Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Sam Ermolenko won an appeal with the British Speedway Cont ro l Board afte r he fo rgot to submit to a drug test during a 1987 meet in London . Interview: World Class Speedway's top American, Sam Ermolenko . "Sudden" Sam shakes off 1987, looks to "88 By Scott Daloisio Trying to catch " Sudden " Sam Ermolenko is damn near im p ossib le. O n the track he is one of the fastest speedway riders in the world. O ff th e track he is busy securing sp o n sorsh ip s and getting his eq u ip ment dialed in. Setting u his i . p tIS. mterview took a week of chasmg the man. 22 We finally caugh t him on a ch illy January even ing wh il e he was era wling into hi s leathers before a practi ce sesson a t Ascot South Bay Stadium in sou the rn California. The next aft ernoon he flew off to England to prepare for the 1988 British League and World Championship challenges. Although "Sudden" Sam' is usually hard to catch, in August of 1987 th e British Speedway Control Board nabbed him. His otherwise successful season was stopped short wh en an ugly word entered the picture drugs. When Ermolenko failed to submit to a urine test following th e Eng- la nd/USA Test match ~n August 14 at London , Engla n d s H a ckn ey S peedway, he was su bse q ue n t ly banned from all 1987 British even ts (bu t not ·FIM intern a tional meets). Ermolenko said a t the ti me he co uld n' t produce a urine sa mp le directl y after the meet, decided to try again after showeri ng and loading hISequipment, th en forgot to su bm it th e sample before leaving th e tra ck. " I was half wa y hom e before 1 rem embered," he said at the World Speedway Fina l, held last Sep tember in Amsterdam, H o lla nd. On that chi lly January night at Ascot, Ermolenko spoke for the first time (in America ) about the incident. W hy were yo u suspended fr o m domestic competition in Bri tain by the Speedway Co n tro l Board? The regulations read, if yo u fail to produce a sample for medical rea - sons, that is an excuse. If you refuse to, or forget, or you had a test that turned out positive, you are automaticall y banned. 1 forgot. They ch arged me with refu sal. 1 didn 't refuse because 1 will ingly signed th e form (fro m th e referee). They go t me on forge tti ng an d that is (the same) as refusin g accordi ng to th e rule book. British Speedway wrot e the book a nd they di dn 't wr it e it cor rectly to cover themse lves, 1 got off the ban on a techn ical i ty o n th eir p an , n ot because 1 proved myse lf innocent, nor did they prove me gui lty. How often are drug tests given in the British League? I had three of them last year. The evening your problems began you were racing for the USA against England at Hackney. Wasn't there a lot of chaos that night? The meeting was threat ened by rain all da y long. 1 had three win s in a row . Shawn Moran , Kell y Moran and a co u p le of o the r American boys were cras hing and so were th e Englis h guys. They postponed the races for a wh il e and then they carried on again after a lot of co nt ro versy. I wasn 't involved in it. 1 wanted to ride because I was testing bik es. Then .Shawn and th ose g uys decided th ey wanted to rid e too. Then it sta rted raining real bad a nd th e referee ca lled th e meeting off. Kelly Moran, England's J erem y Doncaster and yourself were selected for drug tests? T hat 's right. That was a fter heat fo ur. It is up to th e referee 10 determi ne that a nd he said, " the first three hea t winners." 1 won th e th ird or th e second heat . I was to a ppear (for the test) after hea t 13, whi ch is the intermission of the meetin g. The interrnisssion wa s cance lled and we carried on pa st it. Then the mee ti ng was aba ndo ned. What happened after the meeting when it was time to supply the specimen? A gent leman retrieved me from the pi ts and we went into th e doc tor 's sta tio n to give th e test. I spent 10 or 15 minutes trying to sup p ly th e sa mple but I couldn' t go. J erem y Doncaster was go in g to come into th e do ctor's room after he had dressed. Kell y Moran co uldn't give a sa mp le at he tim e that 1 was th ere so he was going to the pit room to ge t change d a nd return. I elected to do th e same aft er getting permission from th e referee. I went to th e dressin g roo m a nd changed a nd whe n I was supposed to return it was ra ining reall y hard. 1 ra n to th e car to help my mec ha nic get the bikes in. My mechanic was soa ki ng' wet. I threw my bag in and fired the car up. The last person into the Hackney parkin g lot has to be the first one to leave before a nybody else can leave. 1 was th e next person to move. 1 don't know if th e drug test slipped my mind or not (but) that was wh en th e distraction happened. Ronnie Correy was next to me and 1 was talking to him. (English rider) Simon Cross asked me if I could back up so he co uld get out. As 1 was backing up, Robert Pfetzing came up and knocked on the window. H e said, " Sam , 1 don 't know how to get o ut of this town (London) . 1 got lost getting here. Can yo u help me get out? 1 said, "Give me a minute, 1 have to back out." 1 had to go outside the gates to park. When 1 pulled out, Robert was waiting' and he flashed his lights and without thinking 1just drove off. It started to rain; the worst thunderstorm 1 had seen all year. Thunder, lightening; we were probably doing 35 or 40 mph on the freewa y. That is how bad it was Ermolenko w ill again seek the World Championship in 1988. pourin g. Rob ert follow ed me o ut of London until we go t o n th e motorway. H e went his way and 1 went my way. What did you do when you remembered abo ut the drug test? 1 was 10 minutes from my house wh en 1 remembered. The d istraction of th e mee ting gett ing delayed and being a ba n do ne d n ever rea lly affected me on forgetting - it was the circu mstances af ter 1 left the doctor's room. By the time 1 go t·home it was two in th e morning. The meeting didn 't get over until 10:30 or II o'cloc k and 1 didn 't get out of there until 12:00. It is a two -and-a-half hour drive home. Ob viously there wou ld have been nobody at the track (had Ermo- ' lenko decided to return ). 1didn't think abo ut giving a blood or a urine test to a ho spital at the time. Afterward 1 found I co uld have and used that. On Monday I offered to give a blood test or anything they wanted to clear my name. It cou ldn 't be used. There are little drugs a nd substances th at they banned that can be out of your system in hours. All th e drugs th ey list in th e rule book sta rt a t caffeine. If you drink 100 mu ch co ffee yo u co u ld be banned. All this happened about three weeks before the World Speedway Final. Did it affect your performance in Amsterdam? I was so gea red up a t the World Fin al , I wasn 't go ing to let a th in g put me down. I was so pumped a bo ut that race. It took a lo t to discourage me fr om winnin g the World Championship. The ban? 1 d idn't even want to think ab out it. 1 turned it o ver to my la wyers and my promoter to handle. If 1 (wo uld have) had to get into it as much as 1 did after the World Final, 1 would have been dizzy before the Final. 1 just put it out of my mind. The only thing 1 am bummed out abou t is 1 had these three bikes that were perfect for the World Championship and 1 di dn't have any p lace to try them. What ha ppe ned whe n you appealed th e Bri tish ba n? 1 was sweating because of the punishment they gave me. The tri bunal was set Iorafter the World Final. 1 raced the World Final and th en 1 went to an international meeting in Den mark and that is when 1 crashed and broke my wrist and

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