Beez' Blog of Moto Greatness - Greg Hancock wins World Speedway Championship

October 16, 2014

American Greg Hancock clinched his 3rd FIM World Speedway Championship on October 11th with a 5th place finish at the final round of the series in Torun, Poland. Second place in the championship went to Poland’s Krzysztof Kasprzak.

You might be asking, what is speedway? Speedway pits up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps on a smooth dirt oval track (like the oval by the casino in GTA5). Speedway bikes have purpose-built single cylinder engines that run on pure methanol and have just one gear and no brakes. Competitors brake by sliding their bikes sideways, power-sliding or broadsiding into the turns. The bikes also have purpose-built frames for this type of racing and no suspension. On the straight sections of the track the motorcycles reach speeds of up 70 miles per hour (110 km/h).

The exact origins of the sport are unknown but there is evidence of a type of speedway racing being practiced in the USA before the WWI and in Australia in the late 1910s and early 1920s.

The 44-year-old Hancock, from Whittier, California, also won the FIM Speedway World Championship in 2011 and 1997 and has been FIM Speedway since 1995. Old guys still kick ass!

In other racing news, this coming Saturday night is the Monster Energy Cup Supercross in Las Vegas, Nevada. Watch it live on Fox Sports 2, which most people don’t get, at 9pm EST or Sunday on Fox Sports 1 at 1pm EST or check your listings.

The Monster Energy Cup is a one night event where the rider who finishes the best in 3 main events wins $100,000.00. If he manages to finish 1st in all three he wins $1 million which Ryan Villopoto accomplished at the first Monster Cup.

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