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SPEEDWAY Bydgoslcl Speedway Club .World Tearn. Cup .Final afternoon the track posed problems for most, with the third and fourth turns showing a dangerous tendency to throw the riders wide. Norway's Lars Gunnestad was the first to discover that in heat two. He beat Ermolenko and Hamill from the start and led comfortably until the end of the third lap when the fence drew him in. Gunnestad just managed to hang on for a wen-earned win for a 33 split. Sweden and Australia also shared points in heat three. Bydgoszcz regular Henka Gustafsson looked unimpressed with the surface as he trailed in last. The crowd echoed Gustafsson's feelings when heat four ended. Instead of Poland turning things around and mak- \ ing amends for its heat-one problems, it got worse. England's fast-starting Louis took the win followed by Tomasz Gollob in second and Loram in third. Jacek Gollob drifted around the final bend way behind in last. The Danes were clearly the team to beat once they had got the better of the Americans in similar fashion to the Poles. When Ermolenko closed on the pair as Knudsen had an uncomfortable moment or two, Nielsen simply policed things from the white line. The Aussies scored a 5-1 ride over Norway in heat six, but this was to be the last time that the team would b involved in major points scoring after the performance failed to ignite a fire underit. England had no cause to worry with its second appearance on the track. Loram made a good start but lifted out of the first corner, and Tony Rickardsson pounced to take control. Defending champs Sweden had been the first to make a tactical substitution, wi th Peter By John Hipkiss BYDGOSZCZ, POLAND, SEPT. 24 ever write off the Danes. Just when it seemed as though Denmark's long domination of world speedway might be drawing to a close, Hans Nielsen and Tommy Knudsen teamed up to take yet another gold medal in the World Team Cup Final at Poland's Rydogoszcz Speedway Club. When former world champions Erik Gunderson and Jan O. Pedersen were forced to end their careers due to injury, serious questions were raised about whether Denmark would remain on top of the pile. But a magnificent performance from Nielsen and Knudsen emphasized that the Scandanavian country still has world-class performers - as both Nielsen and Knudsen's 1995 individual world championship bids will attest - even though both are on the wrong side of age 30: The mature Danes showed the teams comprised of much younger aces like America's Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock, and England's Chris Louis and Mark Loram, just how to to win with a stunning display of track craft in front of some 20,000 fans. "It went perfect for us," the jubilant Knudsen said afterward. "I didn't think we'd win sO easily. I thought we'd have to work hard for it, especially on that track." The meeting was marred by a horrific heat-l1 pileup involving Tomasz Gollob and Peter Karlson, and there was also some crowd trouble. However, this took little away from the magnificence of Denmark and a sterling performance from the England boys.. TIi.e elder statesman of the U.S. squad, "Sudden" Sam Efmolenko was disappointed with track conditions but N (Above) The Denlsh duo of Hans Nielsen (right) and Tommy Knudsen (left) was unstoppable In their quest for the World Team Cup at Poland's Bydgoczsz Speedway Club. Here the Danes sweep past top-scoring American uSudden" Sam Ermolenko in heat five. (Right) It was a disappointing day for Polish national hero Tomasz Gollob (right), shown hera chasing Nielsen In the tlrst heat. Gollob rebounded from a serious crash In heat 11 and tallied 12 points In the event. was also quite happy with third place for his team after Hancock defeated reigning World Champion Tony Rickardsson in a runoff. "I'm really, really pleased that we came out third," Ermolenko said. "This was the way'I expected Bydgo~zcz to be, it was the talk of the week. Everybody knew, and I don't think it was any surprise the way the track was. But it was unfortunate for the public, and they had a hell of a lot of people here and they never got to see us good guys really going for it." The enlightened few who had ridden Bydgoszcz before ignored Saturday's slick practice. conditions, knowing its usual deep state for the Polish League when Polish sensations Tomasz and Jacek Gotlob spearhead the club. Despite morning and pre-race festivities centered around the Polish brothers, the end of heat one met with silence as Nielsen headed Tomasz Gollob into the first turn. The Pole then lifted, and Knudsen swept past him to slot alongside Nielsen for four laps of almost perfect team-riding. "Both Hans and I were making good starts today," Knudsen said. "And with Hans on the inside and me on the outside, it worked well." No amount of dirt, it seerns, can gurantee good racing. Throughout the Karlsson stepping in for Gustafsson but failing to score. Tomasz Gollob finally gave his fans something to cheer about by winning heat eight. Ermolenko did all he could to avoid a nasty collision with the crowd favorite off the fourth bend on the last lap and was second. The inclusion of Polish reserve Rafal Dobrucki had been greeted warmly, but he was out of touch with u.s. reserve Hancock, who drove under him for third. .-It was business as usual for Denmark over the Norwegians in heat nine, and then the English team produced one of its best rides of the day in heat 10. Australia's Craig Boyce led for a lap before