BELLE Vue's Jason Crump defied a possible broken heel to win the Italian Grand Prix in Lonigo.

The 30-year-old Australian injured his left ankle when he crashed at Coventry on Thursday.

Crump flew out to Italy as planned on Friday, rather than go to hospital for an x-ray. But, after tests at the track's medical unit, he was told he may also have fractured his heel.

He rode anyway and then flew on to Poland, where he was racing last night, before returning for Belle Vue's home match with Coventry tonight.

Team boss Ian Thomas said: "After tonight he's got the rest of the week off and will see a Harley Street specialist to get his ankle sorted out."

Crump's victory in Lonigo increased his overall lead to 57 points after six rounds of the ten-match World series and he can clinch his second World crown in the Scandinavian Grand Prix in Sweden on August 12.

Brilliant

Crump won two of his qualifying heats with brilliant first-bend manoeuvres but saved the best to last when he ended a stunning run by Denmark's Hans Andersen by overtaking him in the final.

Andersen made a flying start but Crump blasted through on the inside at the end of the first lap to win his fourth Grand Prix of the year - and he has finished second in the other two.

Crump said: "Hans has been going well and had the benefit of the best starting position.

"He had beaten me when we met in heat 12 but I'd stayed right behind him to put doubt in his mind and perhaps it worked.

"I wanted to go into the second half of the World championship campaign in the same form as the first and that's how it went."

Crump, who sat with his ankle in ice packs between races, added: "I had heaps of speed once I got going but I was struggling to get out of the starts because my ankle was aching.

"Luckily Lonigo is a big track where you don't have to put your foot down too much. It would have been much worse had the meeting been somewhere smaller like Cardiff."

The Aces, fifth in the Elite League table and level on points with Coventry, need to win by more than five points tonight to take the aggregate bonus point and move back into the play-off places.

Italian Grand Prix: 1 J Crump (Australia), 2 S Nicholls (GB), 3 H Andersen (Denmark), 4 L Adams (Australia).

Overall standing: 1 J Crump 140 points, 2 G Hancock (USA) 83, 3 N Pedersen (Denmark) 74), 4 T Gollob (Poland) 62, 5 L Adams 62, 6 A Jonsson (Sweden) and Nicholls 59, 8 B Pedersen (Denmark) 58.

Tonight's teams - Belle Vue: S Stead, J Screen, P Morris (rider replacement), K Bjerre, J Crump or L Adams, T P Madsen, J Wright. Coventry: S Nicholls, B Janniro, C Harris, O Allen, R Schlein, M Smolinski, P Hlib.

What is your prediction for tonight's match? Have your say.