Australian team manager Craig Boyce admits skipper Jason Crump’s return has lifted morale this year after he led them to victory in the FIM PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna Speedway World Cup Race-Off.The Aussies scored 51 points to win in Gorzow on Thursday night and qualify for the SWC Final at the Polish venue on Saturday.They will be joined by Sweden, who finished second on 44. Event One winners Denmark and Event Two top dogs Poland complete a mouth-watering line-up for the gold medal decider.Russia claimed third spot in the Race-Off on 33 points and Grand Prix star Emil Sayfutdinov notched 19 of his side’s total. Team Great Britain finished last on 30 and were carried by their sole SGP star Chris Harris, who tallied 14.The Aussies had plenty of scoring firepower in their ranks and led the meeting from heat seven all the way to the conclusion. Troy Batchelor was their star man on 13 points and Australian champion Chris Holder weighed in with 11.Boyce was delighted with his team’s spirit and performance, but reserved special praise for skipper Crump, who notched 12.The three-time world champion missed last year’s SWC to undergo surgery on a niggling arm injury. But Boyce says he is making his presence felt this year.He said: “We have a great team spirit and it has been great to have Jason back in the team. That has boosted our morale again. We’re really happy with tonight and it was a good Race-Off. It was a good practice for the Final. Everything went to plan and the boys pulled together well right from the get-go.”The Aussies struggled badly at the start of Event One in Vojens last Saturday and managed just five points in their opening five races.There is no doubt a poor gate draw handicapped the men from Down Under early on in Denmark as they started four of their five opening heats from the graveyard gate two.So Crump was pleased to see his side fly out of the blocks in Gorzow and admits the big, fast Edward Jancarz Stadium circuit suited his side’s style far better than Vojens.He said: “I think that in Vojens after about heat five or six, we actually scored more points than everybody else. We were just in the wrong place for five or six heats.”Obviously it’s hard to pull back six, eight or 10 points against Sweden and Denmark. We felt the track would suit us a bit better today and so it proved.”Of course we are all very happy and everyone in the team got points when we needed them. If you can do that, then you are going to be in there at the end.”Sweden were inspired into the SWC Final by their skipper Andreas Jonsson, who led the charge on 16. This was despite the fact he suffered a hard tumble in heat nine, when Russian racer Roman Povazhny made a reckless dive up his inside on turn two.Freddie Lindgren was full of praise for his Dackarna and Sweden team mate, but hopes to better the four points he managed in the Final.He said: “I’m really happy we got through. I struggled today but all the other guys in the team did really well, especially Andreas.”I must say he wasn’t feeling very well after his crash, but came out and performed very well. I’m really happy we’re in the Final. Bring it on.”None of the four teams were able to practice for the Race-Off after heavy overnight rain left the circuit requiring plenty of work in the hours leading up to the meeting.After being faced with what looked like a ploughed field, the Gorzow track staff worked wonders to put on a good racing surface. Crump paid tribute to their efforts.He said: “The racing was pretty good and if you had seen the state of the track at 11 o’clock this morning, you would have debated whether there was going to be a meeting on.”So I think the people here at the club in Gorzow deserve some credit for getting the condition of the track the way it was today.”The draw for the SWC Final sees favourites Poland don the blue helmet colours. Denmark are in red, Australia wear white and Sweden have been allocated yellow.SWC RACE-OFF SCORES:Australia 51: 1 Davey Watt 6, 2 Chris Holder 11, 3 Troy Batchelor 13, 4 Darcy Ward 9, 5 Jason Crump 12.Sweden 44: 1 Andreas Jonsson 16, 2 Freddie Lindgren 4, 3 Antonio Lindback 11, 4 Jonas Davidsson 6, 5 Thomas H Jonasson 7.Russia 33: 1 Grigory Laguta 8, 2 Emil Sayfutdinov 19, 3 Roman Povazhny 5, 4 Denis Gizatullin 1, 5 Renat Gafurov 0. TeamGreat Britain 30: 1 Chris Harris 14, 2 Ben Barker 7, 3 Lewis Bridger 1, 4 Edward Kennett 2, 5 Tai Woffinden 6.
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