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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128633
F IM World Tea m C u p F in a l it also left a distu rbing cav ity o n the th ird turn . Ch ris Lou is' a lm ost nev e r got as fa r as t he h ol e in he at o ne , c lip pi n g th e fence down th e b a ck stra igh t an d pe rform ing a m ira cle to st a y aboa rd . He was rewarded for that p iece of s kill when Erm olenko slid off on t h e la s t la p, allow in g the Lions c a pta in to clai m th ird pla ce . Dug ard a lso fe ll on the last lap of he a t two - Engla nd cu riously having two o uti ngs b efor e t he Auss ies had on e - a nd it prompted s o m e brie f c onfusio n that saw Rick a rdsso n complete five laps. T here was no quarter given , and n o ne asked , in some fiery opening exchanges , and heat three turned up the heat when Crum p was fen ced by Hen ka Gu s t a fs s o n down th e back By (L eft) (left to right) Tony Rickardsson leads Greg Hancock, Niklas Klingberg and John Cook during the World Team Cup at Coventry Stadium. Rickardsson, Klingberg and Team Sweden emerged victorious, while Hancock, Cook and the Americans were third overall. (Right) Stili a cowboy: John Cook proved to be a valuable asset to the U.S. team, winning a heat race and tallying seven points for his side. J O HN H IPKISS COVENTRY, ENGLAND, SEPT. 17 w ed en g rabbed a last-gasp win over host nation En gland in the World Te am Cup Fina l a t Coventry's Brandon Stadium. On e o f the tighte st . and mos t e ntertai ning, finals ever, sa w three of the four te ams still within a shout with two ra ce s left. O nl y Aust ra lia , the defend ing ch a m pion s, were out for the count, with En g la nd a nd Sweden tied on 3 5 points , an d the Am e rica ns just one point a drift. Englan d req uired at best a 5 -1 , at worst a 4 -2 in th eir la st outi ng agai nst Am e ric a in hea t 23 . It wa s goi ng to ta ke a su pe rhum a n effort, an d that's precisely what they got. Joe Sc re en sailed away from the tapes to take control on the first bend, with reserve Ca rl Stonehewer in close attendance down the ba c k stra ight. The Work ing ton sta r, tossed into the pot after Mar tin Dug a rd b ro k e a collarbone in a na sty heat- 16 s pill, briefly found him self re le g a t e d fro m seco n d to la s t before the first lap was co mplete, as Billy Hamill and Sam Ermolenko tried to turn the screw out of the fo urt h be nd . But Stonehewer , wh o has little respect for reputations , saw the chance to make a name for h imself by driving between the two Yanks in fro nt of the main gr andstand to rejo in Scree n on a 5 -1 . It was trademark S ton e he we r, and though there were 'till three laps to negotiate, the Americ an s ne ver got as close again. St on e hewe r follo wed Scr een over th e line with his ar ms aloft. England 40, S w ed en a n d America 35 and the S ca nd ina v ia n s had t o get all five points in the final race against Australia to square things up . S 32 OCTOBER 4 , 2000 ' c u e • Australia we re by no w reduced to onloo kers in th e ra ce for the coveted t roph y, t hei r d e fens e of th e 19 9 9 c rown failing to recover from conced ing dama ging 5 -1s in heats four a nd sev en. T he y had been th e first to us e the ne w WTC tactical substitute in heat 22 when Adams replaced Todd Wiltshire and boss Nei l Street th is time opted to bring in Crump to partner Adams. Between them the King 's Lynn d u o had bagged 24 of Australia 's 28 points, but th ey were s luggish away from the tape s as Henka Gust afsson a nd Peter Kar lsso n hurried to the fron t. Crump gave c h a se a nd twi c e parked him s el f on Ka rls son 's back wheel. But the thrust to make a pass never materialized , much to the chagrin of all those of a Union Jack pe rsuasion. So for the first time in 4 1 ye a rs o f WTC finals, the titl e was to be decided by a run-off. And it was no ordinary run -off. On the insi de for Eng la nd , current Grand Prix le ade r and peop le 's champion Mark Loram . On t h e o utside , defending World Ch am p io n Tony Ric kards son, who had dropped only two points in his s ix ride s . Loram 's plan was obv iously to push Rickardsson wide , but the S we d e got the drop from the tapes to govern t h e fir st turn. Loram q u ic k ly assessed the situation b ut e nuVU's was forc ed to go tight under Rick ardsson on the thi rd be nd , and in a flash the chase was over. Lora m located a hole on th e a pex of the turn , reared vio lently an d los t co n t ro l o f his machine . He was luc ky not to collect Rickardsson as well, and e q u a lly fo rtunat e to escap e with out an y serious inju ry . His subseq ue nt ex cl us io n h anded the ti tl e to Sw eden for onl y the second t ime s ince 1970. It was the fina l a ct o f an eventful afternoon in which most ' of the ill for tune had dogged England . Dugard 's crash at the sam e s pot ha d e n d e d h is invo lvement in heat 16 , whil e Lo ra m ' s chain al so d isin tegrated a t the start of h e at 22. Th e lo st po ints we re ultima tely to prove costly. A wet s u rfa c e looke d unpredictable fro m the start, a nd though it sett led down to provide plenty of gri p, stra ight. Gat e four was starting to work well , and John Cook took ad vantage to give the Americans the first 5 -1 of the af ternoon in partner sh ip with Greg Hancock in he at fo ur, but t he Australians met with mo re d iscomfort in seven when Cru m p was once more squashe d u p t he back straight by Screen. Crump threw his arms in th e air in a show of indigna tion , a n d Gustafsson must have felt simila rly nonp lussed in heat eight. Seemingly o n co u rse for his second successive win , t h e Sw e d e was thrown wid e off the third and fourth turns a nd was relegated fro m first to last. A th ird of the way th rou gh a nd the tre n d h a d been set. En g la nd an d Sweden had 14 points , USA were on 13 and Austral ia on seven. The next eig ht races did little to alter the direct io n of wh a t had quick ly be c ome a th ree-h orse race.