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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/146681
eSPEEDWAY World Sp_eed_wa...L...-Y _ina_l F ----::- _ ~ England's Gary Havelock (8) won the World Speedway Championship with a 14 point performance. American Ronnie CQney (7) is shown here in fourth p.lace. Pre-race favorite Sam Ermolenko (inside) could only manage a seventh-place finish. o Havelock wins, U.S. disappoints in final By John Hipkiss WROCLAW, POLAND, AUG. 29 merica's three-pronged challenge for the World Speedway title ended in disaster at the Olympic Stadium in Wroclaw, when pre-match favorites Sam Ermolenko, Ronnie Correy and Rick Miller all failed to make the impact expected of them. After finishing third in 1985 and third again two years later, this was to be Ermolenko's year. His chief rivals Hans Nielsen and the reigning World Champion Jan Pedersen were both out of contention. Thus, the path was clear for the American team captain to take over the crown, but instead it was 23year-old Gary Havelock of ~radford, England, in his World Final debut, who headed the score chart and became the first British champion since Michael Lee in 1980. The extroverted Havelock, with his hair groomed in dreadlock style complete with beads, shrugged off the pain of a badly gashed leg in his second race when he was hit by a bike after Czech rider Zdenek Tesar fell in front of him in the eighth heat. The Brit stayed cool under pressure while his more experienced rivals, including Ermolenko, tended to lose their concentration. Ermolenko, who currently leads the British League averages with his English club, Wolverhampton, was never in contention after making a hash of his opening race. He was slow from the gate, taken wide on the first turn, and though he tried to make up ground he could finish only third. He made amends in his second heat, coming from behind to beat young Dane Gert Handberg, but before he could ride again a torrential thunder- storm flooded the track and the meeting was delayed for 90 minutes while the rain eased and the local fire brigade was called in to pump the water away. Ermolenko, and several other riders, protested that the meeting should be postponed until next day, but the Dutch referee insisted that the show must go on. Although the track recovered well when the meeting resumed the urgency was missing and Ermolenko slipped again with another third pLace before a fall in his fourth outing wrecked any hopes of a recovery. A total of seven poiots put him in eighth place in the final score chart. His teammate Correy picked up one point less than Ermolenko. Usually sharp at the starting gate,' Correy was sluggish when he needed his reflexes to be automatic. He was unfortunate to be caught in a heavy downpour in his opening race, but he managed second place and collected' only two points from his last three races. Miller finished on the same total, never really recovering after finishing last in his first heat. He tried hard to come back, but had to take second in his nex-t three outings before being excluded for pushing the tapes in his last ride. tN A Tommy Knudsen is chased by Ronnie Coney in race seven at the Olympic Stadium in Wrodaw, Poland. Coney finished in a tie for ninth place overall. America's Rick Miller leads Per Jonsson, Brian Karger and Tony Rickardsson in race six. Miller also finished in a tie for ninth place in the championship. 32 Results . POINTS: I. Gary Havelock (England) 14; 2. Per. jonsson (Sweden) II; 3. Gen Handberg (Denmark) 10; 4. (TIE) Henrik Gusta[sson (Sweden)/Tommy Knudsen (Denmark) 9; 6. john jorgensen (Denmark) 8; 7. (TIE) jimmy Nilsen (Sweden)/Sam Ermolenko (USA) 7; 9. (TIE) Kelvin Talum (England)/Slawimir Drabik (Poland)/Rick Miller (USA)/Ronnie Coney (USA)/Milch Shirra (New Zealand) 6; 14. (TIE) Zdenek Tesar (Czechoslovakia)/Tony Rickardsson (Sweden) 5. 16. Brian Karger (Denmark) 4.