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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128012
Speedway Fast Fridays Speedway AMA NA TlONAL SPEEDWA YCHAMPIONSHIP .) For Bobb y Hedden , the last heat of the first round proved to be propheti c. Hed d en joked d uring the rid er parade introdu ct ions th a t he was, "Go ing to win, or go through the fence," w hich is exactly what his bike did after he found himself o u t of co n tro l in the firs t turn w h ile trying to avoid Ham ill, w ho got off the sta rting line q uickes t but ad m ittedly couldn't ge t the bike turned in the com er and took the field wide with him. On e th e restar t, Han ill m an a g ed to make it thro ugh to the chec ke red flag a nd ea r ned three po in ts . Sc hwa r tz stayed on Hamill's tail and collec ted the tw o po ints for second place. ROUN D 2 Faria con tinued hi s flaw les s night with the win ahead of the seemingly unshaken Hedden a n d fi rst-time Nation a l participan t Ia n Ferris. Ha mill a lso kep t h is maximum sco re in tact, lead in g the way in heat two, followed by janniro , Ma nches ter a nd the quicksta rti ng but m yst eri ou s ly fadi ng Sisem o re, who ended u p bo uncin g off th e crash wa ll at o ne point. . . In th e last two hea ts of th e ro u nd , Hancock a nd Venegas both go t themse lves ba ck o n the Iead erboard with w i n s . H anco ck b e at La rson a n d McConnell, whil e Ven egas took a po int fro m Bast and tw o fro m reserve Chad Felicia, w ho en tered the race after Ryan Fisher re mo ved h im self with a nasty thi rd -la p sp il l. Fish er, w ho may ha ve separa ted his shou lder in th e incident, wa s thro ugh for the nigh t. Schwartz was the seco nd rid er off the By M. Sober Photos by Gen Moore J.: AUBURN, CA, SEPT. 3 o rmer World Speed way Cha m pion Billy "The Bullet" Hamill finally go t the sp eed way wi n he' s bee n af ter since he was 10 years old . " Af te r I w o n th e Wo rl d Cha mp ionship my very ne xt thought was how much I wanted to win the National," the pe rso nab le Ham ill said after winni ng the 1999 AMA Nation al Speedway Champio ns hi p ma in e ve n t. " I've co me close before, I'm just thankful for the chance. Th is is so grea t for me. I love it. " Hamill, who was scheduled to hop a flight early Satu rday for a race in Poland o n Su nday, fi n ish ed hi s im p ressive nigh t' s wor k wit h a p os sibl e broke n w rist. Hami ll's right wris t was inju red in th e m ain eve n t wh en Exide teamm a te GR'g Hancock inadverten tly ran ove r him a nd th e two fo rme r wo rld cha mp ions , and Mike Faria ended up in the tum two d irt. Ha m ill wa s obviously s ha ke n, bu t eve ntua lly remou nted his bike, joined the res ta rt and won his fir st Na tio na l C ha m p io ns h i p . C ha rlie "T he Ed ge " Ven ega s put in a good run and finis hed second . Faria didn' t get the ga te he was loo king for io th e restart and finishe d third. Han cock, trying to defend his title on a bike loaned to him by josh Larso n, finished fou rth . 40 ROUND 1 F :;; E .0 E.. (Above) Billy "The Bullet" Hamill (foreground) rebounded from a . crash to win the second annual AMA National Speedway Championship at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, California. Char lie "The Edge" Venegas (background) finished second. (Right) "Ayin'" MikeFaria (left) s co red 13 points to lead all A-main qualifiers, but the former three-time U.S. National Champion wound up third in the A main. 1 Fo r m e r U .S . N ati o n a l Speed w ay Cha m pio n Chr is Man chester opened up the scoring w it h an im p ressive threepoi nt rid e, finishi ng just a he ad of Bart Bast w ho closed th e ga p in the hea t' s waning moments . jimmy "The jam mer " Sisem o re s to le th e n e xt w in wi th a gra nd insid e mov e tha t sa w him ass u me the lea d w hen initial )ead ers Gary Hicks and Greg Han cock took each o the r wide in the first lap . Hic ks recovered to claim th e run ne r-up s po t. Far ia go t h is firs t victory of the meeting w hen he outgat ed , an d then ou trod e, Billy janniro and Cha rlie Venega s. Ven egas wa s in jeo pardy of go ing sco reless in the heat until h e ma n a g e d to g e t aro un d Sha wn McCon nell in the .lat e going. ' . 1 . J, . ".' line but faded after Bast moved inside of him on lap two and too k over the runner-up posi tion. ROUND 3 Sc hwa r tz o pened up th e m iddl e round by flash ing his old "Ga lemeislerl' p ers ona, Sisemore took second pl ace fr!?Il},t~~, po.J,e·.~qc;l MsC;!J~n"!L~'!~.E4