GREG HANCOCK IS RIDING FOR HIS FOURTH SPEEDWAY GP CHAMPIONSHIP

21/10/2016, 14:39

Triple world champion Greg Hancock insists he’d love to win his fourth FIM Speedway World Championship on the track and not in the pits at the QBE Insurance Australian SGP on Saturday night.

Grin is just a race win away from being crowned world champion and that could come in race four at the Etihad Stadium.

Should Tai Woffinden finish last in heat one and Bartosz Zmarzlik fail to win race three, Hancock could seal the trophy without turning a wheel.

"I’m here to win it on the track. I’m here to win this meeting. I want to be in the semi-finals and the final, and I want to be on the podium."

- Greg Hancock

But there’s only one place the American icon wants to get the job done, and that’s on the Melbourne track where he romped to a 21-point maximum last October. And he doesn’t want to stop there.

He said: “You know me. I’m here to win it on the track. I’m here to win this meeting. I want to be in the semi-finals and the final, and I want to be on the podium. Points are prizes and prize money to go with it.

“Everyone has a different way of looking at things, but I’m just trying to focus on winning the meeting. Of course I want to win the world title, though – that’s for sure.”

Hancock appeared live on The Today Show this morning to talk about the QBE Insurance Australian SGP in front of a national audience. The 46-year-old is making plenty of fans Down Under and is relishing the spotlight that comes with his big weekend.

He said: “I love it. I’m a foreigner living in everyone else’s world. I’m trying to fit in and I don’t get the chance to do this kind of thing in my homeland.

“Every chance I get here, I take advantage of it. Australia is always cool. The fans always give me that extra welcome.

“You could see there was quite a good turnout for practice. This is cool. They want to see all the guys here. I’m sure there will be at least as good a crowd as there was last year – I really hope so.”

Hancock was pleased with this year’s circuit after taking a practice spin at Etihad Stadium this afternoon. He said: “The track is fast and it’s such an awesome shape. It’s wide and it has all the good aspects of a great race track.

“If anything, it feels like it’s a little bit faster than last year. They have managed to get a little more moisture in it. It feels like there’s more drive than there was last year. But we haven’t ridden much for three weeks, so it probably would feel that way.”

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