Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 ~ ...... Erik Gunderson (on the outside) won the World Championship Final after a runoff with fellow Dane. Hans Nielsen (running inside). ,World Championship Individual Speedway Final Danes 1-2-3, Ermolenko fourth in Denmark By John Hipkiss ~ VOJENS, DENMAR K, SE PT. 3 Sam Ermolenko, the lone American entrant, failed in his bid to break the Danish monopoly "in the World Championship Final at Vojens. The Final was being held ' in Denmark for the first time and the Danes were determined t? rna k e th e most 0 f th e occa. sion. They succeeded III spec- 14 tacu lar style by filling the first three places and relegating Ermolenko, who was third In Am sterda m last year, to fourth. T he ti tle went to Erik Gundersen , winner of th e World Championship in 1984 a nd ' 1985, who bea t th e man who too k the title from him two years ago, Hans Ni elsen, i~ a run~ff after both had scored 14 poIn LS. Thudspot o n th e victory rostrum went to 25year-old J an Pedersen who finished one point down on th e lead ers with Ermolenko a further point behind. In th e early stages it a ppea red as though th e 27-year- old challe nger fro m Maywood, California, might u pset the Danes. H e was impressive in winning his fir st two races and was run ning neck a nd neck with Gundersen In th e scor e·chart aft er beating England 's Kelvin Tatum in hi s o p en in g h eat a n d leaving Pedersen behind the next tim e ou t, but the situation cha nged when he clashed with N ielsen in hi s third race. Ermolenko was o n th e ou tside a nd alt houg h he ga ted well Nielsen q uickly found a way past and the Ca liforn ian had to be sa tisfied with second pl ace. ' Errnolenko was still in contention 'bu t his ho pes were das hed in a n unlucky 13th hea t wh en he met Gundersen . Ermolenko was pl eased to have the inside lane on the Dan e bu t he co ul d no t ma tch Gundersen's speed from the tapes a nd whi le he was concentrating o n the ex-cha mp, Sweden 's wild Per J onsson, who had a lready been di squalified in a n ea rl ier race for brin gin g down Nielse n , charged into th e fray . Ermolen ko was tak en off his li ne and while he diced with J o nsso n , G undersen shot away to collect his fourth win of the meet. J onsson wo n th e battl e for second, leavin g Erm olenko three points down on the lead er and alt hough he hit back in his final ride by winning a wheel-t o-wheel battle with Brit Chris Monon, his 12 point total was not enough to give him a pl ace on the rostrum. Ermolenko wa s overtaken in the score chart by Pedersen who recovered from second place rides in his opening two ra ces to clock three wins. Pedersen was the only man to beat Gundersen who rides for th e 'sa me' Cradley H eath Club in the British League. ' It seemed Pedersen might hav e dented hi s clu brna te's chances of regaining th e titl e when he swep t past him in his final race, leaving Gundersen to face a high . tension run-off with hi s arch rival Nielsen, but Gundersen was not worried. Whil e th e tw o co ntes ta nts were preparin g fo r th e sh owdown, another heavy sho wer soa ked th e track a nd after wi nni ng the toss for sta rting positions Gundersen ch ose to tak e th e ou tside lan e. H e made th e right decision. While Nielsen sp un at th e ga te, Gundersen shot away a nd alt hough Nielsen ga ve chase he could no t close th e gap. In th e end Gundersen won by a wide ma rg in to take ba ck th e World Champ ion shi p crow n whi ch N ielsen sna tched fro m him in 1986. Wh il e Gundersen cel ebrated , Nielsen was left to 'ponder on hi s . fai lure to become th e on ly rider to wi n th ree successive Indi vidua l Finals since Iva n Mauger comp leted th e hat trick in' 1970, but Nie lsen cou ld be p leased with the 'fact that he had con tribu ted to a magnificent triumph for Denmark, who became th e first na tion to make a clean sweep of the medals since Sweden in 1961. Gundersen was not concerned by the fact that his only defeat came from teammate Pedersen. "Jan took a good line and I could not get past him, but I knew if there was a runoff I should still win the title. I had beaten Nielsen once in the match and th ere was no reason why I should not do it a second time," said Gundersen . "I was feeling good; I just knew it had to be my day and

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