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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127151
American Sam Ermolenko holds off Dane Jan O . Pedersen d u ring heat number seven in Long Beach . Dane Hans Nielsen le a d s Eng land 's Kelvin Tatum and American Lance King in event fou r. The Danes beat theAmericans by 12 points. J988 Speedway World Team Cup Championship Danes do it-again at Long Beach By Scott Daloisio LONG BEACH, CA, SEPT. 10 Sporting the world's top three riders in its lineup, Denmark hammered the competition to win the 1988 World Team Cup Speedway Championship at Long Beach 10 Veterans Stadium. For Denmark, it was the sixth year in a row that they won the crown and th e second time th at they wo n it at Long Beach. . The Danish bo ys, led by dimin- utive jan O . Pedersen , took the lead at the end of the third hea t a nd never looked back. Whe n the fina l scores were tallied, Den mark had 44 points o n the night. That was 12 more than the second place finishing USA a nd 22 mor e than Swede n and England. The USA, performing before a sma lle r than expec ted crowd, was led bv " Sudden " Sam Ermolenko who scored 14 points. The remainder of the Ameri cans suffered problems and seemed to mis s th e starts all meeting long. Wh en the 1985 ,World Team Cup was held at Long Beach , the USA or Denmark came out on top in every heat. That wasn 't to be in 1988 as Swed en's Jimmy Nilsen stormed into th e lead over Den mark's T o m m y Kn uds en in event o ne. ' Lance King, representing the USA, was o ut last and could on ly get by England 's Simon Wigg. Everyone in attendance expected Knudsen , who scored a maximum at Long Beach three year s ago, to catch and pass Ni lsen , but he co uld n ' t and the Swedes took a quick lead . Ermolen ko got his first shot in event two a nd he ca me up against Den ma rk 's Erik G u ndersen, who was making his first a ppearance si nce wi nning th e In dividual World Championship one week ea rlier. Gundersen set the pace into tu m one, but Engla nd's Sim on Cross ga ve him a tap. T hat momen taril y slo wed both of them a nd Ermolenko exp loded benea th the m a nd took the lead as the crowd let out a huge chee r. With the crowd urgin g h im on, Ermolenko moved away from th e pack wh ile Gundersen tried to hold Cross at ba y. The white flag waved for Ermolenko and signified one lap to go. For Gundersen, it spe lled disaster. In Europe they use a yell ow and black flag to signify the last la p , so when Gundersen saw the white he mistook it for the checkered a nd slowed. That allowed "Crossi" to sh o o t b y a nd eve nt ua ll y clai m second. The Ame rican fans were celebrating as th eir boy s had four points. Denmark and Sweden were ne-xtwith th ree while En gland had two. Back in the pits, the Danes were angry and began a protest. Hans Ni elsen protested to promoter Ha rry Oxley, " I! is a n FIM regulation (yellow and black flag). Do you have a yellow flag no w?" , Back on the tra ck, Shawn Moran was representing the USA quite we ll in event three as he led Pedersen . The little Dane was a ll over Moran trying to get by o n th e inside but Moran held him back. As the y came off turn four and headed for the black and ye llow flag, now being used to signify th e final lap, Pedersen went wid e a nd he drove by Moran as th ey entered tum one. A split second later, the bo ttom end on Mo ran 's GM seized. Sweden's Per jonsson, with , no p lace to go, hit Moran 's left leg and sent him to the dirt. What looked li ke a win and three poi nts for the USA ended u p being a last place finish wi th zero poin ts. Ped ersen took hi s first win o f the night and Denmark , wi th six points, took a lead th at th ey never relinquished. Back in th e pits, Moran pulled off his helmet a nd sai d, " I mad e th e ga te, but th e mot or started slo wing as I came o ff th e corners. It seized down there in turn one." T he ope ning ro u nd ended when Ni elsen .eas ily o utd is ta nced England' s Kel vin T a tu m a nd Kell y Moran. Denmark had 'the lead with nine points while th e USA, En gla nd and Sweden a ll had five. j onsson, ri di ng the o nly J awa in th e event, took th e fifth race by a wide margin over Kell y Mo ran and Knudsen. T hat wi n p u t th e Swedes one point up on the USA a nd left them only two beh ind the Dan es. Gunderse n ga ted Shawn Moran in event six and when the America n went wide as they ca me off turn two, Gund ersen was there to block him and protect his lead. Mo ran changed to the inside line a t th e end of the first circuit, but the World Ch ampion wouldn 't be bea ten an d he ha d hi s first win of the 1988 Final. Moran took second while Swedish reserve H en ryk Gustafsson Came in th ird. Ermo lenko gave t he crowd another bo ost when he ga ted in event seven , b ut Pedersen , with anoth er flashy move, went to the dirt and took the lead awa y as they ca me off turn two. Even though mos t of the cro wd was pulling for the USA, they were marvelli ng a t th e daring moves of the tin y Dane a nd they ga ve him a nice hand whe n he cross ed under the checkered for h is seco nd stra igh t victo ry. In round two's final event, it was Nielsen a ll the way. Kin g, who ga ted last, came up to second a t th e finish. T ony Ol sson, of Sweden , ended u p th ird with En g land 's Chri s Morton las t. Am azing ly, England fa iled to score in th e second ro u nd. Denmark led with 19 points. The USA was next wi th 13 followed by Sweden (II) a nd Engla nd (5). Engla nd was in dire need of points a nd they made a tac ti cal move. They took Morton o u t o f heat nine and summoned reserve Gary Havelock. Ermol enko notched a n easy wi n in th e even t, but H avelock turned in a sterling effort and foug h t back Knudsen a ll th e wa y for second. Tha t started an English come back. Gundersen won event 10 while King finished last. King m issed the gate again, bu t wi th a big move in th e first bend, he got past Tatu m and J o nsson. Bo th riders quickl y got back past King and held him in las t to the finish. G undersen's victory p ut the Da nes i n co mm a nd. At the ha lfway, th ey led by severi and they were abo ut to pour it on. England 's team ma nagers Co lin P ra tt and Eri c Boocock decided to have another look at H a velock and he replaced the di sappointing Wigg in event II. Havelock had the lea d off the line over Swedish reserve Gustafsson ; P edersen got a bad start