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/128631
cou ld ha ve easily been a lo t worse, a n d as lu c k wou l d have it T o n y (Rick ar dsson) had some ba d luck, so bas ically I go to B yd g oszcz now to do m y ve ry best, get a good resu lt ." Up until n ow , w orking o ve rti me has been th e story o f Gr eg Hancock 's GP se ri es, but with less reward . The man pa c ked w ith so much natural ta lent has found that was not ne ce ss a ril y e no u g h, a n d , a f te r thr e e ro unds, th er e was th e almost unthink abl e threat of th e GP Cha llenge hang i ng o ve r th e Ca li f orn ian. But th ose who have do ne m ore th an ju st flirted wi t h th e wo rld cro w n kn o w h idd en rese rves a re o fte n wh at s ep arates th o s e w ho ge t t o kiss t h e Wor ld Champ ion ship tr o ph y fr om t he wall fl ow er s, and Han c o ck has begu n to d ig deep in t he past two rounds. Tw o untroubled wins took him to the semi- fina l wh ere his m eeting m omen tum carried hi m thro ug h a very t ight firs t lap . Wh il e D anno got th e j um p , Han c o c k got t he better line o utsi de Bill y Ha mi ll o ff the first t urn, Loram prob ing unsuccessfu lly for a ny way past the American duo , and Hancock won ou t against his close bu dd y fo r th e seco nd -placed passage into the final. T hat route out by the safety fen ce held him in g ood stead in t he final , where J ason Crump was firs t to show but Hancock relieved hi m of the lead d ow n the b a c k str a ight and t h e n stuck out o n the ra cing line for the n ext thre e lap s . As a result , he 's jum ped s ix places up the ove rall standi ngs from 12th to sixth , and Abensberg is a fast -r ec ed ing threat. " I was d e termi n ed to win th is m eet ing tonigh t , now I wa nt to go to Bydgoszcz and do t he same and real ly make a poin t ," Han c o ck said . " I r e all y n oti c e d h o w m uc h m or e r el ax ed I was in th o se ye a r s I wa s running at t he top , especi ally the y ear I w on th e t i tle . I c o u l d see h ow rel axed I was on th e bik e, how co m fo rta ble I was and how det erm in ed I loo k ed in t he fac e. Ma y be you lo se that for some reason , I ca n' t ex pla in wh y . All you ca n do is try t o k eep yo ur head tog ether, find th e fo rm yo u had and g o ba c k t o it. Somet imes yo u ha ve to go ba ck t o basic s. I had en dle ss co n versa tio n s w i t h peopl e a bo u t that , and now it' s bac k . I've f o un d that fo r m, I ' ve found what made m e w in th e world ti tle and in m y own mind , I' m telling myself I' m back . I know what I' m c apable of, so to th e rest of th em - watch out, I'm on it!" eN (A bove) Hancock (c e n t e r) got roc k et f a st starts and t h e n lat er put t h e outsi d e line t o good u se e n rout e t o his w i n i n the final. Here, h e l e ads rei g ni ng Wo rld Champion Tony Rickardsson (rig ht ) and Pet e r Karlsson (left). (Above) Tony Rickardsson s uffered a mortal blow to h i s championship hopes when he collided with Stefan Danno In a heat race. Controversy reigned after Rlckardsson was excluded by referee Tony Steele. (Left) Inside track: Mark Loram (right) didn't have h is best round of the GPs at Vojens, but the Englishman Is in the catbird seat as the series heads into its final round. L ike Loram, Billy Hamill (left) bowed out in the semis. Hamill has an outside shot at the title. VojensSpeedwayCenter Vojens; Denmark Results: SeptemberZ; ZDDD (Round 5 of 61 FINA L: I . Greg Han coc k; 2 . Ja s on Crump ; 3 . Ste fan Dann a: 4 . Nicki Pede rse n. Time : 63 .62 sees. WO RL D C HA M PIO N S H I P S PEED WAY G RA N D PRIX SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (A fte r 5 of 6 rounds ) : 1. Mar k Loram (88 ) : 2. Ton y Rlck erdsson (76 /1 win) ; 3. J ason Crum p (72/1 ): 4 . Billy Hamill (70/1) ; 5 . Lei gh A dam s (59) ; 6 . Gre g Han c ock (5 6/1 ); 7. (TIE) Ryan Sullivan (56 )/Chris Louis (56); 9. Todd Wilt shire (5 1); 10. Toma sz Gollob (49 ); 11. Ste fa n Danna (4 1) : 12 . Mi ka el Karl sson (37); 13 . Jimmy Nilsen (34 ) : 14. Hen ke Gustafsson ( 29 ); 15 . (TIE) Toni Kasper (28) / Peter Karlsson (28 ); 17. Carl Stcn eh ewer (2 7) ; 18 . Joe Screen (26); 19 . Ma rtin Dugard (25 /1 ). (Ri ght) Ru n ner·up J a so n Crump (left), Hancock (c enter) and Stef a n Danno (right) cel e brat e on t he Vojens po d i u m. Hanc o c k's message to the comp e titio n? "I'm back," he s ays. Upcoming Round: Round 6 - Bydgoszcz, Poland, Septemb er 23 cue I e n e vv s S EPT EMBER 20, 2000 3 7