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/128635
AMA N a t io n al Spe edw a y Championship Fast F ri d a y s Speedway m ann er in the fi nal turn but instead too k h im out and was d isqual ified. Amazin gly , some of the crowd didn 't agree wi th the call that ga ve th e win to Hicks , sec ond to Hedd en and third to Robert Curry . In eve nt t hree, Chri s M anc h este r loo k ed like the kid who won th e 199 2 fi nal , p op p in g out o f the g ate and lead in g the enti re fo ur laps, ahead of Hancock and Chad Feli cio. A uburn 's Bart Bast put himself in ea rly hot water afte r h is turn -th ree spill c o st him an y chance at round -one po int s. "I didn 't get a good ga te , " Ba st said of his mis hap, " but af te r every one went wid e, I had a good sho t t o get back into c o nt ent io n down low, but I guess I tried to pass too many peop le at once and it cost me. Now I've got to pl ay ca t ch- up all night. " Ven eg as clos ed ou t t he op en ing round with a win off the pol e after th e q u ick -gat in g Bobby Sch wartz dri ft ed w id e , allowi ng Vene g as , F ari a and J ohn Lar sen to get by . ROUN D TWO Runner-up Charlie Venegas and third overall Billy Hamill share a la ugh a s event winner Greg Hancock holds up th e numbe r-one AMA plate after w inn ing his th ird AMA Na tio na l Speedway Champions hip t it le. By M. S O BER P HOTOS BY GE N M OO RE AOBORN ,CA,SEPT.29 CJ? he 1997 World I n di v i d u al U Speedwa y Ch amp ion, G reg ROUND ONE Hancoc k , joined M ike Faria and Rick Woods as a three-t ime AMA Nationa l Billy Hamill began the night wi th a Sp eedway Champion . Mike Bast, who qui c k gat e a n d a r u n a way win . received his AMA Motorcycle Racers Hall of Fame medal at an induction " D u k i e" Erm ol enk o had a t err ibl e sta rt b ut ca m e back to take second pl ace away from Ryan F ish er and Ian ceremon y during interm issi o n , st ill leads the group w ith h is unprecedent- F erris . Gar y Hick s led the ent ire fo ur la ps ed sev en speedway t itles . H an c o ck ha d t o wor k hi s way of eve nt t wo -. with th e except io n of toward the fron t all night. Finishing with th e l ast 30 feet. B ill y J a nni ro , w ho only 10 points in the regu la r champi- m anaged to take second place awa y onshi p format, he had to win the semifi- from B o bb y Hed den on lap three , nal just to get into the ma in event. tried to get under Hick s in the same 34 O C TOBER 1 8, 2 0 0 0 ' cue I e n e 'lN' s Ham i ll beg an t h e se c ond roun d j ust as he had the first: with a k iller start and a vi ctory. Pole -s itter Faria battled hard in the first turn but had to settle fo r h is second consecutiv e runner -up finish. Bobby Hedden held off Hancock for thi rd p lace. Hicks maintained his pe rfect score in eve nt six, besting Ermo lenko, who pressured him th r ou gh o u t but cou ldn't get fully aro und the w ide-rid ing veteran . Veneg as ke pt pace wi th th e perfect scores of Ham ill and Hicks by putting it to J ann iro and Man ch est er in the next heat. In t h e fi n a l race of the seco nd round, the d iminu tive F isher got off th e pole in a hurry and deftly held off Bast, who pressured him all the wa y to th e flag . After two rides, Hamill , Hicks and Venegas shared the lead with perfect six -poi nt scores. ROU ND THREE Ham il l opened up th e m iddl e ro und by ruin ing Hicks ' perfect sco re and dr opping Lar sen to hi s third con secutive th ird-plac e fin ish . Hicks was th e first o ff the line, but Hamill 's front -straight traction and semipark in turn two separated him from th e field for his third win . Hedd en g ot his first w i n of t h e m eeting in event 10 . W ith a bit of a f o rw a rd lurch at th e sta r t , h e g ot away q u ic kest , l eavin g E rm o le n k o and Bast to bick er over second pl ace. Ven eg as, apparently miffed that th e ref would let somebody else get away with one of his favorite t actic s, wen t wide in turn two and was never a fac tor. Venegas ga ve referee John Grant a good chewing out after the heat, but Hedden's win stood. Bast finished in third, behind Ermolenko. Hancock also got h is first win of th e n ight, in a three-rider heat that fe atured Tommy Hedden in a reserve ro le , r e p l a c ing Sch wa r t z, wh o touched th e ta pes and was excl uded . After Hedd en staged, Rober t Curry l eft t h e line ear ly a n d c ompl ete l y sh red de d t he st art ing -g at e ri b bon s, cr eating the three- ride r heat. Hedden fi nished second and Ferris scored his only po ints of the race. In a ro und of firsts, F aria also scored his firs t win after two second -place fin ishes. F ish er was sec ond and Janniro fi nis hed in third . Afte r t h ree r o u nds , on ly H a m ill ma inta ined a pe rf ect sco re at n in e points. Hic k s was a poi nt back w ith eight , a nd F a r i a stood alone wit h sev en . R OUND FOUR Round f ou r s ta rte d off wi t h a n impress iv e s ta r t - to -f la g wi n by Ham ill, w ho devil ishl y threw himself in front o f pole- sitter Jann iro in the first turns a nd w ent on to score his 12th p oint w ith on e rid e to go. Jann ir o , who was the fi rst ri der to keep up w ith Ham ill all nigh t , fin ish ed second, in front of Bast and Schwartz. In event 14 , Faria scored his sec ond consecutive win , twisting the vic tory right o ut of Erm olenko 's grip. Ma nchester continued to fade, finish ing third , ahead of Curry , Lar sen kept his fad ing main -event hopes -aliv e in event I S, scoring th e th r e e -p oint wi n a hea d o f H edd en , w ho h ad troub le getting past Feli ci o in the first turn s and cou ldn't m ak e up the sp ace des pite a vali ant effort. V en e g a s close d o ut ro u nd fo u r with a w ire-to -w ire win ahead of Han cock and F isher. Hic ks o rig ina lly ran in secon d place but rolled to th e infield d ur in g lap th ree with another mechanical pro blem . After four rounds , Ham ill was still perfect with 12 points, Faria was sec ond w ith 10, and Venegas sat th ird w ith a total of nine. ROUND FIVE F o r t h e f irst t ime in the e vent , Hami ll fa ced t he al wa ys da ngerous Venegas . However, it didn 't seem to matter who Hamill faced ; the resu lt was the same. "The Bullet" rifled his way to another perfect gate and win number five aboard his Bullet Enterprises /Arai Helmets GM . Venegas was sec ond and f in i shed with I I points . No rmally , at thi s point in the night, Ham il l ' s m aximum IS -point tota l wo uld ha ve ensured h im of his second co nsec uti ve Nat ion al victo ry, but w it h the adven t of the N ati on a l m a in - ev e nt f inal, it merely see ded h im di rectly into th e mai n with h i s choice of sta rting la nes .