Hamill Turns Up the Heats

Billy Hamill of Monrovia put on a clinic Wednesday night in the first round of the American Motorcyclist Assn. National Championship Speedway Series in San Bernardino.

Hamill, matched in five rounds against every other rider in the 16-man field, showed why he is the reigning national champion.

He won all five heats for a perfect score of 15 to advance to the A-main. He then beat Greg Hancock of Balboa, Billy Janniro of Vallejo and Eddie Castro of Ojai to take the lead in the three-race series, which continues tonight at Auburn.

“The national championship, next to the world championship, is the most coveted title for me,” Hamill, who won the 1996 world championship, said after the four-lap race on the wide eighth-mile dirt track. “I want to win this more than anything.”

With his first-round victory, and having earned an additional point for being the top scorer, Hamill has 21 Grand Prix points in the richest event in American speedway history. The purse was more than $12,000, and figures to top more than $33,000 for the series.

Hancock, the 1997 world champion, earned 18 points, Janniro 16 and Castro 14. Costa Mesa rider Scott Brant, the B-main winner, is in fifth place with 12 points, and Reno rider Chris Manchester has 11.

But it will be hard to catch Hamill.

“It’s over unless something happens to him or his bike,” said Riverside rider Gary Hicks, who won the C-main, good for eight points. “It’s between the three guys on top, unless there’s a miracle.”

The three on top are all riding this season in Europe. Hamill is captain of the Coventry Bees in the British Elite League, and Janniro is one of his teammates. A British League rule change, and a late decision by Coventry in which it chose Hamill over Hancock, left Hancock out of the British League this season.

Hancock is instead racing in Poland and Sweden and is eighth in the world championship standings. Hamill is ninth.

Round 3 of the National Championship Series is set for Sept. 20 in Auburn.

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Bill Amick, the AMA’s vice president of events and entertainment, told riders that the series probably would expand in the future. This is the first season the national championship is being determined in a series format.

“We’re interested in controlled growth,” he said. “It’s such a break from tradition. It’s been well received by the riders, and we’d like to see five races next year, and eventually, maybe 10 races.

“We’d like to go east a little bit, but most of the talent is in the West.”

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Indy Racing League

Actor Jason Priestley continues to recover after surgery in Indianapolis on Wednesday for his broken back and feet.

Priestley, injured Sunday in practice for the Kentucky 100 Infiniti Pro Series race, is expected to make a full recovery.

“We expect him to be walking from the wheelchair to his car when he’s ready to be out of here,” said Dr. Scott Bjerke, medical director of trauma services at Methodist Hospital. “I see no reason why he can’t get back to racing and driving on city streets in the near future.”

Priestley probably will remain in the hospital for at least another week.

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Toyota’s new V-8 engine being developed in Costa Mesa for the IRL next season got its first official test Monday at Kentucky Speedway. Helio Castroneves drove it nearly 200 miles the day after the Belterra Indy 300.

“We’re pleased with how far along the Toyota Indy V-8 is so early in its development,” said Lee White, Toyota Racing Development group vice president and general manager. “While not getting too specific, our times today would have qualified us comfortably into Sunday’s IRL race here at Kentucky and the car appeared to perform even better on longer runs.”

MK Racing, one of three chassis manufacturers for the IRL, will call its 2003-05 generation Falcon Cars.

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CART

Championship Auto Racing Teams announced its tentative schedule for 2003. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be run April 13, and the season-ending 500-mile race at California Speedway is set for Nov. 2.

The series will open at a new venue, St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 23.

Among the more interesting facets are a European date on April 27 at a site to be determined, and a May 18 date in Chicago. FIA rules that prohibited CART from running on European road courses are no longer in effect, so CART is not limited to running on an oval, as it did last year in Germany. A city street race in Chicago is also on CART’s agenda, and is tentatively scheduled for a week before the Indianapolis 500.

As CART continues to restructure its series, the airport race at Cleveland probably will be a night race. Also, expect CART’s board of directors to approve another set of financial incentives within the next week to further reduce operating costs for 2003. Coupled with previously announced incentives in the Cosworth engine program, the cost of competing next year could potentially be cut in half.

PWR Championship Racing and Sigma Autosport folded their operations at midseason, leaving only 18 cars, but 25 teams have submitted letters of intent to compete in 2003, three that are currently in the IRL.

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NHRA

Funny car driver Del Worsham of Chino Hills rolls into Brainerd, Minn., this weekend with a multiyear sponsorship extension from CSK Auto Inc., which will keep his two-car team intact.

Worsham is fourth in the standings behind the Team Force triad, John Force of Yorba Linda, second-place Tony Pedregon of Chino Hills and third-place Gary Densham of Bellflower.

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Top-alcohol driver Morgan Lucas of Riverside won for the second consecutive event last weekend at Pomona Raceway in the Lucas Oil drag racing series. Lucas’ winning pass of 5.633 seconds at 257.65 mph beat Darren Nicholson of Mission Viejo.

Jason Rupert of Yorba Linda won in top alcohol funny car, beating Larry Miner of Irvine, who was disqualified for crossing the center line.

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Last Laps

Southern California’s largest Speed Sports Expo is scheduled Saturday and Sunday at Anaheim Convention Center.

With his victory at Virginia International Raceway, his ninth this season, Honda rider Nicky Hayden, 21, became the youngest champion in the 27-year history of the AMA U.S. superbike championship.

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Over the last 10 days, six drivers have won the first six races in the Non-Winged World Championship tour, among them Perris regulars Damion Gardner of Concord, Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., and Mike Kirby of Torrance.... The VRA sprinters will race Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway.

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A.J. Allmendinger, 20, of Hollister, Calif., finished third at Mid-Ohio, but clinched the Barber Dodge championship with two races remaining.... Street-legal drag racing is scheduled at California Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, racing beginning each day about 8 a.m.