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/127127
Sweden 's Erik Stenlund leads Russia 's Sergi Kasakov, Per Olaf Serenius and Rais Mustafin. Russian Sergi Ivanov was third . Russian Jiri Evanov, the 1986-87 World Champion, lost his chance to retain his title when he over-extended himself trying to catch Stenlund. Stenlund kept his cool in a critical heat and didn't drop a point, lead ing from start to finish and clinching the championship. World 'Championship Ice Speedway Final truth, as this form of motorcycle racing goes from strength to strength. _ This year's competition saw two Americans and a Canadian compete for th e first time in the earlier qualifying rounds , albeit unsuccessfully, and more important that the Russian stranglehold has well and truly been broken. This year's Final, held in the small town of Eindhoven, Holland, was won by Sweden's Erik Stenlund. The quiet, unassuming 25-year-old mechanic from Stockholm won the hearts of the crowd when he took the tit le from the 1986-87 World Cha mpion, Russian Jiri Ivanov, after a thrilling race that saw the Sov iet taxi driver over-extend himself i n a desperate move to catch the popular Swede. Ivanov dismounted his bike halfway down the straightaway after hitting a rut, on ly to hang on for dear life to event ua lly finis h third in wha t was the best race of th e meet. It made you wo nder wha t it would be like if you were a passenger in his taxi! Stenlund was o n his ow n in the fina l results for the next five positions were fi lled by riders from Russia , and with the next four places Swede Stenlund rules world By John Hipkiss EINDHOVEN, H O L LAND, MAR. 12-13 It's tim e to forget Calgary. The sports of the Winter Olympics, from the men 's downhill to the gO-meter jumps, pale in comparison to the world of ice speedway . raci ng, p a rticularly on the World Cha mpionship Final 1 I Wh 'l . , d h eve. . , I e It s accep te t . at yo u don t have to be a genius 16 .to ride ice speedway, it does require . a rather special mentality to co mpete on 500cc bikes with over 280 spikes, some two-inches lo ng, in the tires . Most winter sports a re dominated by ath!etes fro.m the Iron C urta~n countnes an d Ice speedway falls In lin e with the Russia ns domi na ting the sport for 22 years. You would think that after so many years being commanded by one nation that interest would be on the decline, but nothing could be further from the going to Sten lund's countrymen there was little hope of any other nation grabbing any of the glory. T he meeting started o n Saturday evening and ran over two days, with 20 races per day giving the top riders an extra bite at the cherry. Racing on the 400-meter speed skating circuit with their 500cc Jawa two-valve- machines - no special modifications allowed, unlike the shale speedway meets 'where fourvalves are allowed, the men of 'the ice race against each other's ability more than each other's machine. Stenlund has had previous success in the Final, wi nning the World Championship title in Moscow in 1984 and finishing third when the Final was held in Berlin. Last year, ho wever, Stenl und's luc k ran o ut wh en he broke a leg at th e sem i-fi nal stage in Assen, H o lla nd. After th e first eveni ng's racing, the new champ was trailing th e defending champ by one point. The two had clashed in race 13 a nd Jeri Ivanov had go tte n the better of Stenlund to clea n u p in the firs t half of the pro gram with a 15-po int maximum, one point up on the Swede. T he pre-m eeting favorite, Fin-