Ermolenko Tied for First Place in Speedway After One Round

Sam Ermolenko of Cypress was tied for first place with Erik Gundersen of Denmark in the speedway World Final after one round of racing Saturday night in Olympic Stadium at Amsterdam.

Ermolenko and Gundersen scored 13 points in five heat races in a light drizzle in front of 12,000. The meet will end today.

Ermolenko was suspended from the British Speedway League two weeks ago for failing to submit to a drug test after a U.S.-England test series at Hackney, but the layoff hasn’t affected his riding.

In the second heat, he changed to his backup bike on the starting line, then rallied to beat Holland’s Henny Kroeze. He dropped his only points of the meeting in his second race (the sixth heat) when he finished third behind Hans Nielsen and Jan Pedersen of Denmark.

Ermolenko had problems passing unheralded Tony Kasper of Czechoslovakia in the heat race before he finally passed Kasper on the final lap. But he failed to catch Nielsen and Pedersen and earned only one point in the heat.

Ermolenko’s best ace came in the 19th heat, in which he beat Gundersen, a former two-time world champion. Gundersen took an early lead in the four-lap race but became preoccupied with holding off Swedish rider Per Johnsson. Ermolenko found a gap between the riders on turn three of the final lap and won the race.

Nielsen, the defending world champion, is tied with Jeremy Doncaster of Great Britain for third place with 12 points. Johnsson is fifth with 11 points.