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Greg Hancock on uskomaton

ViestiLähetetty: 19.04.2016 08:38
Kirjoittaja Hancock
SGP COUNTDOWN: HANCOCK

Saturday 16th April 2016, 12:36

With just two weeks left until FIM Speedway Grand Prix battle commences in Krsko on April 30, the #SGPCountdown continues with 10 Fast Facts on American legend Greg Hancock.

1. Born in Whittier, California, Hancock moved to the UK in 1989 to launch his professional speedway career with the Cradley Heath Heathens. The 45-year-old is in his 28th season as a full-time rider.

2. Of the current SGP field, no-one has been involved in the FIM Speedway World Championship chase longer than Hancock, who appeared in the 1993 World Final at Pocking in Germany. He then finished fourth in the 1994 World Final at Vojens, before becoming one of the founding members of the SGP series in 1995.

3. He didn’t take long to seal his place in history, lifting the 1997 FIM Speedway World Championship at the final round in Vojens, spearheading a superb one-two for the USA with Billy Hamill.

4. Despite winning bronze in 2004 and silver in 2006, it took Hancock 14 years to regain his place at the top of the ladder. He clinched the 2011 World Championship at Croatian track Gorican, silencing those who wrote him off as a spent force and becoming the oldest world champ in history, aged 41. He also doubled the previous record for the longest gap between title wins – the seven years between Peter Craven’s 1955 and 1962 triumphs.

5. Grin wasn’t done there and, after finishing third in 2012 and fourth in 2013, he was back on top of the world in 2014, securing title No.3 in Torun at the age of 44. He also became the first rider to be crowned world champion, despite missing a round through injury.

6. No rider has raced more FIM Speedway Grand Prix rounds than Hancock. He has appeared in all but one of the 192 SGP events staged, missing only the 2014 Nordic SGP at Vojens due to a hand injury suffered at the previous round in Gorzow.

7. The Swedish-based racer has appeared in a record 81 SGP finals, winning 20 of them. He has appeared in 1,089 SGP heats, winning 399 of them and scoring a total of 2,369 SGP points.

8. His most recent victory came in the Australian SGP at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium last October. Hancock won the meeting with a 21-point maximum – amazingly the first of his FIM Speedway Grand Prix career. He remains the only rider to have won an SGP event in Australia, having also triumphed at the 2002 round in Sydney.

9. Hancock’s victory at last year’s Slovenian SGP in Krsko means he has now won FIM Speedway Grand Prix events in 10 different countries. But he’s still waiting for his first gold medal in adopted homeland Sweden and also dreams of the chance to race his first SGP round in the United States.

10. While Hancock’s FIM Speedway Grand Prix career is fabled, his league career hasn’t been bad either. He has won championships in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Great Britain. On top of that, he’s a three-time World Team Cup winner with his country and an eight-time US champion. So not a bad haul in nearly three decades on the shale!

www.speedwaygp.com