Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.SPEEDWAY OVERSEAS FINAL (Left) England's Ketvin Tatum (left) defeated cou ntrym an Joe Screen (right) in a runo ff to win th e Overseas Final at Brad ford, England . (Abo ve) The win was a sweet one fo r Tat um, who has often been criticized by his peers for not living up to hi s potential. (Below) (Left to right) Americans Charlie Venega s, Sam Ermol enko, Oukie Ermo len ko and Chris Manchester look toward the heaven s as if to seek the favor of the rac ing gods. When th e day was don e, only Sam Erm olenko found any,'adv ancing to the Inte rcont inental Final after a fifth-place fin is h. By Jo hn Hipkiss BRADFORD, ENGLAND, JUNE 22 eteran Kelvin Tatum rolled back th e yea rs to w in th e O vers ea s Fin a l a t a rain-soa ked Bradfo rd Speedway. .The meeting was de layed by some 25 m inutes because of a hea vy thu nd erstorm jus t five minutes before the schedul ed start time, and the re w as little d oubt th at th e wea ther a ffec te d th e attendance, w hich wa s es tima ted to be around 3000. Even after soli d rai n for three days lead ing up to the event, the tr a ck was s till in su pe rb co n di tio n before the meeting. The heavy p re-race d own pour co u ld not sto p th e event from goi ng a he a d, a nd the m ee ting, w hic h w as com prised of 22 races, w as over wit hin two hour s. Th ou g h h e w as a like ly qua lifier, Tatum was not one of the favo rites to win the title. But he put himself abou t and made some impressive starts, whic h was all-importa nt on an eve ning wh ere rid ers were always stru ggling from the b a ck. If a rider m issed th e gate, h e wo uld get "filled in" with mud ; in one race, Charlie "The Edge" Venegas was forced to p ull his gogg les and helm et cover off because he mad e a mess o f the 50 start and couldn't see anything . Sam Ermo le n ko, th e 1993 Wo rld Cha m pion, has had mi xed fortun es in the British League with the Bell Vue Aces so far this year, and yet a t Bradford he was the most successful Ameri can, as he aga in proved tha t he can still mix it with the big boys. "Sudden Sam" w e n t thro u gh comfor tab ly w it h 11 points and put himself in the frame for a run off for third place, but by that stage he had achieved what he had setou t to d o, a nd tha t was to qualify. But h is countrymen Veneg as, Chris Manchester and Dukie Ermolcnko all crashed ou t of the race for a Grand Prix place as they were clearly off th e p a ce in suc h a stro ng field. . Ma nchester was the only American a part from Sam Ermolenk o who had a chance of going through, but he lacked th e consis tency necessary to make th e top eigh t. He managed only two points from three rides but , when he won heat 13 ahead of Ryan Sullivan, it gave him an outs ide cha nce. However, in heat 19, when he need ed a wi n, Manchester was up aga inst Sam Er mol enko, Jaso n Crum p, and Dukie Er mole n ko, a nd could only manage third place. Duki e Ermol enko was a late replacemen t for th e absent Mike Faria, who decided to stay back home - a surp rise move, as many British fans were look ing forwa rd to seeing hi m again aft er his tw o successfu l years in Scotland with the Ed inb u rgh Mona rch s . But Sam Ermolenko's younge r brother failed to take his opportunity with both hands as he str u ggled to keep up th e pa ce a ll eve ning, managing only three poin ts for .his efforts. Since his serious leg injuries last season , the yo unger Ermolenko has fail ed to red isco ver th e for m he d isplayed for Glasgow two yea rs ago and for a sho rt spell for Long Eato n at the start of last yea r. Du kie Er molenko was in the first ra ce, bu t h e was clea rly not quick enoug h, as former Aussie Gra nd Prix star Craig Boyce won comfortably from the sta rt, ahead of England 's Dean Barker, whil e Dukie go t the better of N ew Zea land' s Chri s Penny. Venegas got off to a nightmare start when he missed the ga te in heat tw o and wa s filled in. Fro m that point , he was never able to recover. Man chester looked fired u p in heat three as he ed ged ou t Eng lan d's Ca r Stonehewer and then chased hard after Sha ne Pa r ke r, but there was n o way through, an d he had to settle for second place. Bradford rider Joe Screen was one of the early favorites to take the title, along w ith his teammate Gary Ha velock, bu t Sa m Ermolenko ma naged to pla y his part in a tough heat four by secu ring an im p ressive second place w he n Screen p ulled clea r, but Ermolenko never let him out of sight an d pushed him hard . And "Sud d en Sa m" wa s su pe rb in the n e xt ra ce, w he n he p u she d ou t Tatum in a brilliant move to pu ll clea r an d win the race. After just five heat s, t he former World C h a m p io n w as already on five points and in a goo d position to qu alify. There was a fright for Stonehewer in heat six, when he tangled with Sullivan a nd was se n t cras h in g wi th h is legs ca ug ht u p in his machine . Ston ehewer was fit enough to walk away fro m the accident. Manchester failed to capitalize on his solid start when he. pu lled out of heat eight after he was filled in w ith di rt , while Boyce pulled clear to win ahead of Havelock and Sean Wilson . There was little do ubt that the meeting would be wo n main ly from the ga te, as th e tr a ck w as so we t tha t it ma d e passing very difficult . Heat 19, though, threatened to be diffe ren t, a s th e bi g gu ns, Tatum and Screen , put on a fine display of highspeed action, with Scree n trying eve ry line poss ible to get past Tatum; but the v et eran Eng lis h sta r proved he still kno ws the fastest way aro u nd the big Bradford track. The best race of the meeting came in heat 11, when Wilson timed his move to pe rfection and just got the better of Sullivan at the line in a superb match which

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