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/434045
INTERVIEW 2014 SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPION GREG HANCOCK P204 hero Bruce Penhall to Europe to win a Speedway World Champi- onship came true in 1997, only to reoccur in both 2011 and 2014. A man far away from home, Hancock is a racer who does not enjoy the fame and riches of, say, a top five MotoGP competitor or even a teenaged Supercross mil- lionaire. But he's fine with that. For him it's all about being the best at what he does – being the world's best motorcycle racer when it comes to four laps, 60 seconds and the winning truth. Greg, how does it feel to be a World Champion – again? I'm overwhelmed, man. I've been doing this for a long time and I always set out to be the best rider I could be. To win a World Championship was the ultimate dream. I did it once. I did it again 14 years later. Now I've done it again three years later. I still feel so young in the game that I don't know what to say. Going in to 2014, down deep, did you really feel you could win a third title? I don't believe I would continue racing if I didn't think that I could win. Every year is the same thing. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but now I'm sitting here with a title so I guess it's a good thing. I believe that I can win. It may sound crazy, but I'm 44 and I still don't believe that I've reached my peak. I just hope that I'm not that guy that should have retired 10 years ago. I feel like I can be bet- ter. Every time I come home from a race or an event, I'm analyzing what I did good and I'm analyzing what I know I can do better next time. That's what keeps me moti- vated. Winning the World Cham- pionship is the biggest carrot at the end of the stick every year and, absolutely, I believe I can win it again. How is the sport of Speedway doing? It's always been more of a fringe discipline of motorcycle racing, albeit a very cool one. It's a good question, you know? Here in the U.S., and as everybody knows, it's not the big- gest sport, for sure. Over in Eu- rope, the sport is big. In Sweden, it's probably the number three biggest sport. In Poland it's the number two or even close to the number one sport. In Denmark, it's the number three sport. In the UK it's a big sport, as well. Overall, it felt like the sport had reached a point here where it was going a little bit stagnant. However, over the last 10 years, you've really seen the sport start- ing to evolve. The Grand Prix has really become the focus in World Speedway. There is league racing in Poland and there's league rac- ing in Sweden. The two leagues are now, I hate to say this, the training ground for the World Championship. Those are where the best riders are. In my opinion, the sport is growing at a really nice and decent rate right now. What do you attribute the growth to? I'm going to give a big plug to Monster Energy. Without them,