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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127151
Sam Ermolenko leads Simon Cross of Eng land. Ermolenko led the .A m erican team w ith 1 3 points; Cross scored t hree for England . and was in third with Kelly Moran last. Pedersen , making his first appearance in the USA, had the crowd's attention as it anticipated his move through the pack. He blazed by Gustafsson in turn one on lap two. He then attacked th e inside of Havelock in turn one on lap three and when that didn't work, he went to the dirt. Much to the delight of the fans, he reli eved Havelock of the lead as they came off two the final time. H avelock tried to go ba ck inside of him , but the litt le Dane brought it down to the pole and slammed the door in his face. The tiny rider received a thunderous ovation as he too k the checkered flag. The third round closer saw N ielsen take his third consecutive win in convincing fashion over Sha wn Moran, Nilsen and Cross. After three rounds, Den mark' was turning it into a runaway with an 11 point advantage. Just to make sure things d idn 't get too out of hand, Morton, back in after being replaced by a reserve in th e previous round, shocked everyone with England's only victory of the meeting to start round four. He beat Kelly Moran, Gundersen and Nilsen. The race for the lead was history and the USA had a stranglehold on . the second place spot, but the Swedes and England were locked into a war for the bronze. They were tied with 14 poin ts each aft er 13 races . The tide for the bronze flowed England's wa y in event 14 as Knudsen won his only race of the meeting. Tatum claimed second with Shawn Moran third. Moran actuall y gated, but Knudsen moved him out of the way in turn one, sending Moran to last at the outset. Event 15 saw reserved Havelock , Gustafsson and USA's Rick Mill er on the tra ck. They had a tall order as th ey m et up with Pedersen. Gustafsson, bringing his GM from the pole, gated over Miller, Pedersen and Havelock. Pedersen wheelied off turn four on the opener a nd whi le doing so, he relegated Miller to third. Pedersen looked to th e outside of Gustafsson as th ey came o ff turn two ' on lap three, and seco nds later he rocketed by and rod e th e rest of the way to his fourth consecu tive victory. T he little gu y had crea ted a g ia nt impression o n a ll o f th e fans. Ermolenko matched up with Nielsen to close the fourth round and it ended up going the Dane's wa y. He gated from the pole aboard his Godden and let Jonsson and Errnolenko have at each other for second. Ermolenko eventually won the encounter with the tough Swede, but Nielsen kept his perfect score intact with another impressive win. The score heading into th e final round was Denmark 39, USA 23, England 17 and Sweden 17. The final round consisted of th e fourth highest scoring rider from each team in the first race of the round. The third highest scorers mixed it up in the second race followed by the number two riders and then the highest scorers for each team in the final race of the night. With the first two spots decided, the attention swung to England and Sweden in their titanic struggle for third. King. off gate fo ur, again had problems on the start, but he immediately began picking off riders. He took G ustafsson before they came off the first bend. T he n he got Havelock one la p later. Knu dsen's GM momentarily quit as he went into one on la p three a llowing King and Havelock to both get by; King took the win ahead of Havelock as Gustafsson failed to finish. That put the English two points up on the Swedes. The next race. matching each team 's second highest scorers was a sh ocker. Denmark, wanting to get everyone on the team into th e meeting, pulled Gundersen and replaced him with John Jorgensen who fini shed seco nd. Just behind him came Cross with Kelly Moran, after missing the start, fourth. The surprise winner, after scoring one point from h is first three rides. .was Sweden's Ol sson. That made it Sweden 20 a~d .England 20 with two events rernammg, Shawn Moran turned in a thrilling performance in event 19 and he became th e only rider on the night to defeat Nielsen . Sweden's Nilsen broke on th e line and scored zero points allowing Havelock, England 's most valuable rider, to take an uncontested third. England was now up by one. . The fans were disappointed when th e Danes, showing gr eat team spirit, . decided to sit Pedersen out so J or- . gen sen co u ld get another ride. It was th e last ra ce of the meeting a nd Ermol enko was go ing to leave th e USA fans with som ething to cheer abo u t. H e got the gate and never The Danish team celebrates w ith trophy girls after wrapping up the World Team Championship for the sixth year in a row. looked back. If he had, he would have seen the war for second between Jonsson and Tatum. If Tatum took second, England took third overall in the meeting. If Jonsson took second and Tatum finished third, th ere would be a four lap runoff for the bronze medal. Jonsson was in second and he put an aggressive block on Tatum as they came off turn two. Tatum stayed within striking distance, but he couldn't get by. When the checkered ended the Iour-Iap per, Ermolenko too k his third vic tory of the m eetin g over Jonsson, T a tu m and Jorgensen (Jorgensen th us recorded Den mark's only last place finish). _ The fina l score ended u p Denmark 44, USA 32, Sweden 22 and England 22, but there was still the runoff for third. In ' addi tion to third place being at stake, the top three teams automatically qualified for the 1989 World Team Cup Championship while the fourth place finisher will have to contest a series of qualifiers. Jonsson was chosen to represent Sweden while England went with Tatum. Jonsson came off the pole, but Tatum beat him on the start. Time and time again , Jonsson closed to Tatum's rear tire but Tatum would drive away. As th ey hit tum four on th e third lap, Jonsson went to the ex treme outside. Tatum saw him and moved up to block. Wh en T atum went for the block, Jonsson swooped under him and elbo wed him o u t of the wa y as th ey came down th e front chute. Tatum almost at e some chain lin k fence and was beaten back to the first corner. From that point it was a ll Jonsson and his win put Sweden on th e victory stand with the victorious Danes and second pl ace USA. The quiet Swede got off his bike and smiled, " I did every thing I co uld. I went hi gh in the dirt and tri ed to . turn ins ide o f him. I man a ged to do it and I am q ui te pl eased ." Pedersen p ra ised the race track a fter scoring hi s maximum. " It is a beautiful race track. You can have a go on it. It is something you want to ride on. Some of the tracks you ride aren't too good." When asked abouthis thrilling opening race with Shawn Moran, the little rider broke into a big grin. " I was lucky there (the outside pass). Shawn is a very fair rider to ri de with. You know you can race him. It is the same with us, we don ' t do anything to each other. It was one he lluva race. " At the press conference, Gundersen sat down and told reporters, " We were glad tha t we cou ld end it as early as we did. We are the best andall of the other nations are up against it. I don't think we have feared any country for the last five . or six years, but we know that there is going to be a time when another nation is going to produce another bunch of guys like we are." Gundersen then gave his side of the white flag co n tro ver sy. " I thought I saw a white checkered flag. We tried to get the race rerun, but th e referee wouldn't. They had the correct flag for the next race. It didn 't affect the results at the end." Sam Ermolenko, the only rider outside of the Danes to attend the conference, said, "We were a little unlucky, but I think our team needs some background work. I am not 100 percent happy with the way things went in th e pi ts." Harry Oxley closed the press co n fer e nce when he looked at Pedersen and asked Danish team manager Kjeld Lund a question. " Do you think we could get USA citizenship papers for this little g u y for 1989?" • Results t , DENMAR K (44): Hans Nie lsen (Gdn) 14: Jen O. Peder sen (GM) 12; Erik Gunde rsen (GM) 8; Tommy Knudsen (GM) 8; John Jorgensen (GM) 8. 2. USA (32): Sam Ermolenko (GM) 13: Shawn Moran (GM) 8; Lance King (GMI 6; Kelly Moran (Wes)5; Rick Miller (Gdn) O. 3 . SWEDEN (22 ): Per Jonsson (J aw ) 9; Jimmy Nis en (GMI 5; Tony Olson IGMI 4 ; Hen ry k Gustalsson (GM ) 4; Conny Ivarsson (GM) O. 4. ENGLAND (22): Gary Hvelock (GM) 8; Kelvin Tatum (Gdn) 7; Chr is Morton (Gdn) 4; Simon Cross (Gdn)3; Simon Wigg (GM ) O. 11