Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

AMA National Championship Round 3
October 8, 2005 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

The third and final round of the AMA National Championship was held last night and for the third consecutive year, Greg Hancock was the winner. This brings his total number of National Championship wins to six, (1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005), one short of Mike Bast’s record of seven titles (1971, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979).

There were no real surprises in the third round in terms those who succeeded in doing well, but there were a couple of riders, who I expected to do better.

Unofficial results:

Billy Hamill 3 3 3 3 3 15
Greg Hancock 3 3 3 3 2 14
Charlie Venegas 2 2 2 3 3 12
Ryan Fisher 2 2 2 2 3 11
Nate Perkins 2 2 2 1 2 9
Tommy Hedden 0 3 3 0 2 8
Bart Bast 0 1 3 1 3 8
Eddie Castro 3 2 2 0 1 8
Mike Faria 3 3 0 2 0 8
Chris Kerr 2 1 1 2 1 7
Justin Boyle 1 1 1 2 1 6
Bobby Schwartz 1 0 0 3 1 5
Bryan Yarrow 0 0 1 1 2 4
John Cook 1 1 0 0 0 2
Buck Blair 1 0 1 0 0 2
JJ Martynse 0 0 0 1 0 1
Shawn Harmatiuk 0 (1 ride)

A main
Hancock, Hamill, Venegas Fisher

B main
Bast, Perkins, Hedden, Castro

C main
Kerr, Schwartz, Boyle, Faria (Non Starter)

D main
Cook, Blair, Yarrow, Martynse

Unofficial series final points, for 2005 AMA National Championship

Greg Hancock 42 + 20 =62
Billy Hamill 36 + 19 = 55
Charlie Venegas 30 + 16 = 46
Ryan Fisher 24 + 14 = 38
Bart Bast 18 + 12 = 30
Mike Faria 24 + 5 = 29
Nate Perkins 14 + 11 = 25
Tommy Hedden 13 + 10 = 23
Bryan Yarrow 20 + 2 = 22
Bobby Schwartz 15 + 7 = 22
Buck Blair 19 + 3 = 22
Eddie Castro 12 + 9 = 21
Chris Kerr 8 + 8 = 16
Jimmy Fishback 8
Shawn Harmatiuk 8
Justin Boyle 6
John Cook 4
Billy Hiles 4
JJ Martynse 1

The most unlucky rider of the series must be Shawn Harmatiuk. Shawn did well in the first round, arrived late in the second round and had a series of misfortunes, leaving him to face the elimination process to get into the third round. That process became more difficult with the introduction of veteran John Cook, into his first elimination heat. Shawn got second behind John, then won his next race and was second place again behind John Cook well in line for qualifying in his final race, until his machine stopped, leaving him as only the third round’s reserve. Qualifiers were Cook, Justin Boyle and JJ Martynse. This was the first time to qualify for all three.

Billy Hamill headed the points table unbeaten. Greg Hancock was one point down, lost to Hamill, when he out gated him in his final ride. There was less overtaking in the third round of the series than there had been in round one at Auburn. The track was consistent, but the outside was not as easy to ride as it was in the first. This did not stop riders from trying it, but few succeeded. Charlie Venegas lost points to Hamill, Hancock and Bart Bast. Ryan Fisher lost points to Hamill, Hancock, Venegas and Mike Faria.

This gave Billy the first choice for position in the A main. He picked the pole and Greg then picked the outside. Greg found good drive around turn one and came out ahead. Billy hung on behind him and on the final lap made an attempt to go around the outside, which very nearly ended in the wall on the exit of turn four. Behind them Ryan held third for a couple of laps before going wide on four, letting Charlie through.

Mike Faria’s night started with 2 wins, but in his third ride he found himself in fourth place behind Hancock, Perkins and Kerr, with no suitable line to get past anyone. He got a second place in his next ride, behind Hamill. His final ride turned into a seriously close battle for first place with Venegas, which ended with Mike going down, when attempting to go around the outside. This took him from the B to the C final, where he was a non starter.

Top points scorer to qualify for the B final was Nate Perkins, who again showed how well he can ride the Auburn track. Bart Bast got a great gate and Perkins settled for second.

The C main was lead from the gate by Bobby Schwartz, with Chris Kerr in second place and not giving up. Chris’s persistence paid off, squeezing through on the inside. Bobby’s quote "You should have seen me in 82!" As one who has had the privilege of watching Bobby for over 30 years, I agree. There has been talk of an over 50s race next year, for which he will qualify, next August.

The D main was won by former US international John Cook. Behind him, Buck Blair and Bryan Yarrow must both have been disappointed to be in the D main, after much greater success earlier in the series.

Auburn’s final event will be the USA vs the World, on October 28, with a strong World team headed up by none less then 2004 World Champion, Jason Crump.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com