Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY AMA N TIONAL A SPEED A WY CHAMPIONSHIP Gold Country Fairgrounds By M. Sober Pho tos by Michae l Ki rby/Au bu rn Jo urnal and Gen Moore AUBURN, CA, SEPT. 25 _ orme r World Speed way Cha m pi"- on G reg Hancock made his second trip to th e Northern Ca liforn ia Fas t Frid ays Aubu rn track in 1998 pay o ff, a s h e rod e to h is fi r s t Natio na l Speed way Champ ionship in thr ee yea rs w hen h e cla imed th e AMA Na tio na l Speedway Cha m p ionship title before an overflo w cro w d a t the Gold Co u n try Fair gro unds. Han cock, wh o also won the coveted U .S . titl e in 199 5, r o d e v ir t u a lly unscathed to the w in, droppi ng only a si ng le p oin t a lo ng the way to the all im po rtant A ma in , w here he topped a s ta r-s tud ded g ro u p of rid er s for th e glory. "It's a good feeling to win thi s title here," Han cock sa id. "I won it a few years ago, bu t to wi n it here in front of these fans is great. " ort hern Ca liforn ia points champion Bart Bast ran very well all night but had to settle for seco nd aga inst"the imp ressive run put in by Hancock. "I fin ished seco nd to a World Cham pio n," a smili ng Bast sai d after the race. "I gotta be pretty happy abou t that. He rod e grea t." "Flyi n' " Mike Faria, wh o still holds the Ll.S, Na tional title that he earn ed at th e O r a ng e C ou n ty Fa irg roun d s in Cos ta Mesa, Californ ia, last year, had a . g o o d n ight a fte r a s low s ta rt a n d claimed third place. In the first heat of rou nd one, Charlie "Th e Edge" Ven ega s go t ou t in fro nt first and led. Bob Hicks and Bobby Hedd en to th e chec ke red flag . But in hea t tw o, Ha ncock gave a preview of things to come when he gated clear and rode un challenged to claim three poi nts. Second place in hea t two was ano ther matter. Ch ris Manchester got the second q uickest s ta r t, but co ming fro m th e outside he could find nowhere to go 00 0\ 0\ ,...... ..q<' ,...... l-< (J) ..0 o ..... u o 58 and end ed up o n th e ground in turn tw o. "I fell on my butt righ t off th e bat , simple as that," Ma nchester said. Meanw hile, [anniro had assu med the seco nd spot but was to end his race on the dirt in turn th r ee o ne la p la ter, after h e pa r ked s lig h tly a n d was bu m p ed by Jimmy Sisemore. "I can' t wai t to see the tape on that," [a nni ro said after th e race. " I d o n 't k now if I p a r ked o r no t." S isemore went on to claim second place, but the thi rd - p lace point w a s n ot award ed because neit her [anniro nor Man chester fini shed th e heat. In heat three, tw otime Ll.S. N a tional Cha m pi on Bobby " Boo g a lo o " Sch war tz w as th e fir s t away, w it h Fari a right on hi s ta ilp ipe -on the outside line. As Schwa rtz drifted ou t to kee p Fari a a t bay, Bast seized the insid e line and d ro ve into the lead. As Bast took over control of the front positio n, Fa ria m an a g ed to wo r k p a st (Above) After a subpar season on the World Championship trail, . Greg Hancock came home to California and picked up a popular win during the AMA National Speedway Championsh ip at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. (left) In the A main, Hancock (left) made a perfect gate to put away reigning U.S. National Speedway title holder Mike Faria (right) off the start: Just after this photo was taken, Bart Bast passed Faria for second place. Schwa rtz, but in his haste to ca tch th e fleeing Bast he ov ers lid in turn three, allowi ng To m m y Hedd en to s li p in fro nt of him and steal away the second spot wi th a nice move. Schwartz fad ed to fou r th , an d Fa ria had to se tt le for thir d p lace beh ind Hedden. Robert Cu rry was di sq ualified fro m heat four wh en he tou ched the sta rting tapes af ter the rid er s were staged an d was rep laced by reserve rid er Chad Felicio , All th e co mmo tio n did nothing to alter Josh Larse n's concentra tion, as the former Junior ational Champion calmly ga ted clear and rode unchallen ged to his firs t win. Pat Linn ran in the second spot initially but was d ropped to thi rd place by ew York rider Wa rren Diem, who scored his only two points of the mee ting . Larsen op ened the second round just as he closed the first: with a smart gate and a flawless ride to the win. The d ifference in this heat was the fact that finish ing in seco nd p lace was Ha ncock, w ho atte mpted to go aro und and then u nd er the leader bu t could find no d aylight and had to settle for two p oints . Venegas got ou t in front of heat six bu t could n't keep his Motion Pro GM on the po le and saw the pesky Tommy Hedden wo rk past him in turn thr ee on the third la p . To the crowd 's delig h t, Hedde n had, for the seco nd heat in a row, stolen po in ts from o n e of th e pre- race favorites. Heat seven wa s an all-No rt hern Califo rn ia a ffai r th at was d ominat ed by

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