Ermolenko Hurt in Motorcycle Race in England

Sam Ermolenko, world and national speedway motorcycle champion from Cypress, is hospitalized in Wolverhampton, England, with his left leg broken in two places and back injuries. He suffered the injuries in an accident during races there Monday night.

“Sam is resting comfortably,” his wife, Shelly, said Tuesday night from their home in Hatton, England. “He is stable and there is no paralysis. He expects to be back riding next season.”

The accident occurred during a British Speedway League team race on his home track. Ermolenko is the leading rider on the circuit, which concludes its season next month.

This is the second serious accident for Ermolenko. In July of 1989, he fell during the world long-track championship races in Germany and suffered a broken leg. Doctors took seven hours piecing it together and he was out of racing for more than a year.

Last month, in Germany, he became the third American to win a world speedway championship, joining Jack Milne, who won in 1937, and Bruce Penhall, who won in 1981 and ’82.

On Oct. 2, Ermolenko won the U.S. Nationals at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Until then, only Penhall had won the world and national titles in the same year.