Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(From left to right) Sam Ermolenko, John Cook, Shawn Moran, Phil Collins, Bobby Schwartz and Hans N ielson start the Skoal Shoot-Out. Ascot speedway win to Ermolenko By Scott Daloisio GARDENA. CA . NOV. 13 After seven -and-a-half months, th e curtain finally came down to close the 1987 southern California speedway season. The event was the 1987 Bud Ligh t/Skoal U.S. Long Track Champi onship and it wa s staged on Ascot's lengendary '1 h a If rru e . Many of America's top riders en tered th e event and th ey were joined by World Ch ampion H ans N iel sen of Denmark. When th e 28 event program ca me to a close th e rid er who stood head and shou lde rs abo ve th e rest of th e field was Sam Ermo lenko. It was Errnol en ko's first ra ce since breaking his a n kle and wri st in a cra sh a t Vojens, Denm ark . , in th e middl e o f September. In add iti on to a field o f star rid ers. th e crowd o f o ver 5000 fans was gr eeted by a nast y looking sky th at interrupted th e proceedings severa l times when th e h eav en s decid ed to unleash th ei r wrath. Through it a ll . the fans mai nta ined th eir en th us i- as m. and st~yed glued to th eir sea ts until th e fm al chec kered flag had co me down. Just before th e openi ng Divi sion One -even t go t underwa y. th e wet stu ff began to descend o n th e facility at its hardest rat e of th e da y. The rid ers lined up a nd th e ga te was tripped. Ni elsen burst into th e lead while Randy Green had a cha in sna p as he' ca me off th e line. The pa ck got as Iar as turn one before th e red ca me o u t and a 15 minute dela y set in due to th e ra in . . T he ben eficiar y of th e red n ag was Green . Hi s crew put in a new cha in and he wa s read y La go on th e restart. H e th en thrilled th e fan s. many of wh om were wa tch ing th e ex- C lass C rid er for th e first time. by exc ha ng ing th e lead back and forth with Nielsen unti l th e World Champion put him .away on th e fin al circu it. Mike Faria . riding someone else's bik e. finished dead last after hi s box shorte d o u t. Lance King won a bailie o f former cha m p io ns by taking the second heat over Shawn Moran. Ermolenko won his first race o f th e night by' holding off Engl and's Phil Collins ea rly in event nine. The Manch ester . England. native stayed cl ose until th e final circ u it wh en " Sudden " Sa m pull ed a way . The fir st round en ded in a nothe r baule o f form er cha mpions as Bobby Schwartz edged John Cook for the seven point win. The alwa ys spec tac u la r Cook carne back in th e very next eve n t to win from Ronnie Correy and Collins. Sch wa rtz th en stayed perfect a fter defeating Faria in event 17. The next two events featured Niel sen a n d Ermolen ko a nd th ey stay ed perfect with co m ma nd ing victories as th e rain co n tin ued to mak e periodi c appearances, After event 19. interm ission was sched u led but due to th e rain offi cials de cided to swing directly to the Skoal Shoot-out, Eight of the top rid ers took to th e tra ck for a four-lap ra ce. The race paid $100 to the leader of eac h of th e first three lap s and $1100 to th e leader o f th e fin al ci rcu it. All $ 1400 went into th e hip pocket of Ni elsen. The " Ma in Dane" jumped in to th e lead a t the start a nd adva nced hi s adva ntage every lap a nd a t th e checkered n ag he pu lled on e of his 'fa mo us wh ec1ies and drew th e cheers of th e fans. hut it wa s his last hurrah of the meeting. . The final round of heat races began . with Errnol enko, riding th e S~oei /Pacifi c Coast Laminating/ Pick A Part/Smith Goggl es/KalG ard GM, leading all th e wa y over Schwartz. That gav e both of th em enough points to get into the important semis. They were qui ckl y joined by Cook and Green . who copped the top spots in th e next heat. Faria won heat 22 on Scotty Brown 's Jawa after his rid e failed aga in in th e Skoal .Shoot-ou t. The final heat ra ce of th e night had Nielsen as p art of th e lineup but he never made it to th e grid as hi s cre w was working on hi s Godden. Kin g ended up winning th e ra ce over Collins. J a y Gian elli probabl y ea rned himself a shot at Divi sion One in next year's cham p io n sh ip by defeating Greg Hancock a nd cro wd favor ite Duane "Pinky" Blake in th e Support c1ass.main. As th e Support class main co ncl uded . th e ha rdest rain or th e night came down and things were loo king quite bleak. . The rain had been tough all night long but n ot a s tough as Chris Agajanian and hi s staff. They put a number of vehicles on th e track an d o u tlasted the downpour selling the sta ge for th e fin al events of the meeting.

• Cover