Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

decided that all th ree riders should participate in the second rerun. Ermolenko had a second cha nce w hich he accep ted gra tefully. But the re feree's ru ling only s ti rred up mo r e an ge r a m o n g th e Dan ish fans on the back straight. Scor es o f fans sc a le d th e safe ty fe n ce and s tage d a sit-down pro test on the track. O rder was only res to red af te r po lice m ar ched out 20 minutes la ter and th e protesters d isp ersed . Ermolenko stay ed calm, refusing to allow the d is turbance to affect his conce n tra tio n and he cas hed in with an easy victory to remain the only rider in t h e fie ld with a pe rfec t s core. Ermol enko had 12 po ints from his four rides, and only Gollo b could rea ch him, b u t that las t re main ing do u b t was im media te ly d ispelled when the Pole w a s bea ten by Sw e d e He nrik Gustafsson in the next heat. W ith o n e r ace still to rid e, Erm o lenko wa s already the W orld Champion and nobody could take that away from him, but when he came out for the final heat and his followers were expecting a celebration ride, Ermolenko failed to respond, tailing off in last on a different bike which was well down on power. The jubilant American explained later that he had used four machines on his way to the title. One by one he had been forced to cast them aside . Ermolenko 's confrontation with Nielsen was carried through to the subsequent press conference when the Dane accused the new champion of . deliberately laying down his bike in heat 15. " I could see Ermolenko was losing ground, and as I drove through the gap he turned across me," Nielsen said . " I th ink th e refer ee was totally w ro ng to rule that I was to blame. It was a bad deci sion and it cos t me the title." Ermolenko refuted Nielsen's allegations. " I could see he had more speed, but he defin itely touched my left hand as he came through. I was taken off line, and if I had not fall en I would have gone right into the fence," Ermolenko said. "I don 't give a crap what Hans (Nielsen) or anyone else says, I won the darn thing and that's all that matters. I'm the champion." But Ermolenko readily admitted that he was lucky to su rvive when he lost his drive chain in the rerun of heat 15 and was reinstated when the race was rerun a second time. " If the title had depended on my last heat I would have been in real trouble because my four bikes were history," Ermolenko said. "There was something seriously wrong with the mach ine I used in my last heat, but I knew I had already won the title and I could take it eas y." Nielsen, an gry and despondent, made some amends by taking the run- ; ner-up spot after w inning th e run-off with Eng land's Chris Loui s, afte r they tied on 11 points, but second place was littl e consolation for th e Dan e. Re feree Ebd on r ef u sed to ge t involve d in th e controve rsy. "I mad e my de cision s as I saw them and I thin k I was righ t," Ebdon said . It was a grea t da y for the 32-year-old Californ ian who w as fo rced to quit motocross racing when he su ffered a broken thighbone, should er and elbow in a stree t bike acciden t in 1977 when he was a high school junior. He, didn't ride for two years after that accident and when he did start again, he found that he couldn't bend his right knee enough to continue in motocross. In 1980 he saw his first speedway race at the Costa Mesa track in southern California and the rest is history. He made his first impact on the world scene in 1985 when he was third in the AfteiNielsen's exclusion the Danish fans protested by sitting on the track and holding'up the meeting for 20 minutes. Ermolenko celebrated with his son Adam after winning the championship. World Individual Ch ampionship Final at Bradford, England. He wa s third two years later in Amsterdam, but in 1989 he suffered another broken th ighbone when he went down and was run over by trailing riders at the 1989 World Long Track Championship s in We st Germany. And although he has s tayed among the leading contenders, he did not make another appearance on the victory rostrum until Pocking, the last of the World Finals under the exis ting system. Next year the International Federation will be rep lacing the oneday Final w ith a Grand Prix series, and the top 10 scorers in the Pocking meeting will be guaranteed a pla ce. While not nearly as successfu l as Ermolen ko, fell ow Ca lifo rn ian Bill y Hamill d id enou gh to qua lif y with a seven-poi nt to tal , on e better than he collected in hi s first Fina l tw o years ago. " I d on 't th ink I made the rig ht decisions with my ma chinery," Hamill said. "I fe lt co m pe ti tive in my first race when I w as seco n d to (Hen ri k) Gu stafsson, bu t I d id not feel righ t in my second and third outings. I changed bi ke s for my last ra ce and it wa s th e best show ing of the da y. The conso lati on was that I got my mime on th e Grand Prix (starter' s lis t) a lt ho ugh I wa s 10th on the score ch art. I'm on a learning curve and I th ink I learned a lot today." The third American contender, Greg Hancock, who is Hamill's teammate w ith Cradley Heath in the British After years of bad luck, Ermolenko earned the one international title that had eluded him. League ad mi tt ed he had not had the righ t m enta l a p p ro ach fo r h is firs t Worl d Final , failing to sco re afte r taking second place to Nielsen in his opening ride. "I th ou ght I was ready but I wa s too nervous, too tensed up for the occasion. I knew this was goi ng to be tough but I n ever ex p ected anyth ing like thi s," H ancock said . "But it was a tremend ous experience and I'll certainly be better pr epared next time." Ermolenko is looking forward to his reign as World Champion. "I have had more than my share of bad luck in the past," Ermolenko said . "Whatever happened today, I th ink I wa s du e for a ch ange of luc k, a nd I want to go out next year to promote spe ed way around the world and sho w that I am a worthy champion." c.~ Results 1. Sa m Erm ol enko (USA) 12; 2. H ans N iel sen (Den ma rk) 11; 3. Ch ris Louis (England) 1] ; 4. Henrik Gusta lsso n (Swed en) 10; 5. And y Smith (Englan d ) 10; 6. Gary Haveloc k (Eng land) 10; 7. Peter Karl ss on (Sw ed en ) 8; 8. To masz Go ll o b (Poland ) 8; 9 . Per Jonsson (Swed en); 10. Billy Hamill (USA) 7; 11. Gerd Riss (Gennany) 6; 12. Annando Castagna (ltaJy) 5; 13. Joe Screen (Eng la nd ) 5; 14. Ton y Rickanlsson (Sweden) 4; 15. Leigh Adams (Aus tr alia) 4; 16. Greg Hancock (USA) 2. 23

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