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By M. So ber Phot os by Gen Moore AUBURN,CA. JUNE5 w o-tim e u.s. Na tional and 1993 Wo rld Speedwa y C ha mp io n "Sudden " Sam Ermolenko m ad e s ho r t work of a very ta lented Nort h A merica n Speedway Final fie ld and sco red a maximum 15 points to tak e the victo ry b ef ore a s ta n d ing-room -o nly cro wd a t the Go ld Co u ntry Fairgrounds. Curre nt Nation al Sp eedway Champ ion "F lyin" Mike Fa ria fin ished seco nd w it h 13 of th e possible 15 points, w hile the third and fourth spo ts went to ano the r former Ll.S, Na tio na l Champion, Chris Man chester, and Cha rlie 'The Edge" Venegas, both of whom finis hed with 12 total points. Bren t Werner won a runoff w ith Lou isKossuth and Bobby H edden to clai m th e alternate (reserve) position . Ermole nko, Faria, Manc hester and Venegas will all tran sfer to the Overseas Fina l, which wi ll be held in Poole, England, on June 13. Th e to p eight finis hers at Poole will th en move on to th e next rou nd in Denmark, w here tw o riders w ill qu ali fy fo r th e 1999 World Grand Prix final s. A ft er th e meeting, Ermolenko was happy to be past th e first hu rdle on his w ay to recapturing what he hopes will be his seco nd World Championship in 1999. " I really didn't know what to expect when I came in here," Ermolenko said. "I hadn't ridden here in nine years, and the track is so much smaller than what I'm used to. I really jus t had to come in h e re an d d o my job, fig ure out th e setup s and tak e car e of business." The first ro und of heat s fin ished up with one of th e night's biggest matchups. Errnolenko had th e pole, b ut th e firs t to react a t the start wa s Faria, who came from gate three. But Faria's quest for the front was int errupted by the swift sta rt that Matt Beck er got from ga te tw o. The former Junior ch ampion was head to head w ith Fari a as th e tw o exited tum tw o and straightened up to d rive d o wn the back s tr aig h t. M eanw h ile, Erm o len k o h a d s ized up the ins ide line an d d ro ve past both riders as t hey e n tered turn th r ee . On ce Erm ole nko go t the lead, there wa s nothing Becker o r Faria co u ld d o a bo u t it. Becker held off Fari a's fra nti c advances to claim the two points fo r second p lace. Ermolenko quickly se ttled in to the groove on the short , d ry Northe rn Califo rnia o val, a nd h e w a s th e first off w hen the ta pes rose in the third heat of ro u nd tw o, lead ing C h ris Manches ter, w ho w as th e seco n d a way a nd wh o attacked the ins ide line. Bobby H ed den di d n't get a good start but wa s looki ng ve ry quick on the ou tsi de. Manchester held off H edd en fo r seco nd but cou ld on ly watch as Ermolenko pulled away to keep his pe rfect scor e alive. Faria go t his first win in the fina l rid e of th e seco nd round as he rom ped fro m sta rt to finish ahead of Loui s Kossuth, Pat Linn and Rand y DiFrancisco. At the end of tw o round s , Er m o le n ko a n d C ha rlie Venegas w ere tied for th e lea d wi th six po ints apiece; Ma nches ter wa s one po int behind with five . T Someone' s perfect sc ore was going by the wayside in th e second heat of the third round, as Ven egas and Ermolenko faced eac h o the r for the only tim e in th e eve n t . Venegas carved perfect sta rt and led Errnolenko, Kossuth and Bren t Werner through the fir st two laps, but he sli pped to second as Ermolenko nudged inside on lap three . Kossuth also wanted by but cou ldn't manage the pass and had to settle for third p lace, ahead of Werner, who en ded the race on the ground in tum two. "I wa s nervous the firs t couple of heats but felt be tter going into th e third rou nd ," Ermolenko sa id . "I'm sti ll lucky to have a perfect score against these guys." Ermolenko closed ou t the fourthround scoring with a textbook gate and fin ish ov er his brother Charl es Ermolenko, and Eddie Ca stro, who fell at th e start but still managed to fin ish ah ead of Linn, w ho had even w orse luck with th e turn-tw o wall. After four of five round s, Sam Ermolenko' s p er fec t sco re of 12 points topped Fari a by tw o a points and Man ch ester and Venegas by three . As the final round opened, Bart Bast found himself in the position of being the la st rider with a legitima te sho t a t putting a d ent in Ermolenko's dream night. However , Bast's evening end ed as it had started, with a fifth straight second-pla ce fin ish . By t hi s time in the night, "Sud d en Sam" looked much like th e Sam o f o ld : Th e s a m e man who dominated many a previous American Final at the old Long Beach facility was o n ce agai n showi ng th e fas test wa y around a speedway track aboa rd his Tro y Lee /Shoei /Silkolene /K&N /NGK GM. Faria wrapped u p the runner-up spot w ith a nice w ire- to-wire win in the se cond heat. Werner finished second, and th ird w ent to Charles Ermolenko. The third heat of round five saw Kossu th sta rt in the lead only to slide wide in th e second set of turns, all owing th e cha rg ing Manchester to take over th e lead. Castro w ould also pass Kossuth wh e n h e fell in the fin al lap while attem pting to maintain his seco nd-place posi tion. Ven egas wrapped th e regular even ing's events with a w in ov er Hed, den , Becker and Linn. Ermolenko and Faria fini shed first a n d second with 15 and 13 points respectively, but Manchester and Venegas ended u p ti ed at 12 points , so a runoff was staged to break the th irdplace tie . Venegas took th e initial lead from his inside starting po sition, only to have Manc hester work the ou tsi de to perfection an d take over the lea d as the two hit the h alfw ay poi nt. Mancheste r h eld th e lead a n d claimed th e thir d place mo ney. . Since Bast q ualified with 10 po ints but decli ned the alterna te p osit ion, a runoff had to be s taged to d etermine who would move ahead to the Ov erseas Fina l shou ld one o f the top four b e unable to participate. Tied at nine points were Werner, Ko s suth and Hedden . Werner got the gate and the altern ate w as in place just four sho rt laps lat er . I~ Gold Country Fairgrounds Auburn, California Results: June 5, 1998 O /A (Top 4 qualify for Oversea s Fina l): 1. Sam Ermolenko (GM) 15 pts; 2 Mike Faria (GM) 13; 3. Chris Man ches ter (GM) 12; 4. Cha rlie Venegas (GM) 12; 5. Bart Bast (Jaw) 10; 6. Brent Wer ner (G M) 9; 7. Louis Koss uth (GM) 9; 8. Bobbv Hedden Qaw) 9; 9. Ed Cas tro craw) 7; 10. Cha rles e.rrnc;enk o (GM) 6; 11. Billy [anru ro l (Jaw) 5; 12. (TIE> Bobby Schwa rt z (GM)/ Ma tt Becker Oaw) / Pat Linn (law) 3; 15. (T IE) Rand y DeFra ncesco Oa w). Tommy Hedd en UdW ) 2. Upcoming Rounds: Overseas Final - Poole, England, J une 14 Inte rcontinental Final ยท Vojen s , Denm ark, August 21 (Above) "Sudden" Sam Ermolenko (left) shocked the troops as he scored a 15point maximum to win the North American Speedway Final at Fast Fridays Speedway on the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn , California. (Left) Could be a contender again: Ermolenko (center) stands tall aboard the victory rostrum with reigning U.S. National Speedway Champ ion Mike Faria (right), who was second afte r tallying 13 points. 00 0\ 0\ ,..... 49