Greg Hancock

Greg Hancock
Born (1970-06-03) June 3, 1970
Whittier, California, USA
Nickname Herbie
Nationality USA
Website www.greghancock.com
Current club information
Polish league Ks Get Well Torun
Swedish league Piraterna
Czech league PDK Grepl Mšeno
Career history
1989–1996 Cradley Heathens
1992–1994 Getingarna (SWE)
1992–1994 Leszno (POL)
1995–2009 Rospiggarna (SWE)
1996–1997 Gniezno (POL)
1997–2001 Coventry Bees
1998–2004 Wroclaw (POL)
2003–2005 Oxford Cheetahs
2005 Gdańsk (POL)
2006–2007 Reading Bulldogs
2006–2009 Częstochowa (POL)
2010– Piraterna (SWE)
2010–2011 Zielona Góra (POL)
2012,2014 Tarnów (POL)
2013 Bydgoszcz (POL)
2013 Poole Pirates
Speedway Grand Prix statistics
2009 Number 45
Starts 202
Podiums 66 (21–28–17)
Finalist 90 (21-28-17-24) time
Winner 21 times
Individual honours
1997, 2011, 2014, 2016 World Champion
1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2009		 USA National Champion
1995, 2004, 2011, 2014 British Grand Prix Champion
1997, 2011 Czech Grand Prix Champion
1997, 2008 Polish Grand Prix Champion
2000 Danish Grand Prix Champion
2002, 2015 Australian Grand Prix Champion
2003 Norwegian Grand Prix Champion
2006, 2009, 2013 Latvian Grand Prix Champion
2010 Croatian Grand Prix Champion
2011 Gorzow Grand Prix Champion
2011 Nordic Grand Prix Champion
2012 New Zealand Grand Prix Champion
2015 Slovenian Grand Prix Champion
1997 Elite League Riders Champion
1991, 1992 Scottish Open Champion
Team honours
1992 World Pairs Champion
1992, 1993, 1998 World Team Cup Winner
1996, 1997, 2001, 2002 Swedish Elitserien Champion
1989 British League KO Cup Winner
1997, 2000, 2005 Craven Shield Winner
1995 Premier League Fours Winner
2000, 2009, 2010 Czech League Champion
1995 Danish League Champion
1998 Polish Div Two Champion

Gregory Alan "Greg" Hancock (born June 3, 1970)[1] is an American motorcycle speedway rider.

He is a four-time Speedway World Champion and a multiple World Team champion with USA, with whom he is currently captain. Hancock has appeared in all but one of the Grand Prix series, since its creation in 1995.[2]

He rode for the Swedish team Rospiggarna for 15 years, but since 2010 he has ridden for Piraterna from Motala, Sweden.

Early career

Born in Whittier, California, USA, Hancock first came to the United Kingdom at the end of the 1988 speedway season to ride exhibition races with fellow 18-year-old Californian Billy Hamill. It was during this time that Hancock agreed a deal to ride for Cradley Heath the following year – the same team that his mentor Bruce Penhall used to ride for. Hancock was an instant success for Cradley in the British League. He also won gold medals for the USA in the 1992 World Pairs and World Team Cup. However, due to injury and problems with the American Motorcyclist Association, Hancock was not able to contest in the Individual World Championship until 1993. That year he went through to the World Final in Germany where he finished last place. In 1994, Hancock again qualified for the last ever 'one off' World Final. He went into his last race needing a victory to become world champion but he finished third in the race and fourth overall on the night.

Grand Prix years

In 1995 Hancock finished in 4th place in the first year of the Grand Prix (GP). He won the final round, the British GP at the Hackney Wick Stadium. The following year he joined with fellow American and Cradley teammate Billy Hamill to form Team Exide. With this new found sponsorship, the two young Californian's began to dominate world speedway. In 1996 Hamill won the world title and Hancock finished with the bronze medal in third place. In 1997 Hancock moved from Cradley Heath (due to the club's closure) to the Coventry Bees. He won the first GP of the year in Prague and continued the season in the same form. He won the world title (with Hamill finishing second for a Team Exide one two) and won the Elite League Riders' Championship.

In 1998 to Grand Prix format changed to a more cut throat elimination system. Hancock did not fare so well and finished the year in sixth place but won the World Team Cup with Hamill and Sam Ermolenko. The next year was even worse for Hancock and he finished in 11th place in the Grand Prix. 2000 saw Hancock win his first Grand Prix since his title winning season and he finished in fifth place and in 2001 he finished in 13th place. In 2002 Hancock won the last Grand Prix round in Australia and finished 6th overall. He went one better in 2003 finishing in 5th place after again winning the final round, this time in Haamar, Norway. The following season Hancock was back amongst the medals, finishing the season in third place. That year he won the British GP at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In 2005 Hancock slipped back to fifth in the world unable to win a GP. A 36-year-old Hancock finished the Grand Prix series in second place in 2006 and remained unbeaten in that year's World Cup but the USA did not qualify for the final as the rest of the team struggled. In 2007 Hancock finished in sixth place. Although he failed to win a GP, he finished in second place on three occasions. In 2008 Hancock finished fourth overall in the Grand Prix series. He was on the podium four times, winning the Polish Grand Prix in Bydgoszcz.

Hancock finished the 2009 Speedway Grand Prix season in fourth position and achieved two podium places as runner up at the Danish Grand Prix and winner of the Latvian Grand Prix. He became the USA Speedway National Champion for the eighth time in 2009 and was subsequently named as the Racing Athlete of the Year by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA).[3][4]

Greg finished 1st place in the 2011 Czech, British and Nordic Grand Prix. He secured the 2011 World Championship during the Croatian Grand Prix on 24 September, reclaiming the title after a record 14 years at the age of 41 years and 113 days. Hancock clinched the 2014 World Championship during the Polish Grand Prix on October 11, 2014 and broke his own record of oldest title winner at 44 years and 130 days.

After having competed in every Speedway Grand Prix event since its inception in 1995, Greg Hancock missed his first SGP round in 2014 when he was forced to sit out the Nordic Grand Prix at Vojens with injury after his crash with Niels Kristian Iversen Polish GP two weeks earlier.

Hancock had a slow start to the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix season in defense of his title, only scoring 14 points in the first two rounds and not gaining a podium finish until his second place in Poland II at the Edward Jancarz Stadium in Gorzów for Round 8. He then won the Slovenian GP in Krško in Round 9, finished second in Round 10 in the Scandinavian GP in Sweden, before finishing off the year in style by scoring an unbeaten 21 point maximum in the Grand Prix of Australia at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne to secure second place in the championship, 16 points behind England's Tai Woffinden and 14 points clear of third placed Nicki Pedersen.[5]

He regained his speedway world title in 2016 as he consistently piled up the points, including victory in the Swedish Speedway Grand Prix in Malilla in July. He wrapped up the championship after his first ride in the final Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne, Australia.

Personal

Greg lives in Costa Mesa, California. During the European speedway season he is based in Hallstavik, Sweden with his wife Jennie and three sons Wilbur, Bill, and Karl.

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

World Team Cup

World Cup

Speedway Grand Prix results

Year Position Points Best Finish Notes
1995 4th 82 Winner Won British Grand Prix
1996 3rd 88 3rd Third in Danish Grand Prix
1997 1st 118 Winner Won Czech Republic and Polish Grand Prix
1998 6th 69 4th
1999 9th 62 2nd Second in Czech Republic Grand Prix
2000 5th 76 Winner Won Danish Grand Prix
2001 13th 43 8th
2002 6th 122 Winner Won Australian Grand Prix
2003 5th 121 Winner Won Norwegian Grand Prix
2004 3rd 137 Winner Won British Grand Prix
2005 5th 100 2nd Second in Danish Grand Prix
2006 2nd 144 Winner Won Latvian Grand Prix
2007 6th 106 2nd Second in Italian, British and German Grand Prix
2008 4th 144 Winner Won Polish Grand Prix
2009 4th 121 Winner Won Latvian Grand Prix
2010 5th 107 Winner Won Croatian Grand Prix
2011 1st 165 Winner Won Czech Republic, British, Nordic and Poland II Grand Prix
2012 3rd 148 Winner Won New Zealand Grand Prix
2013 4th 129 Winner Won Latvian Grand Prix
2014 1st 140 Winner Won British Grand Prix
2015 2nd 147 Winner Won Slovenian and Australian Grand Prix
2016 1st 139 Winner Won Swedish Grand Prix

[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oakes, P.(2005). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-30-1
  2. ↑ "Greg Hancock". Speedway Grand Prix. 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  3. ↑ "Herbie Honoured". BSI Speedway. 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  4. ↑ "Speedway Champion Greg Hancock wins AMA Athlete of the Year award". American Motorcyclist Association. 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  5. ↑ 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia - Final
  6. ↑ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
  7. ↑ speedwaygp.com
2011 Speedway Grand Prix riders
1 Poland Gollob 2 Poland Hampel 3 Australia Crump 4 Poland Holta 5 United States Hancock
6 United Kingdom Harris 7 Denmark Bjerre 8 Australia Holder 9 Sweden Jonsson 10 Denmark Pedersen
11 Sweden Lindgren 12 Russia Sayfutdinov 13 Russia Laguta 14 Sweden Lindbäck 15 Poland Kołodziej
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