?

Those last two comments were obviously made at the halfway point where the Danes went though a bad patch, the Aussie's wouldn't have got through with Crump riding as he would have done any better then Adams really they way the Poles were riding. I'm still confident that my 5/1 bet on Poland made on Saturday is going to come through.

Nah I still don't think the Aussies would have qualified with Crump riding. The Danes went through a brief bad patch halfway through then it was back to business as usual.

Nearly did! I don't like it when the joker suddenly pops out in the last heat, don't think it should be allowed in the last heat.

COBRAS 31 Ben Taylor 3, 3, 3, 3 = 12 Ben Hopwood 1, 1, 2' = 4+1 George Jarvis X, 3, 1, F = 4 Gary Irving 3, 3, 3 = 9 Ben Thompson 1, 1 = 2 BULLS 17 Joe Haines 2, 2, 2, 2 = 8 James Humby 0, 0 = 0 Chris Wildman 2, 1, 0, 1' = 4+1 Scott Meakins 1', 2, F = 3+1 James Sealey X, X, 2 = 2

Sweden will win tomorrow but Poland will then win the race off and win the final on Saturday too.

http://www.dk4.dk/ TV on the left.

Definatly agree with Davey Watt but not Steve Johnston, he is riding poor.

Long way to go and a lot of money to pay to watch the racing on the big screen!

Firstly those instructions were written by Peter Ballinger a few years ago and are still up to date, if you follow them you won't have any problems. Answers to some q's. No you don't have to sign your ticket, just stick it in the little yellow machine on the bus and it puts a time stamp on it, you only have to do this once. Not really any bars near the stadium but there are beer tents. I wouldn't really hang around Wenceslas Square, best place to hang around is the Old Town Square, plenty of bars in the square with outdoor seating. I don't know what time the trams stop but put it this way last year after the GP was delayed due to all the rain we got out of the stadium about midnight and still got a tram so they must run into the early hours. Only problem we had was the underground stopped running at midnight but we just got a taxi from the Malostranska station into the centre of town which only cost about £2.

Don't know how many bikes he has got them on but he was practising on a bike with orange wheels at Belle Vue after the meeting last week.

About 200 miles.

As the referee didn't notice the tapes not going up and being broken he wasn't going to notice someone putting two wheels over the white line!

What a terrible gate to pick Crumpy, it should of been red definatly!!! Like Chris Louis said, he probably thought because he'd won twice of it he could do it again, but the track was different then. Well they might as well give Rickardsson the trophy now and start a new mini championship for the second half of the series. Definatly don't like the new system, it's quite boring upto heat 17 when it gets interesting to see who is going to make the top 8 and then the semi's and final. The old system kept you on the edge of your seat a lot more and the same riders would still be dominating.

Ben Taylor won the first heat in 60.0

LOL you've always been going the long way plus been paying the tolls then. M50 cuts that out and is quicker. I bet they didn't close the M50 for the FA cup final a couple of weeks ago.

Worst news is that the M50 is closed southbound on Saturday! http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/trave...fic/roads.shtml

Not that simple, you have to pay a charge to change the name on the flight plus you have to pay the difference to what the price was when you booked it and the price now.

Not sure if it has been mentioned anywhere but they announced at Belle Vue tonight there will be some Under 15's demo races at Cardiff.