Honestly, I don't think it was wore out, but you already had it out and I figured you'd have it tore down before you read anything anyway.
Looks to me like the head gasket was either blown or the bolts weren't tight. Probably could have cleaned it up and put a new gasket on it and it would have been fine.
On the bearing plate; remove the bolts and just take a rubber mallet and hit is easily to the rear. It is aluminum, so don't get carried away. They usually come loose easy enough, but do be careful, it has to come off the bearing/ crank evenly. The bearing may stay in the housing, or it may stay on the crank. I prefer to see it stay in the housing.
So far, in all your pics, I just see normal wear.... and it's not even that bad. Probably going to be cheap to rebuild.
On another note, it looks like it was ingesting dirt. Check the air filter housing and carb for "leaks".
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