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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127676
, worse, being excluded for touching the tapes. "I don't know if I touched the tapes first," said a distraught Hamill afterwards. "I was looking the other way, so I don't know if the other guys moved before me. When I looked the other way, two other riders were in the tapes with me. I had lined up in a rut. I jumped, and couldn't stop my bike from hitting the tapes." Up against the ropes, Hami1l says he never threw in the towel. "I never gave up, but I feel so bad now ," said the 24year-old from Monrovia. "I believe in fate. Everything happens for a reason. I must look at the positives from this and work on the negatives." A relieved Hancock admitted he had mixed feelings as he crossed the finish line at the end of the run-off. "I didn't know whether to jump for joy, or what," said the 24-year-old. "It was rough the way things panned out, but I had to lookafter my own future: I only had four points at th e in te rv a l, and I sat th ere thinking, 'What a m I doing? I should be up there challenging for first place; I shouldn' t be here : I want to go on to win the World Championship, but I can 't win riding like this, so I knew I had to ch ange my atti tude. I though t back to the World Pairs Final at Lonigo two years ago, when I won a run-off to lift the gol d for Am erica. I thought abo u t what it w o uld take to do that (Left) Sam Ennolenko (left) and Greg Hancock launch off the start line. Both riders advanced to the World Rnal. (Below) Event runner-up Tony Rlckardson pitches it Into a turn with Greg Hancock, Jan Staechmann and Tomas Toplnka giving chase. By John Hlpklss PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, JUtY10 orld Speedway Champion Sam Ermolenko cruised through his semi-final of this year's competition, but fellow Californians Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill didn't have it so easy. Having grown up together on the junior racing circuit and forged a close relationship, a twist of fate left them in a direct confrontation for the eighth and final qualifying spot at Prague. The duo went into their last ride against each other, both needing a victory to maintain a World Final hope. Hancock beat Hamill with a good start - a vital asse t on the flat, slick surface - and the three points gained left h im with eight points, Hamill's second place giving him the same final total. The two friends now had to spend anxious moments in the pits, awaiting the result of the final race to see whether Tomas Top in ka could overtake them. The Czech required second place to lift his total to nine points, and thus relegate either Hancock or Hamill to reserve for the Final. And for three-and-a-half laps of the re-run 20th heat, Topinka looked like he would do just that. The initial attempt to run the race only lasted as far as the pit tum, when a desperate Topinka rounded Hungarian Zoltan Adorjan and then "parked" his bike across Adorjan's front wheel. As a result, the Hungarian slid into the safety fence and was excluded by English referee Frank Ebdon. In the rerun, Topinka made a better start and managed to push runaway meeting leader Tomasz Gollob of Poland wide in the first tum. Swede Stefan Danno - also in need of points to W 34 ensure his slbt at Vojens, Denmark, on August 20 - nipped up the inside of both of them to take the lead, with Topinka clinging onto that vital second position. Gollob launched attack after attack at the Czech's back wheel, but the track did him no favors and at least two of the attempts saw the Pole lose ground. But, coming off the first tum on the final lap, Gollob finally got the drive he needed and powered under Topinka as they entered the final bend. So, in a matter of yards, Topinka went from a certain World Final position to a " m a ybe. " Third place left him with eight points, the same as Hancock and Hamill, with only one World Final place left. So, the trio came to the tapes once more for a tense run-off. Hancock repeated his excellent start over Hamill. Topinka was relegated to third, and that's the way the race remained, Hancock grabbing the last slot in the Vojens pits while Hamill will travel to Denmark as a reserve. Both Americans admitted afterwards that added pressure had piled on after indifferent second outings. Hancock was relegated to last place after missing the start, while Hamill fared even again. I even changed the bikes, not because there was anything wrong with my first choice, just because I needed to do something:' 50 how did these life-long buddies react when they realized they would have to fight it out on-track in such a vital heat? "Before our last race, we just wished each other good luck. We knew we had to race for it," said Hancock. "I had a terrible meeting today, but I made a World Final and we all start equal again there." While Ermolenko had his worrying moments, his passage was still trouble-