Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126974
American Kelly Moran hugs the inside line during World Pairs Speedway competition, while partner Sam Ermolenko moves around the outside. (Front row) winners Erick Gunderson and Han Nielsen. (back row) runners-up Simon Wigg and Kelvin Tatum. Ermolenko and Moran . Moran and Ermolenko finished top Americans. third overall in World Championship Pairs Speedway competition. held in "Czechoslovakia. World Championship Pairs Speedway Final Danes win, Americans third in Czechoslovakia By John Hipkiss PARDUBICE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, JUNE 28 Californians Sam Ermolenko and Kelly Moran agai n tea m ed up to repres en t America in the first final of the 1987 season, the Pairs held in Czechoslovakia, bu t they failed their year. down to go one better than runner-u p finish last I nstea.d . th ey w~nt ~ne and finished third with 36 points against England's 44 and 18 Denmark's title winning 52 points. Ermolenko didn't start off the week on the right foot as his van broke down in West Germany on the way to Czechoslovakia. He hastily reorganized his travel arrangements, but found the whole weekend just a little deceiving, having felt groggy and ill for the previous three days. "I felt bad wit h headaches and went into the meeting with more pressure than expected, with the van breaking down and machine problems. It wasn 't a particularly good weekend for me. Kelly and I gave it our best shot but the Danes and the Enghsh nders were better on the day and (Erik) Gundersen and (H ans) Nielsen sure deserved to retain the Pairs title," said Ermolenko after three sleepless nights, With six -man heats and a new scoring system - five points for a win, four for second, three for third, two for fo u rth , one for fifth, and none for six th - the pairs me t each o ther once in their qualifyi ng hea ts with the top three a ll facing each other, maintaining everyone's hopes . right until the end. Ermolenko, who was a replacernent for Shawn Moran after Moran failed to transfer further in the individual title chase - going out at the American Final, and Moran started the meeting in reasonable fashion, collecting seven points in th e first race of the day. Moran trai led New Zeala nd's Mitch Shirra across the finish line and ' Ermolenko finished a close third. Race two saw the two big guns face each other and England tackled the mig hty Da n es. England's newly crowned British and Common wealth Champion, Kelvin Tatum, took charge from the start and beat Gundersen and current World Champion Nielsen. Tatum 's partner, Simon Wigg, couldn't match the speed of his countryman and finished down the field. Tatum proved his international status with four superb wins in a row , failing to make the clean sweep against reasonably easy 'o pposition, Finland's Kai Neirni, in race 13. The Americans were never in the title hunt and the final outcome was fairly predictable, but the honors between Den mark and England were always close with no more than two p"oinLS separating them in the"qualifying heats. The Danes did show their strength in the final top scorers' race and won by an eight point margin. . America's hopes were dashed in the early heats when Ermolen ko's machine suffered a broken exhaust, though Moran was ab le to pick up third place beh ind the two Danes. The Californians bounced back three heats later to take a maximum nine points from the Ita lians and Australians. After all the teams had completed three rides, Denmark /Ted with 25 points, England was second wi th 24 and America third wit h 19. . Moran and Ermolenko faced th e challe nge of the Brits in the 11th race, bu t were out-foxed in the first turn as Tatum and Wigg too k a quick lead I and fin ished ahead of the Americans. With Denmark's Nie lsen and Gundersen also finis hing one-two in their next race, the scores with just one qualifying race to go stood at Denmark 34, England 33 and U.S . 24. In the last three races England slipped as Denmark and the Americans both cleaned up. Tatum and Wigg lost their max race win when Finland's Niemi split the pair, so the newly formed race card for the Pairs title saw the top three teams fight it out to the bitter end, with the final race counting towards the result. Denmark, Just two points ahead of England with the Americans 10 down on the Danes, were optimistic going into the final race. As the six riders charged into the first bend, Moran hugged the inside line while Gundersen charged around the outside and Nielsen rode almost sidesaddle with Moran. Tatum had tucked himself somewhere in the middle. Hopes soon faded for the Americans as Moran's engine blew, and Ermolenko, though fighting all th e way, co u ld n't ca tch th e two ' Danes. T he fin ishing order rea d Gu ndersen, Nielsen, Ermolenko, Wi~g and Tatum wit h Moran failing J to finish. . • Results 1. De nmark (52); 2. England (44); 3. U.S.A. (361 ; 4 . New Zeal.nd (36); 5. Czechoslovaki. (30); 6. Aust ra lia (21); 7. Finl.nd(1 91 8. llaly(181 9. Poland ; ; (14). .