Faria Heats Up at Right Time for Motorcycle Championship

At any previous U.S. National Speedway Championship, Mike Faria would have been celebrating when the heats were done.

Faria, of Apple Valley, had a perfect night leading up to the championship race Saturday at the 1/10th-mile oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Five races, five wins, 15 points.

But a new scoring system that advanced the top three point-scorers and the winner of a B Main to the final meant Faria had to win one more race.

No problem.

Faria, 40, got the hole shot from Gate 1 in the championship final and beat two world champions to win his third national championship.

Faria also won titles in 1990 and ’91.

“It’s more than a dream come true,” he said.

Faria races regularly on the track at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Faria beat Monrovia’s Billy Hamill (14 points), San Bernardino’s Charlie Venegas (13 points), and Costa Mesa’s Greg Hancock (12 points), the winner of the B Main, in the finals.

Hamill was world champion in 1996 and finished last in the championship heat. Venegas was third and Hancock, the current world champion, was second, unable to run down Faria after two restarts.

“He’s the man of the night, definitely,” Hancock said.

About 6,500 watched the event, which played out most of the night on a wet, slippery track that made for difficult handling.

Defending champion Steve Lucero of Lompoc was excluded in his final heat for causing a crash with Brea’s Shawn McConnell, preventing Lucero from properly defending his crown. He did not make the B Main, for the riders who were fourth through seventh in the standings after 20 heats.

Hancock defeated Bast (10 points), McConnell (7 points) and Costa Mesa’s Bobby Schwartz (7 points) in the B Main.

It turned out that the top four points finishers met in the finals, anyway, once Hancock passed Bast in Turn 3 of Lap 1 and won the B Main.

Riders competed in five heats apiece facing each of 16 riders once and earned points on a 3-2-1-0 basis. The top three finishers after 20 heats advanced to the championship heat, and were joined by the winner of a heat featuring riders who finished fourth through seventh.

Riders seemed pleased by the new format.

“We figured out that you could finish seventh and still win the title,” said Ontario’s Andy Northrup, an L.A. County police officer.

The odds certainly didn’t favor Hancock. He started from Gate 4 twice, and no one has ever won the national championship under such conditions.

Still, Hancock won both heats in which he started from the fourth spot.

The race was the first time two world champions competed for the national title.