2009 USA Speedway History
Northern California

USA/AMA National Speedway Championship Preview

Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
By MichaelKirby - Story & Photos
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, September 28, 2009

As the 2009 USA/AMA National Speedway Championship gets underway Friday night at Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn the drama couldn’t be higher.  In all championships stories begin and stories end, and this prestigious championship is no different.

At stake is current 2008 national champion Billy Janniro’s desire to defend his title against Greg Hancock one of the best speedway riders racing today, currently fourth in the world Grand Prix standings.  Hancock has a vested interest in racing in the 2009 championship series, returning to California, interrupting his European racing career to compete.  A win for Hancock would give the talented rider the exclusive record of winning eight USA National Championships, more than any other American rider.  If Hancock can hold on to his points lead and race as he has in the first two rounds he will achieve his long sought after goal of notching his eighth national championship title.  Currently Hancock is tied at seven national championships with Auburn’s Mike Bast, who has held that record for many years.
Hancock sits on top of the national championship points series standings with 41 just 4 points ahead of Janniro who has tallied 37 points after the first two rounds.  Throw in veteran riders Bart Bast, Charlie Venegas, Tommy Hedden, Eddie Castro and some of the talented younger riders in the championship series and anything could happen. “One thing that is really amazing is the young riders in the championship series this year.  Bryce Starks, Mark Carrillo, and Kenny Ingalls, could be the champions of tomorrow gaining big experience racing in the national championship series, said David Joiner, Fast Friday’s promoter.

The sixteen riders with the most points after the first two rounds will ride in five flights, twenty races, all scratch format racing Friday night.  Each rider will race against each other at least once, then being placed in the A, B, C, and D mains events according to accumulated points.  The top four riders will end up in the A main event with the winner of that race claiming the 2009 National title.

“What’s really exciting about this year’s national championship is of course Greg Hancock’s chance to surpass Mike Bast’s record of seven national championships, should he win Friday,” said Fast Friday’s promoter David Joiner.  “Bast is a rider Hancock grew up watching ride as he dominated the sport in the 1970s and early 1980s, and to achieve as much, and surpass Mike’s national record in his own career is really going to put things in perspective for him.”  Bast was prolific during his career in Southern California winning his seven national championships and had an incredible five consecutive titles from 1975 through 1979.

As Greg Hancock looks to take a record that won’t soon fall from a rider he respects and admires, Billy Janniro also is looking to defend his championship title racing against Hancock, a great rider he also came up watching and respecting, throw in the wild card riders that could spoil any plan, and the stories will continue.

The exciting racing action gets underway at 8:00 pm Friday night at the Fast Friday’s Gold Country Fairgrounds track in Auburn.

Photos By Michael Kirby

	Auburn’s Mike Bast with 2006 USA National Champion Greg Hancock.  Hancock tied Bast’s national championship record at seven with his victory in 2006.  Hancock looks to surpass Bast and claim his eighth national championship Friday night.
	Greg Hancock racing earlier this year during the second round of the championship series in July at Fast Friday’s.  Hancock is the high points leader going into Friday’s final round.
	Billy Janniro in action.  Janniro is defending his 2008 national championship Friday night, hoping to catch Greg Hancock and repeat his championship.
	Greg Hancock.

American Dream Team

"Steve Evans"dreamteamspeedway@sbcglobal.net
Date: Sun Jun 28, 2009

The famed American Dream Team will be touring the United Kingdom for a five race tour early in October. After consulting with Chris Van Straaten, Vice Chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Association, Gary and I have decided to pursue a fall tour. This is a great opportunity for any rider who is looking at a Pro career in Europe to put themselves in the shop window, especially as at the end of the English season promoters will be looking hard to find fresh talent for 2010.

A number of riders have already expressed an interest in the tour. Rider packs will all of the information on this opportunity will become available within a week.

There will be some administration changes from our end which will give riders much more predictability on the exact tour overhead.

If you have interest contact Gary (tmgracing@aol.com) or myself. We need to have the team named by the end of July and it is limited to seven riders.

USA Speedway National Championship

All riders who wish to participate in the USA Speedway National Championship Series must fill out a Letter of Intent form to participate in the Series. Every rider must fill out the form regardless of whether or not they are seeded into the Series or if they have to be selected.

The form can be downloaded from theUSA Speedway website. Riders must have their Letter of Intent submitted by Saturday, May 16. A completed Letter of Intent may be mailed to the address on the form, scanned and e-mailed to info@usaspeedway.org, or submitted to a USA Speedway Board Member (Dave Joiner at Fast Fridays or Ryan Evans at Costa Mesa.)

The AMA/USA Speedway National Championship Series will have three rounds with the schedule as follows:

Saturday, June 6 - Costa Mesa Speedway - Costa Mesa, California
Friday, July 10 - Fast Fridays Speedway - Auburn, California
Friday, October 2 - Fast Fridays Speedway - Auburn, California

Golden Gate Speedway will be having a practice and signup up party this Saturday, May 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

All riders are encouraged to attend to get some track time as well as sign up for Golden Gate's Opening Night the following Saturday.

For more information, contacted (909) 883-4364 or via e-mail at goldengatems707@yahoo.com

Season Opener at Auburn is May 8th.
Season Opener at Vallejo is May 16th.

Kenny Ingalls is on the World Team Cup. He will take off Monday, April 27th, for the UK to meet up with his team mates for the Cup race on May 3rd. But first he has to go to the State Hillclimb Championship Series Rd 2 at Carnegie in Livermore tomorrow. He is in first place right now, being the fastest time of the day in Rd 1.

He will be making this trip to Latvia from the UK with teammates Chris Kerr, Ryan Fisher, and Ricky Wells. They will meet up with USA World Champion Greg Hancock in Latvia. They take off in vans from the UK with bikes, gear, and mechanics, take a ferry from UK to the Netherlands. From there they will drive through Germany, Poland, Russia, and Lithuania to make practice on Saturday, May 2nd.

Kenny will be riding one of Greg Hancock's bikes for the race!!!! I imagine it will be the fastest bike he has ever been on. After the race on Sunday, they will return to the UK by Tuesday A.M. for Kenny's flight back to the USA and teammates haves races scheduled starting Tuesday night. I am exhausted thinking about it. I hope to find something on the web for updates on the race. It is in another language that isn't translated so...I will forward anything I can find for updates. The attachment has the teams and riders.

Kenny will get back to S.F. on Wednesday, May 6TH, FAST FRIDAYS starts FRIDAY, MAY 8TH!!!!!!!!

Wish our boys luck and a win!!

SPEEDWAY PRACTICE IN LINCOLN

Thursday April 16, 2009 - 4pm till dark
Saturday April 18, 2009 - 10:30am till 4:00pm
Sunday April 19, 2009 - 10:30am till 4:00pm

Please call Rudy at (916) 410-9324 if your coming. $20/rider

Season Opener at Auburn is May 8th.
Season Opener at Vallejo is May 16th.

Northern California’s Speedway addicts will be pleased to hear that 2009 season will again have two tracks this year, both running AMA sanctioned events. The season starts on May 8 with Fast Fridays’ opening night. The following night will be Vallejo’s opening night. Vallejo will have a full season until September 5, running every Saturday except June 6, the night of the Costa Mesa round of the AMA National Championship and July 25, when it closes down for the fair. Fast Fridays will run every Friday until September 11, no exceptions.

Both tracks will host a pre-season practice night, Fast Fridays will be this coming Friday, starting at 6pm. Vallejo ’s practice and rider sign up night will be announced soon.