AMA
NATIONAL SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE CONFIRMED
-- INITIAL 12 RIDER INVITATIONS ISSUED --
AMA Sports has confirmed
the schedule for the 2004
AMA National Championship Speedway Series Presented by Progressive
Insurance, and has issued an initial 12 invitations to the exclusive
championship.
The three-round
series will open with a doubleheader weekend August 6-7
at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, California, and Wheel 2 Wheel
Raceway in Victorville, California. The series finale will be in Auburn
on September 24.
The exclusive series
is limited to American Division 1 Speedway riders,
US riders competing overseas, and foreign nationals who regularly
compete in AMA Speedway. Twelve riders have earned automatic bids based
on 2003 qualifying criteria, and 10 more will compete at the invitation
of AMA Sports.
Fast Fridays Speedway
is a longtime venue for AMA-sanctioned Speedway
competition and is located just off Interstate 80 at the Gold Country
Fairgrounds, north of Sacramento in the picturesque Northern California
community of Auburn.
Wheel 2 Wheel Raceway
is gearing up to host its first AMA National. The
track is located just off Interstate 15 at the San Bernardino County
Fairgrounds, northeast of Los Angeles in the High Desert community of
Victorville.
Greg Hancock, the
1997 World Speedway Champion and sole American rider
contesting the 2004 FIM Grand Prix Series, is the reigning champion
of
AMA Speedway racing. He will lead a strong contingent of European-based
American riders who will take on the top names in domestic Speedway
in
the 2004 AMA series.
The dozen riders
automatically qualified are:
> Greg Hancock:
Defending AMA National Champion and 1997 World Champion,
a California native now racing out of Stockholm, Sweden
> Ryan Fisher: Past AMA Junior National Champion and runner-up to
Hancock in the 2003 AMA National Championship, currently based in
Oxford, England
> Billy Janniro: AMA's No. 3 rider in 2003, based in Coventry, England
> Billy Hamill: Former AMA and World Champion, based in Sweden
> Mike Faria: Former AMA Champion from Reno, Nevada
> Bobby Hedden: 2003 AMA high-point Northern California rider
> Scott Brant: 2003 AMA high-point Southern California rider
> Cam Rafferty: 2003 AMA high-point Eastern States rider
> Chris Manchester (a past AMA National Champion), Bart Bast, Charlie
Venegas and Eddie Castro: Qualified based on their 2003 AMA National
rankings
"AMA Sports
is excited about our 2004 national lineup," said the AMA's
Bill Amick. "We will again have an extraordinary international
field of
riders, ranging from seasoned veterans to several young riders just
beginning to make their mark on the world speedway scene."
Veteran Speedway
promoter Dave Joiner is the principal officer of Fast
Fridays Speedway, which will organize all three rounds of the 2004 AMA
National Championship Speedway Series Presented by Progressive
Insurance.
Southern California-based
RAZ Video will work in cooperation with Fast
Fridays on promotion of the new event in Victorville.
