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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128635
In event 18 , Han cock scored a timely vic to ry ove r J ann iro . Th e th ree -p oint win gave hi m 10 total and gu arantee d him a spot in th e " semi" - in reality , the last - chan c e qua li fi er . Lars en drov e hard on th e outsid e, lo ok ing for the po ints it would take to get him in, but he fell short and rolled home in fourth , out of the run ning with a disappointing total score of six points . Janniro was second and E r m o l e n k o third . E rm ol en k o 's nine- point total earned hi m a spot in the semi. Bast beat Fa ria in event 19, but h is seven -po in t t ot al left h im one po int shy o f a possibl e ber t h in th e se m i, while Fa ria's two -point second -p lace f in i sh ga ve h im 12 p o ints f or th e night and an a utoma t ic ber th in t he cha m pions hip final. D esp it e th e fact th at bot h of H icks ' b ik es bro k e and h e couldn't contest th e last two rounds, his eight -point total still got him into th e last spot in the semi. In the final heat of the night, Bobby Hedden outgated Schwartz and Manc h e ste r to finish with an II-point total. Ti ed with Venegas at II points , Hedd en was forc ed into a runoff for the th ird spot in th e final, desp ite the fa ct that h e wo n t he head -to -head b at tl e with Veneg as in ro und three. Vene g as dr ew t he inside, wo n th e run off and got t he spot in th e ma in . SEMIFINAL The race for the fourth spot in th e main eve n t was arguabl y the fin est ra c e of th e night. Hedden (com ing fr om th e pol e ) , Ermolenk o ( c o m in g out of three) and Hancoc k ( st arti ng fr om lan e tw o ) went at it t ooth and nail , tr ad in g th e lead for the first tw o lap s. Hedd en th en see me d to ta k e th e fron t wi th a d azzling di spl ay of o u tsid e ri d ing th at l ef t ev en Han c o c k im p ressed . "I can hardl y b e l i e ve h ow h ard Bobby rid es th e ou tside here, " Han coc k said. " I could never ride that hard o ut th ere . The on ly reason I got him at th e end was [that] he goe s in so fa st that he has to sc rub off a bit of spee d so mewhe re, and I took advan tag e at th ose m oments ." Han c ock d id preva il at th e li ne b y ke ep ing t o th e insi de li ne , a n d h e earned a tr ip to the big ra ce. Hedden was second , Erm olenk o wa s third , and Hicks fin ished fourth after bor row in g a bike from Schwartz . MAIN EVENT O nce in the ma in event , Han coc k wa s no t given a choice of st artin g spots and had to set t le for the outside lane after points lead er Hamill chose lan e two , Fa ri a op ted for t he po le and Ven ega s grabbed g rid three. " I kn ew if I di dn 't get a good st art , I'd ha ve to pull off a near-p erfe ct o utside run to get around the leaders ," sa id th e so ft-s po ke n Han c o ck after th e fina l w a s in th e r ec ord b o o k s . " Sure eno ug h , I didn 't hav e a chan ce down low after Ch arl ie got th e good (A b ovelln the 13th heat, Billy "The B ullet" Ha m ill holds the lead against " Bron c o " B illy Janniro, the only rider able to keep up with Hamill all nighL start and B ill y was battling him, so I j u st we nt outsi de lik e I saw Bobby Hedden do so well , and it worked per fectly for me." Hancock's outside run was virtua l l y speedway perfect ion , a s he st u n ned th e qu ick -gating Ven egas, who seemed at the outset to be on his wa y to h is first Speedway N atio na l title. Ven egas' rock et gat e propell ed him in t o the early le ad . Hamill , wh o was clearly the fastest man all night, st rugg led through the first turn s, ba ttling Fa ria and trying to pla y catchup. M eanwhil e , Hanc ock s e emed slig ht ly off th e pace at the start, but t he n he see me d to co m e out of nowhere to t ak e o ver th e lead as the qu artet co m ple te d o ne l ap. Ham ill tr ied to come back , but after boun c ing off b oth th e t urn -tw o w a ll a n d Far ia, the defending c h ampi on ran o u t o f time to pass Venegas a n d ended up his night in third p lace after sc oring a perfe ct 15 -point maximum in th e heats. Venegas couldn 't make up an y ground on Hancock and fin ished second. Faria backed o ff after H am ill b um ped him and settled fo r fourth pla c e. Hamill was philosophica l after th e event about what could have been his second AMA t itle. " I kn ew what the format was corn i ng in , and I liked it, so 1 have no com p la in ts ." he sa id. "I would have liked to w in , of co urse, but inste ad I e nded up with th e b est se at in th e house, so yea h, I'm a bit d isappoint ed, bu t I doubt m any of t he fans are; eN th at was a g rea t m ain by Gr eg ." (Abovel " D u k l e" Ennolenko (2 1 l ea d s the se mifina l as Greg Hancock (9 1 t ries not to run him over and Bobby Hedden works the inside. Gary Hicks is on the outside. Hedden and Hancock battled t o the end; Hancock survived to move on to the main event. (A b ovel Hamill (in lane twol got h is only poor start of the evening in the main event, liftin g h is front wheel, while Venegas (la n e threel and Faria (lane one) kept their heads down and powered toward the first turns. (Belowl Venegas leads Hamill and Faria In the main event, as Hancock (9 1 goes around the outside on his way to winning the championship. fast fridays Speedway Auburn, California Results: September 29. 2000 O/A PTS (Top 4 tra ns fer to main e vent) : 1. Billy Ham il l ( 15); 2. Mik e Faria ( 12 ); 3, Bobby Hedd en ( 11); 4. Charlie Venegas ( 11); 5. Greg Hancock (10); 6 . Charle s Erm olenko (9) ; 7. Gary Hicks (8); 8 . (TIE ) Bart Bast/B illy .Iannlrc/R yan Fisher (7) ; 11. (T IE) Chris Manchester /J osh Larsen (6); 13. Chad Felicia ( 4) ; 14 . Tom m y Hedden ( 3 ); 15 . Bobby Schwartz ( 2 ) ; 16. (TIE) Ian Ferr is/R ob ert Curry ( 1) . MAT'L C'SHIP FINAL: 1. Greg Hancoc k (Jaw) ; 2 . Cha rlie Vene ga s ( J aw) ; 3 . Billy Ha mill ( GM) ; 4 . Mik e Fa ria (GM ) . cue I e n e _ S • O CTO B ER 18, 2000 35