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/127388
~ SPEEDWAY Overseas Final . m Sam Ermolenko leads New Zealand's Mitch Sh irra, Aus tralia 's Glenn Doyle and England's Gary Havelock. Ermolenko was the top American qualifier. England's Kelvin Tatum, th e top q ualifier, heads Americans Rick Miller and Ermolenko. Miller failed to make the cu t. Ermolenko leads American charge By Joh n H ipkiss BRADFORD, ENGL\ND, JUNE 23 am Ermo lenko led the American group's cha rge in the Overseas Final of the World Champ ionships a t Odsal Stadi um in Bradford near London, to go o ne stage nearer the title he has been cha sing fo r the last six years. Alth ou gh he had to settle for second place on th e victory rostrum to Englan d's captain Kelvin T atum, the 30year-old co nte nder from Maywood, S 26 California, did eno ugh to show th is cou ld be hi s year. After twice finis hing th ird in the Wor ld Ch ampionship Fin al , Errnolen ko, who rides for Wolverhampton in the first division of the British League, is back in th e front lin es. He has shaken off the effects of th e multiple leg fracture he sus tained in the World Ch am pi on ship Long Track Series two years ago, changing h is riding style, and is raci ng steadier and more effectively than at any ti me in his career. Ermolenko has always had a specia l affection for Odsal whe re he made hi s first ap pearance in the final in 1985 and he started well, winning his first two races, leading fellow. Amer ican Kell y Mor an all the way in hi s first ride and th en leaving And y Smith behind next time o ut. Things began to go wrong when Ermolenko was drawn on the inside gate for h is thi rd outing. No rider had won from that positio n and Ermolenko could not break the seq uence. Tatum closed 'down on the first turn and th ough Ermolenko ma naged to sha ke off Ro nnie Correy he co u ld not catch the Brit. Ermolenko was beaten again in his next ride by New Zeala nder Mitch Shirra and in hi s final outing -he had to pl ay second fiddle to Bill y H amill wh o gained the advan tage on th e first turn and putted away, bu t Er mo lenko had eno ug h points in hand no t to worry . Hamill's win pu t him on equal terms with Erm olenko in points, bu t in the run-off to decide the sil ver meda l it was " Sudden Sam" who grabbed the in itiative to turn the tables o n h is 21year-old cha llenger. Erm ol enko took his revenge by winn in g th e toss for choice of lan e and decided to take the inside berth . He was able to use the number two ga te whi ch gave him more roo m to man euv er o n the bend and once he ga ined the advantage, Hamill cou ld not get to him. , Hamill 's p erformence was outstanding in only his second season in top speed way ' co m petition . Like Errnolen ko he won on ly two of his five races , but sig n ificantly th ey were agains t Ermolen ko and h is fellow Califo rn ian Ronn ie Correy. Hamill rode with a lo t of con fiden ce and determination and was always in conte ntion, looking set"" for a great trac k future at int ernational level. , Just th ree points down on ' Ermolenko and Hamill came Correy wh o was alsoamo ng the front-runners until tha t cras h with Ermolenko wh en he was fo rced ou t o f th e bends a nd eventually trai led in last. It was a setbac k for Correy, but he had good po ints in hand and th ere was never any danger of him faili ng to get a p lace among the nin e q ualifiers to go through to one of th e semi-finals which will be held in German y and in Russia in August. A drawing is conducted to determine which of the semis riders will c~ mpete in .