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AMA National Championship Speedway Series "It was a great night for me," Hamill said. "We were on all night. We made perfect starts from every gate position, so for the A Final, I just figured that I'd take gate two and see what happened. It worked out for me." Hamill's current British League teammate, SECO Racing/Araibacked Janniro, came from the pole and tried everything he could to chase Hamill while at the same time holding off Troy Lee Designs/Tag Metals' Hancock, who attempted to take the long way around him in the quick, four-lap race. It was a wellearned runner-up finish for the 22year-old Janniro. "I didn't get a great start, so I just held on for second," Janniro said. "Somebody [Hancock] was behind me, really giving me a push, but I wasn't giving him any room. I think that this series is going to be a little better than the old days, where if you had a night like I did, it would be over. I'm just going to take it as it comes. Nobody is out of it yet." Hancock's third-place finish puts him in good standing for the title as well. He has proved to be very capable at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, California, which will host STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU SAN BERNARDINO, CA, AUG. 14 new era in the sport of speedway racing in America got under way at Arrowhead Motor Speedway on a Wednesday night in San Bernardino, California, and Billy "The Bullet" Hamill carved out a small piece of history when he won the A Final before a standing-room-only crowd. Hamill flew to the win at the first round of the inaugural AMA National Championship Speedway Series. The 31-year-old California native, the defending AMA National Speedway Champion and former World Champion, came home from his outpost in England and made his way to the main event of the evening by posting a maximum score of 15 points in the five rounds of racing leading up to the finals. He then rocketed from his starting position in gate two and cut four perfect laps on his CWF/Parts Unlimited-backed GM, defeating fellow Europe-based Americans Billy Janniro and Greg Hancock, and fan favorite Eddie Castro of Ojai, California, en route to the win in the A Final. A 40 AUGUST 28, 2002' cue • • n e _ s the final two rounds of the series. Anything can happen, as he has definitely been on a roll on the World speedway scene lately. "Things have been going pretty darned good lately," Hancock said, "and this is a championship just like all the rest, so I want to win it. Third's not too bad. Hopefully, we'll be better at Auburn. "There just wasn't enough [dirt] out there," Hancock said of his chosen line around the outside. "Maybe if there had been, it would have made it more exciting. Still. the racing was good tonight, and I think the format is really cool. It gives everyone a chance to get up there and make it happen. I think my chances [for the title] are good." Dunnegan Racing/Saddlemen/ Dodge Brothers-backed Castro made sure that it wasn't an "all World final" by earning his spot into the A Final after beating his teammate Chris Manchester in the final elimination race of the night. From there, Castro took his place in gate four, but he missed the start and wound up fourth. "That was good, but I got filled in in the first corner, and I just got lost in that roost," Castro said. "I guess that I missed the gate just enough that they just filled me in, and I had to reach for my tearoffs right away, and then I had to let off because I was headed right for the turn-two crash wall. But we're on our way. Hopefully we can make some more A finals." The win means that Hamill now leads the points standings in the three-race series, which continues with round two at Fast Fridays Speedway on the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Aubum, California, on Friday, August 16. Like the rest of the Europe-based Americans, he is expected to be at all three rounds. "I think this series is going to be good for the sport of speedway, and I'm really happy to see that it has such tremendous support from the AMA," Hamill said. It is that support, along with the push by Fast Fridays Speedway promoters Dave and Mark Joiner and Arrowhead Motor Speedway promoter Charlie Venegas, that Hamill and others hope will get the ball rolling back toward the path of fan support that speedway enjoyed back in the '70s. That was a different time. to be sure, and whether a National series can make enough headway to turn the