Australia's Jason Crump grabbed a well deserved win at the Welsh Open Championship in Newport yesterday.

Crump, one of three Australians in the final, was in breathtaking form all afternoon and fully deserved to win.

Son of former Newport legend Phil, Jason Crump was involved in most of the major events that took place during yesterday's championship.

Only luck saved him from being involved in a nasty accident in the very first heat.

After a 30 minute delay to the start time while Newport officials tried to fix the start gate, the first heat only got as far as the opening bend before chaos struck.

Swindon's Phil Morris, Exeter's Mark Simmonds, and Newport's own Steve Masters were involved in a crash which miraculously everyone walked away from.

Morris was clipped from behind by Simmonds and swerved away over the gravel, but Simmonds then bumped into Masters, and the two riders careered into the safety fence on the first bend.

While Simmonds got off quite lightly, Masters was hit by his bike as it rebounded off the safety fence.

After a period of treatment Masters limped away with a badly bruised ankle, but it still ended his race.

When the first heat finally got under way, some 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, Crump stormed to victory in 59.63seconds.

From then on Crump reigned supreme, not losing a heat until his fifth outing in the qualifiers, when he came third behind fellow countryman Steve Johnston.

Johnston was the only other rider to match Crump all afternoon, and can count himself unlucky that in the final he only managed to finish third.

The Oxford Cheetahs rider was the only one to grab a maximum 15 points from the five qualifying heats, and next to Crump was a cut above the other riders.

Italy's Armando Castagna, and Johnston's Oxford team-mate Todd Wiltshire completed the final four.

Castsagna, like Johnston and Crump had stormed through the heats racking up three wins. Wiltshire only managed to win one heat, but his consistent performing saw him grab four second place finishes.

It was Wiltshire who caused the upset of the championship, when he pipped Johnston in the final to take second spot.

Apart from Steve Masters, two other Newport riders competed in the Welsh Open championship. Scott Smith had an off day managing only five points from five outings, and Graig Gough, who rode reserve in the place of the injured Masters, managed one point.