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falling under his fellow Dane's hard inside charge in heat 9, while Bjarne Pedersen finished strongly with five points in his fourth and fifth rides, beating Nicki for second place in a blanket finish to heat 15. The first semifinal produced major controversy with the riders chasing a nar- row dirt line right on the inside of the cir- cuit, and gate one was the prized starting position in the final races. Andersen led ahead of a battle for sec- ond between Hancock and Nicholls, which appeared to have been settled in favor of the American when he came through on the inside at the start of the second lap and Nicholls went wide, drop- ping to fourth place and seemed to have lost his chance. However, Nicholls gained significant speed on the back straight and swept inside Zagar into turn three, clipping the Slovenian who fell on the entrance to the corner. Zagar had not been on the normal rac- ing line and was also going slower than the other riders, but even so, it still seemed a rough call from referee Tony Steele when he was excluded and Zagar was quick to display his annoyance when running back to the pits to complain on the telephone. Nicholls took full advantage of his sec- ond chance as he gated just ahead of Hancock, and simply had to avoid running into the side of Andersen as the three rid- ers appeared almost chained to the inside. The second semifinal was a straightfor- ward affair for Adams, who had caused some surprise by choosing gate three, but made it work to move clear of a defensive Crump. The World Champion elect, with a perfect record of reaching finals this sea- son, came under threat from both Pedersens and only maintained his second place with a brutal block on Bjarne down the main straight going into the last lap, forcing the Danish rider to back off com- pletely. Andersen, not surprisingly, selected gate one for the final with Crump - after having seen Adams' start at close quarters in the semi when taking gate three. Andersen, still intent on proving a point to the Grand Prix organizers who left him out of this years' series, sped from the gate, but Crump was right there with him, and it was here that the Australian's previous experience of chas- ing the Dane became significant. Crump found the small chink in Andersen's armor and made his move on the inside going into the second lap, tak- ing Andersen so wide that a grateful Nicholls shot through the gap to equal his best-ever Grand Prix result with second place. Adams, off the outside, was never truly a factor having made a poor start, although he was close to Andersen by the closing stages. But nobody could catch Crump, who may have entered the meeting looking at damage con- trol, but exited it with an even bigger lead - a lead that could mathematically see him crowned Champion at the next round in Malilla. That remains unlikely with four rounds still to go, but Hancock and Nicki Pedersen simply had to take advantage of Crump's apparent injury problems in this event and were unable to do so, with the result that they now look likely to battle out for the silver and bronze medals overall. Just nine points sepa- rate the next seven riders, but none are showing the level of consistency to move them into the top bracket. Nicholls was the man to make the big jump, his first final of the season saw him leap from 12th to join sixth in the stand- ings - and the remarkable Andersen sits just fifteen points off the top eight, despite having only ridden in two of the six rounds so far, and is ahead of four of the regular competitors. For the regular strugglers of the tour- nament, Lonigo offered few crumbs of comfort, although Lee Richardson started well with a win in heat 1 over Hancock and Tomasz Gollob. However, the British rider added just one more point to his total and neither Niels-Kristian Iversen nor Piotr Protasiewicz seriously threatened to improve their records. Italian wild card Mattia Carpanese was worth far more than zero from five rides as he was involved in spectacular action on more than one occasion - especially when he almost wiped out Gollob when losing control during a battle for second place in heat 13. The gap, though, between the haves and the have-nots of the series is larger than ever. At this stage last year the absent Rickardsson, with five wins out of six, led Crump by 54 points. This year Crump's lead is three points more - and quite clearly he is not about to let an ankle injury upset his title charge.CN ITALIAN GRAND PRIX LONIGO, ITALY RESULTS: JULY 30, 2006 OVERALL RESULTS: Jason Crump (25); 2. Scott Nicholls (20); 3. Hans Andersen (18); 4. Leigh Adams (16); 5. (TIE) Bjarne Pedersen/Matej Zagar (10); 7. (TIE) Greg Hancock/Nicki Pedersen/Andreas Jonsson (9); 10. Tomasz Gollob (7); 11. (TIE) Jarek Hampel/Niels- Kristian Iversen/Antonio Lindback (5); 14. Lee Richardson (4); 15. Piotr Protasiewicz (3). WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS: 1. Jason Crump (140); 2. Greg Hancock (83); 3. Nicki Pedersen (74); 4. (TIE) Tomasz Gollob/Leigh Adams (62); 6. (TIE) Andreas Jonsson/Scott Nicholls (59); 8. Bjarne Pedersen (58); 9. Matej Zagar (54); 10. Jarek Hampel (53); 11. Antonio Lindback (45); 12. Hans Andersen (43); 13. Tony Rickardsson (41); 14. ( TIE) Lee Richardson/Niels-Kristian Iversen (30). UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 7 - Mililla, Sweden, August 12 Round 8 - Prague, Czech Republic, August 26 C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 9, 2006 37 (Above) Jason Crump leads Niels-Kristian Iverson and Jarek Hampel en route to one of his victories on the night. (Left) Lee Adams tries the outside of Crump. (Below, left to right) Scott Nicholls, Jason Crump and Hans Andersen celebrate after the Italian Grand Prix.