A MOVE that trumps Emil Sayfutdinov’s remarkable capture by Coventry in 2011 has been pulled off by Ipswich Witches this morning – Swindon-raised triple world champion Jason Crump has sensationally opted to come out of retirement.

The Australian, who retired from competitive racing in December 2012, has been snapped up by last season’s SGB Premiership runners up Ipswich Witches and becomes the sixth member of Ritchie Hawkins’ septet for the upcoming season.

Witches’ latest signing is without question one of the biggest and most surprising in modern speedway history.

The news will likely stun speedway fans into positive silence across the UK, and will come as welcome news to Premiership bosses ahead of tapes up next month.

Earlier this off-season, topflight newbies Sheffield Tigers confirmed they had secured the services of triple world champion Nicki Pedersen. And Swindon’s own Alun Rossiter managed to extend 2017 world champion Jason Doyle’s stay at the Abbey Stadium for 2020.

Crump was born in Bristol, but his earliest memories as a child are being brought up in the Grange Park area of Swindon while his father Phil raced for the Robins in the early to mid-80s.

The 44-year-old, who was world champion in 2004, 2006 and 2009, attended Oliver Tomkins Junior School before emigrating to Australia in the late 1980s.

Crump is set to race at the Abbey Stadium for the first time in nine years on Monday, April 13, when Ipswich visit in the Supporters’ Cup - a competition the Robins won last year.