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Phil Crump

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Phil Crump

Philip John Crump (born 9 February 1952 in Mildura, Victoria) is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. who attained third place in the 1976 World Championship. He also won the 1976 Speedway World Team Cup with Australia in the same year.

Crump who gained the nicknames Crumpy and the Mildura Marvel, started racing speedway in his late teens at his local Mildura track Olympic Park Speedway. He won his first Australian Solo Championship in 1975 at the Sydney Showground Speedway and would go on to win another three national championships in 1979 and 1984 at Olympic Park and in 1988, at the Riverview Speedway in Murray Bridge. He would also finish second on five occasions (1976, 1977, 1980, 1981 and 1985) while he would finish third in the championship in 1983.

The 1983 championship at Adelaide's Speedway Park and had easily won his first three races, including setting a new 3 lap track record along the way. In his fourth race he came against three-time defending champion Billy Sanders who was also undefeated but had looked less convincing after only narrowly defeating Gary Guglielmi in his first race (Guglielmi had led for the first 2¾ laps before Sanders passed him in the final turn). The most anticipated race of the night ended early as the pair clashed in turn 2 of the first lap with Sanders going down. In a very unpopular decision with the almost 8,000 strong crowd, meeting referee Sam Bass excluded Crump and Sanders went on to win the re-run race (beating Crump's new track record by 5/100 of a second) and subsequently the championship after also winning his final ride. As a result of finishing 3rd in the championship, Crump missed a place in the Overseas Final.

Crump finished 2nd to reigning World Champion Ole Olsen of Denmark in the 1976 Australian title after the Dane was a controversial inclusion in the Final at the Liverpool International Speedway in Sydney, despite protests from other riders about his non-Australian eligibility. However, knowing Olsen's drawing power, Liverpool management Mike Raymond and Frank Oliveri successfully pushed for his inclusion in the meeting.

Crump had a stranglehold on the Victorian State Championship winning 13 titles between 1972 and 1988, winning every year except 1976, 1978, 1983 and 1987. He also took out the NSW State Championship in 1976 at the Sydney Showwground.

The Crump family had a home in Bristol while Phil was racing in the British League, which he started doing in 1971 with the Crewe Kings. He also rode for the Newport Wasps, King's Lynn Stars, Bristol Bulldogs and Swindon Robins during his British career.

In 1972, Crump won the British League Division Two Riders Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 14 October and was the highest points average scorer for the 1972 British League Division Two season. In addition, he was instrumental in helping Crewe win the league and cup double.

In 1974, Crump won the "Westernapolis" meeting at Exeter and later won the meeting for a second time in 1978 and again in 1984. He also won the inaugural Yorkshire Television Trophy meeting at The Boulevard in Hull in 1974.

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