Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127870
Wol1d Speedway Champion Greg Hancock By John Hipkiss 7 1 alifornia kid Greg H ancock is .t .II en joyi ng the b est days of h is life. Hancock was crowned World Spee dw ay Champion back in September; by C h r is tm as h e will be mar ried to hi s longtime English sweethea r t, Joanne; and next year he wi ll have a speedway m eetin g in h is honor to ce le bra te a d ecade of racing in En gl an d . It ' s not hard to see just why he is enjoying life. • So mething has mad e Han cock and his friend and form er World Champ ion Billy Hamill so differ ent from the rest of the British-based American rid ers such as Josh Larsen, Du kie Erm olenk o, Chris Manchester and Brent Werner. Hancock has no d oubt it' s the fact that the majority of his career has been spent alo ngside Hamill - w het her it be as a colleag ue or as an op po nent. Ha ncock fi rs t wen t to England in 1989, w he re he lin k e d u p wit h th e Cra d le y H eath Hea t h e n s, th e cl ub where Bru ce Pe n hall spen t his entire British career befor e his reti rement after winnin g World Cha m pio nshi ps in 1981 a nd 1982. H amill joine d th e team th e yea r a f te r Ha ncock , a nd the y were immediately looked u pon as tw o rid ers with a tremendou sly bri gh t future. '..¥:J 36 "1 rem ember that firs t yea r in Englan d , w e had a grea t team, w it h Erik Gu n d ersen and Ja n O . Ped ersen, two World Champions, bot h on th e sa me team," Hancock reca lle d . "The b igger tracks made me very scare d , and 1 think Billy progressed qu icker than me on the bi g tra ck s, but th e fa ct th a t w e were togeth er _ the time mad e us bette r as all riders ." Hancock s ta r te d ridin g s peed way bikes when he wa s just a boy in scho ol, and vid eo footage of him at Costa Mesa as a 12-year-old mak es for inte res ting viewing. He was inspired by Penhall and, as more su ccess was achiev ed by th e American riders of th e earl y '80s; Ha nc ock wa s more determined th a n ever to go over to England. "Bu t I cou ld n' t d o it wi th ou t spon sorship," Ha ncock said . "Bruce Penhall help ed me ou t w it h th in gs, a nd if it wasn' t for him, I wo uld not be World Champion here and now ." But it was in those early years, as he was forg ing his trem end ou s tal en t on the "teacu ps" of the Sout hern Californi a speedway circuit, that Ha ncock a n d H amill initiat ed th eir bond as frie nds and rival s. . "Bill y a nd me develo ped a sp ecia l friendship, and w e all used to meet a t Cos ta Mesa for the races - which was the highli ght of our we ek," Hancock 'said . "Sometimes we mi ss ed ou t on scho o l because of ou r racing, but that' s all we . wanted to d o, because racing motorbikes gave u s suc h a kick - and it st ill d oes. 1 ca n still rem em be r clearly th e d a ys when I w ould hurt m yself with cut s and bruises becau se I kept coming off th e bike, b u t I would keep going back for more c and tha t was a sig n of what I wa nted to do." Ha ncock's taste for motorcycle raci ng was so stro ng th at it nearly co nsu me d all of his waking moments. Racing and rid ing pro vided a natural ou tlet for his tremendous energy . "If we could n't make it to the speedw ay, we would all try a nd go ou t on m o tocross b ik es, ju s t fo r the s a ke of keep ing us riding a bike," Han cock said . "I never wa nte d to stay in and study for school, and I never wanted to w atch TV all night lon g. I jus t wa nted to ge t d own to the races . "When I came home for Billy's Worl d Cha mpio nshi p par ty last Nov ember, we had a big video screen in the ba r an d watche d videos of u s at Cos ta Mesa," Ha ncock sa id, "and it brou ght ba ck great mem orie s. I had a grea t time as a child ; and that's probably on e of the reaso ns w hy I a m so happy in lif e now, because I certainly am . I was never dis- co uraged from ridi ng motorbikes, but th ere were ti m es wh en I was tol d I should spend more time on schoolwork, and I guess I didn' t achieve everything I cou ld a t school because of my love for motorbikes. "I would like to think I was w ell beh aved a nd a good studen t - bu t all along, I kn ew what I w as going to do , and not a lot can prepare you for the outside world ," Hancock co n tinu ed . "No matter what qualifica tions you get at school, you need a com monsense attitude to life, and I think that is particularl y im p ortan t for guys like me w ho travel the wo rld ." Ha ncock gained a tremendous sen se of what it took t o make it in speedway's top eche lon right away. Wh en he first went to Eng land, he stayed with former World Cha m pio n Erik Gundersen, him self a Crad ley Hea th legend . "I could n't thin k of anybody better to live w ith," Hancock said. "Erik' s expertise was superb, but it was also a tough tim e becaus e h e had a b a d acci den t, which ended his caree r, and I was there a t the tim e. Bu t Erik is one of the best g uys you co u ld e ver ta lk t o about s peed way, an d it w a s a ll part o f m y learning cu rve . I w a s so happy to be there . I also spent some time with another Cr adley rider, Simo n Cross, and he