VOL. 52 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 P29
HANCOCK SHINES AT SLOVENIAN SPEEDWAY GP
W
orld Champion Greg
Hancock said, "I won't give
up until there is no chance" of re-
taining his FIM Speedway Grand
Prix crown after storming to a
sensational Mitas Slovenian SGP
win in Krsko, September 12.
The Californian racked up
20 points out of a possible 21
after topping the rostrum ahead
of Great Britain's World Cham-
pionship leader Tai Woffinden,
Danish international Peter Kilde-
mand and triple World Cham-
pion Nicki Pedersen.
Hancock's heroics took him
up to second in the standings
on 102 points. But he's still 25
short of runaway leader Woffin-
den, who charged to 18 to move
on to 127 overall.
Despite reaching the last two
SGP finals, an unspectacular
start to his title defense has left
the American icon playing catch-
up to his good friend. But even
with just three rounds to race,
the 45-year-old is a long way
from waving the white flag.
"The only thing I could wish
for right now is to be giving Tai
a bit more of a run for his mon-
ey," said Hancock. "I had big
hopes of retaining the title and
doing it all again, but I missed
out in a few crucial rounds,
where it didn't go as well as I
had hoped.
"Gold is what we are chasing,
but it's going to be very, very
tough. A lot of people would just
take their hat off to Tai now and
say 'thank you and congratula-
tions.' But I'm an optimistic sort
of guy. I won't give up until there
is no chance. Right now, there
is still a chance.
"He's a quick guy and you
can see he's riding with a ton
of confidence. It's hard to beat
him. But I'm sure Tai doesn't
take anything for granted. He's
still working hard and knows
there are three rounds left; any-
thing can happen."
Hancock admitted prior to
the Krsko event that some of
his pre-season changes haven't
delivered the results he hoped
they would. But he has no
regrets about constantly search-
ing for ways to get an edge over
his younger rivals.
John Hipkiss
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
Greg Hancock scored his first Speedway Grand Prix victory but it might be
too late for him to defend his crown.
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
YAMAHA
RACING
hunt me, to eat me. I am the small
fish in front, trying to escape…
and the big shark is all my rivals—
Jorge, Marc [Marquez], Dani
[Pedrosa], and also the Ducatis—
all the people that want to try and
beat me tomorrow at my home
grand prix. This is the idea."
"I don't think I look especially
like a shark," joked Lorenzo,
"because my teeth are a little bit
more flat. But for sure if I have to
choose I prefer to be the shark
than to be the fish. The fish [has]
more points, so maybe I would
like to be the shark with the
points of the fish."
The helmet includes other
personalized details: Rossi's
number 46, the number 58 of his
late friend Marco Simoncelli, and
Valentino's pets – dogs Cecilia
and Cesare, and cat Rossano.
To stick with the sea theme, the
animals donned divers masks
and snorkels.
Andrea Wilson
