Speedway Champions

   The American Motorcycle Assoc’n (AMA) is the present FIM affiliated body, and the winner of its competition, the ‘US National’, run over 2 or 3 rounds in California, is hence the internationally-recognised US title-holder. The Speedway Riders Assoc’n, (SRA) is a Costa Mesa-based organisation, where the Orange County track has held a national championship title meeting continuously since 1969.  FIM affiliation has not been enforceable in USA and as Cosa Mesa registered alternatively with SRA and AMA over the decades these bodies in turn have alternated periodically with FIM affiliation. Thus all Costa Mesa National championship winners u.t.i. 1997, whether SRA or AMA, have been the official US National Champions. From ’98 as AMA rejoined FIM and Costa Mesa stayed SRA, the National title event moved to Auburn,Ca. and 2 parallel US National championships co-existed, (in addition to the US Open,) Later, in line with FIM’s guidance to motorcycle sports worldwide, the championship became a multi-round event, whilst Costa Mesa continued to stage its own ‘US National Championship !  Riders were able to participate in both AMA and SRA events with impunity, Hamil and Janiro each twice being concurrent US National Champions. In recent years Costa Mesa has additionally held one round of the AMA series as well its own SRA 'National'.

     The “US Open” Championship is essentially an East Coast competition in New York State at the 1/8mile Owego track, ‘open’ to West Coast riders, who participate in most annual meetings, dependent upon the purse, and have  taken the championship many times. 

   Various past titles such as ‘Eastern States Championship’, ‘US Open National’ and ‘US National Invitation’, at different tracks across the region are today collectively recognised and termed as the US Open Championships. A further example of duplication existed during the ‘90s when a mid-West Ohio track ran ‘US Opens’, where the winner each year was the track’s own promoter ! 

      'American Finals' were the US qualifying stage of the FIM World Championship, from which 2 - 5 riders moved to Europe for further progression, - though a number declinded to travel and so were excluded the following year.  

     The table below gives winners of the 2 Nationals (replicating the US National column of the main page) and the Open, side by side to enable easy distinction of a holder's title. Note: between 1969 and '97 the Costa Mesa and official Nationals are one and the same meeting and title. Also included in the table are AMA USA Long Track  Championship winners, (½ml), presently run in Ohio but formerly an LA-staged event at the Ascott Park venue.  

Founded in 2006, "USA Speedway" is the Exclusive Competition affiliation of the AMA.  

'US Open', Owego 1985, 

LA Coliseum 1981: 'American Final'

         Greg Hancock holds the record for most US National Championship wins at 8. The Bast brothers Mike and Steve took the title all but twice in the first 11 Costa Mesa years until World-Champ-to-be Bruce Penhall took the title. (Former Heathens have taken the  AMA National 16 times.) Hamill and Janiro have twice done the 'double' by winning concurrent AMA and SRA National titles, in 2002 +'07 and 2008 +'10. In Costa Mesa's SRA National of recent years Chris Manchester and Charlie Venegas have also both twice won that title, the former adding them to his earlier initial title success in 1992 under SRA-FIM affiliation. 

       On the East Coast, Californian participants in the US Open have had many successes, Bobby Schwartz taking the first post-war title in 1977 at Owego, NYS and repeating it 26 years later to complement his 2 US titles on the West Coast.

       Best run in the Open has been that of Warren Diem, (left) with 6 consecutive wins in his total of 7 championships between 1986 and '93 at Action Park, Greene and at Champions Speedway, Owego, whose closure then ended Diem's trophy-gathering run.       

1975  LA Coliseum                           1999 AMA National, Auburn                   1999 SRA National, C.Mesa  

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US  STATE  & TRACK  CHAMPIONS

The 2 tables below of State and Track championship winners are as identifed, though certain titles are for 'Long Track' competitions, - which on stateside may be ¼ml. or ½ml. i.e. 400m. or 800m, and hence conventional speedway frames are used. The usual US track size is much smaller than European ones, around 1/8ml.(200m.) as San Bernadino, (photo rt. For comparison of sizes see Herxheim aerial pic, LongTrack page, here ) Other 'State' titles can be exclusive to a track. It should also be noted that in several cases track names have changed with time and promotion, (e.g.San Bernadino: Inland, Arrowhead, IMS,) whilst the opposite can also apply:

 Perris during 2010 has operated on 2 sites,

Lake Perris (½ml) and Perris Raceway (¼ml.).         

                Chad Rall (Ohio Champ 2008 &'09) leads Warren Diem                      

      (NYS Champ 1984 '85 &'91; 7x US Open Champ,) at Canton Ohio in 2009.

 

    

         Here again the Bast family have dominated the Californian championships. Over the past 30+ years brothers Steve and Mike Bast each took the California State title 6x, then cousin Bart had 11 successes in the Northern California Championship, as well as being a Track champ 4 times (at Dixon, and the CalEx circuit in Sacramento.) 

     At Auburn Charlie Venegas has been Track champ 5 times, but on the East Coast the State wins have been well distributed, with 8 holders in the last 10 years.  In the '80s and '90s Scotty Brown took a total of 9 State titles in Indiana and Ohio, at both 1/8ml (Bear Creek) and ½ml. Long Tracks at Canton and Wauseon. 

 

 

 

State Champs:            Scotty Brown                            Mike Faria            

                                      9x Ohio & Indi. Champ                 4x Calif. Champ              

                                       

             

                                .                         

          

Long Track Champions, - USA & Canada

The USA 'Long Track Speedway' champions listed below are extracted from tables above.

The Canadian LT Champs data are newly presented: for LT Series rounds of the Speedway Championships see 'Alternative Champs' table below, - see also 'Long Track Champs' page.)  

 

 

 

For USA's U21 & U16 champions see U21 and Youth Champions

 

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ARGENTINA  &  CANADA

Winners of the recognised National speedway championships of Argentina and Canada are given in the main table on the previous page, but alternative speedway championships exist in both countries:   

 

     - in Argentina, an 'out-of-season', nationals only, 'Winter Championship', multi- meeting series; 

               

     - In Canada for the last 2 decades there has been both a Series (incorporating both Short Track & Long Track meetings,) and an Individual (one-off meeting) national championship title within the affiliated body, CMA: there is also a non-affiliated body, CMRC, that has run Canadian national speedway championships. Prior to 1980 the 'Speedway' class was unrecognised.

 

 

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