1997 World Champion and seven-time AMA National Champion Greg Hancock will compete in Round One of the
AMA/USA Speedway National Championship Series at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California on
Saturday, June 6..
Sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association and USA Speedway Inc. and inscribed by the Federation
Internationale de Motociclisme (FIM), the National Championship Series is considered one of the most prestigious
motorcycle races of the year. If you want to be the AMA Speedway National Champion then this is where it starts. You
can’t get there unless you're here.
This is the fourth consecutive year International Speedway has hosted this event at the Orange County Fairgrounds
and it has gotten a real following from competitors and fans alike. "This is serious high-dollar stuff," Costa Mesa
promoter Brad Oxley told USA Speedway Board member Harald Zechner. “The best of the best will be here. They want
the title, they want the money."
Hancock, who competes in and is currently third in the exclusive European-based World Speedway Grand Prix Series,
makes his home in Costa Mesa. "I started my career here in the Costa Mesa 'bullring' as a junior and won my first AMA
National Championship here in 199 5. Now I want to be the first American to win an eighth U.S. National Speedway
title." Hancock is currently tied with retired Speedway legend Mike Bast who won seven national titles back in the 1970’s.
"Forget what Hancock says," Billy Janniro the defending AMA National Champion told Zechner. “I’m winning that #1
plate again this year and nothing's going to stop me." He could be right. Janniro won all three rounds in last year's AMA
National Championship Series and has been very strong in his early showings this season.
"I can beat those guys," is Zechner's quote from 17 years old two-time U.S. Under 21 National Champion Ricky Wells. "I’
m flying in from England and I don’t plan on losing." This will be Wells’s first appearance in America since leaving to
race for the Coventry Bees in the British Elite League earlier this year. In 2007 the Yorba Linda resident became the
youngest winner of the Costa Mesa Fair Derby race when he won at the age of 15. Last Sunday he qualified for the
2009 Under 21 World Championship Semi-Finals to be held next month.
With a $10,400 cash purse plus contingencies the 22-rider line up is impressive and will feature the very best we have in
America.
It all starts at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night, June 6 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Come see for yourself
why we call Speedway Motorcycle Racing the Original Extreme Sport.
Want more? CostaMesaSpeedway.net
Don’t even think about missing it.