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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127401
eSPEEDWAY e World Cham~ionshi~ Team Cu~_Fi_nal ---,---_ _ .... CN l-t IJ.) ,.0 o .... u o (Back row , L-R) J an Pederson, Tommy Knudsen, Gert Handberg, (fro nt row , L-R) Bri an Karge r an d Hans Nielsen made up the winning Danish team . Danes smash opposition By Joh n H ipkiss VOJENS, DENMAK, SEPT. 14 en mark smashed their opponents in the World Team Cup Final, romping home with a massive 51poin t total. Sweden foll owed with 21 points, th en ca m e th e def ending champion Americans with 28 points while England cou ld on ly muster II points fro m th e 20 races. The Dan es re-wrote the record books in front of their home crowd wh en they scored th e largest-ever victory in the history of th e com pe titio n, winning 15 of 20 races. America lost their team titl e 10 a Danish team tha t was simpl y out of this world. Wh at shocked the o ther teams was the ease with which th ey won. ."Sudden " Sam Ermolenko won on ly one race .. the 19th , ahead of Swede Tony Ri ckardsson as a ding-dong battle for second place with th e Scandinavians beckon ed in the fin al stages of the contest. Ermolenko fell in one race, but was allowed to restart, only to fini sh last. But a fighting three second p laces earned him a nine-point tally, the same as Bill y Hamill, who didn 't manage to wi n a race, but ga ined the experience to take him into the top £ligh t of speedway's "su per stars. " G reg H ancock had a somewhat D 24 str ange scorecard, with a IOtal of six points, wh ich he earn ed by winning two superb races and then fini shing last three tim es. Hancock sho wed the rest of T eam U.S.A. that the super Dan es cou ld be beat wh en he won race seven . After trailing En gland's Marvyn Cox for three laps, he claimed victory at th e line with a th ree-way finish wi th Cox and Denmark 's Gert Hanberg. Ri ck Miller chi pped in wi th a secon d place and two thirds for hi s total of four points, but it was such a sad tal e for " Rocket" Ro nnie Correy, wh o performed mor e lik e a soggy firewo rk. Una ble to spa rkle on the slick , 330yard Vojens track, he failed to score in hi s first two pro gram med rides and was then repl aced by Mill er. . " I may as well not have been here tonigh t, for wh at goo d I' ve done for the team ," Correy said. " Bu t I just couldn 't adjust to th e track condi tions. It was lik e riding on the freeway. Anyway, if we had four (Bru ce) Penhalls on th e team there was still no way anybody was go ing to stop the Danes. They deserve their win. " The Danes have now made a clean sweep of the sp eedwa y. titles in 1991. T hey took the T eam Cup, provided the Individual World Champion (Jan P ederson) and have won th e Best Pairs. Hami ll and Hancock's British League teammate, Jan Pedersen, had five faultless rides for a maximum 15 points. Next best was former World Champion H ans Nielsen with 14 points; Tommy Kn udsen scored 13; and the weak li nk in their team, Gert Handberg, to tal ed eight points after h is first race surprise win . It was su ch a dismal result for England - with II points being their worst record in the history of the compe titio n. They fielded an inexperien ced team - mainly through th e in juries to captain Kelvin Tatum, wh o is su ffering from a back injury, and Sim on Cross, who broke his back 12 months ago - and now face a tough . pre-qualifying next season to continue . in the T eam Cup. For England, Martin Dugard scored four points, Marv yn Cox three, Gar y Havelock three and Chris Louis on e point. T here was never going to be an y doubt wh ere th e trophy was going to end up. Even before the meeting the ' Dan es had a pre-team dinner in a loca l hotel - they had good fun, their spi rits were high, and there was no alcohol. Their self di scipline was a sh ining example to any rider who wishes to get to the top. Undoubtedly boosted by their lack of success in the last two years of this competition, the Danes were ready to take the silverware from America. It was never in doub t about a winner, bu t it was anybody's guess as to who would escape in second. But, then again , wh o reall y cares about the runner-up wh en th e victors win by 21 points. At one stage America and Sweden were equal with 21 points aft er 15 races, and it definitely mattered to them that second place was better than third. Things started 10 get livel y as Hancock emerged a winner from a thre e-rid er pack th at contained Denmark 's Ni elson. . The Americans lost a lillie ground when Ermolenko got a last in race 16, wi th Sweden 's Per Jonsson takin g third. This p laced the Ameri cans one point down wi th four races to go . Mill er then lost a tight battle with Sweden 's J immy Nilsen in th e next heat, and they were now down by two points with three races to go. Heat 18 saw Hancock lose a furio us tu ssle with Swede Henrik G usta fsson, with th e young Ameri can looking for the non-existen t dirt. Consequently, En gland's Marvyn Cox pushed him into last place. Race 19 saw Ermo lenko produce the goods to beat Ri ckardsson for the win, but in the fin al race Ham ill was up aga in st the World Ch am pion, Jan Ped er sen . . . n o co n test. T'h e Dane was home and dry which als o CN assured Sweden of second p lace. Results DENMA RK (51): I. Ja n Pedersen (15); 2. H an s N ielsen (14); 3. T ommy Knud sen (13); 4. Ger t Hanberg (8); 5. Brian Karger (1). SWE DEN (30): I. Per J on sson (9)); 2. (T IE) Henrik Gusta fsson / J im my Nilsen lTon y Rickard sson (7). USA (28): I. (T IE) Sam ErmolenkolBilly Hamill (9); 3. Gre g Hancock (6); 4. Rick Mill er (4); 5. Ron ni e Corr ey (0). ENGLAND (II): I. Martin Dugard (4); 2. (TIE) Marvyn Cox /Gary Havelock (3); 4. Chris Louis (I ).