Billy Hamill

Infobox Speedway rider


ridername= Billy Hamill
nationality = flagicon|USA USA
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1970|5|23
cityofbirth = Arcadia, California
countryofbirth = USA
website =
britishleague = Retired
polishleague =
swedishleague =
career = Cradley Heath Heathens
Smederna (SWE)
Rybnik (POL)
Gorzów (POL)
Grudziądz (POL)
Belle Vue Aces
Coventry Bees
Zielona Góra (POL)
Oxford Cheetahs
Wolverhampton Wolves
years = 1990-1996
1992-2005
1992
1994-1995
1996-2000, 2004
1997
1998-2000, 2002-2003
2001-2003
2005
2006-2007
indivhonour = Speedway World Champion
American Champion
Austrian Grand Prix Champion
Danish Grand Prix Champion
Swedish Grand Prix Champion
Czech Grand Prix Champion
European Grand Prix Champion
indivyear = 1996
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007
1995
1996
1996
2000, 2001
2000
teamhonour = World Team Cup Winner
Craven Shield Winner
Premiership Winner
Elite League Fours Winner
Danish League Champion
German League Champion
Italian League Champion
Polish Div Two Champion
teamyear = 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998
2000, 2005
1990
1995
1992
2004
2004
1997, 2002

William Gordon (Billy) Hamill (born 23 May 1970, California, USA) [Oakes, P.(2004). "British Speedway Who's Who". ISBN 0-948882-81-6] is an American international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a former Speedway World Champion, winning the title in 1996.

Early career

Hamill began junior speedway in California in 1983 eventually turning professional in 1986. In 1990 he left California to race for Cradley Heath Heathens in the British League, joining fellow Californian and friend Greg Hancock.

1991-95

In 1991 Hamill again rode for the Heathens and he also made his World Final debut at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg scoring a creditable 6 points.

The 1992 world championship campaign was cut short for Hamill after breaking his wrist at the Overseas final at Coventry's Brandon Stadium, however he was still a major part of the Heathens season again averaging over eight points.

1993 saw a belated return to Cradley for Hamill who went on to make his second world final appearance in Pocking, Germany which was won by fellow American Sam Ermolenko.

In 1994 Hamill missed out on a place in the world final in Vojens, Denmark, losing out in run off at the semi final stage to Greg Hancock.

1995 saw a change in the speedway world championship with a Grand Prix system now in place. As he had only been seeded as first reserve for the series, Hamill only managed two rides in the Opening round in Wroclaw, Poland. However he sensationally won the second round in Wiener Neustadt, Austria and eventually finished fifth in the series, won by Denmark's Hans Nielsen. He also finished top of the British League averages in 1995.

World title (1996)

1996 again saw Hamill riding for the Heathens (though now they were riding a Stoke's Loomer Road stadium as they had been evicted from their Dudley Wood home) and again he topped the British league averages. In the Grand Prix, Hamill had joined forces with Cradley teammate Hancock to create Team Exide. Hamill had been the main challenger to defending champion Nielsen all season and went into the final round in Vojens needing to beat the Dane by at least ten points. The odds were stacked in Nielsen's favour riding in his home country, but he could only make the B final eventually finishing on fourteen points for the evening. Hamill won the A final collecting twenty-five points in the process and therefore becoming USA's fourth Speedway World Champion.

1997-99

In 1997 Hamill had to leave Cradley Heath [Oakes, P.(2006). "Speedway Star Almanac". ISBN 0-9552376-1-0] as the team folded and he joined the Belle Vue Aces in Britain's Elite League. The defence of his World title started off promisingly with a second place in the opening round in Prague behind fellow American and Team Exide race partner Greg Hancock. Unfortunately for Hamill this was to be an indication of how the season was to map out as he trailed his countryman all season to finish with the Silver Medal, as Hancock became the third American World Speedway Champion in five years. Although happy with how he had performed in the defence of his title, Hamill was determined to regain his title in 1998.

The 1998 season saw another new British Elite League team (the Coventry Bees) and another promising start to his Grand Prix campaign finishing second and then third in the opening two rounds. However the latter part of the season Hamill slipped down the Grand Prix placings going into the last round in Bydgoszcz with no chance of claiming the title. Worse was to follow though as Hamill was injured in a controversial collision with Australia's Jason Crump, leaving Hamill nursing a broken back. Ironically with Hamill unable to take part in the rest of the meeting, Crump and Hamill finished level on sixty-two points and Crump snatched the final seeded place for the 1999 Grand Prix series.

Hamill had recovered from his injuries in time for the 1999 campiagn although he didn't return for Coventry until a month into the season. A change in format for the Grand Prix series from sixteen to twenty-four riders also meant he was granted a seeded place into the series. Understandably, Hamill struggled returning from such a severe injury and found points hard to come by for most of the season. However in the final round of the Grand Prix, signs of returning to his best were clear as he finished fifth in Vojens and then went onto win the Grand Prix challenge and guaranteeing a place in the 2000 Grand Prix Series.

2000-02

2000 saw Hamill fully recovered from his back injuries and again challenging the worlds best. He won the opening round of the Grand Prix series in Prague and the final round in Bydgoszcz, the very same place where he had suffered his horrific injuries just two years previous. He finished the series in second place on ninety-five points, just seven behind eventual champion Mark Loram. It was a wonderful return for Hamill and again proved he was amongst the very best in the world.

Hamill went into the 2001 season highly optimistic that he could regain the World Title. But the opening two rounds of the season where both on "temporary" tracks within bigger soccer style stadiums. These man made tracks did not compliment Hamill's style and he picked up only eight out of a possible fifty points. He did have a strong finish to the season winning again in Prague and finishing fourth in Bydgoszcz, yet after such a promising 2000 campaign Hamill was disappointed to finish sixth overall in 2001.

2002 turned out to be Hamill's swansong in the Grand Prix. Five of the tracks in the now ten round series were temporary tracks and he struggled to really challenge the medal positions. A third place in the penultimate round in Vojens showed he could still mix it with the best. Even though he had qualified by right for the 2003 series he declined the opportunity to take part and the final round in Sydney Australia turned out to be his last ever Grand Prix.

2003-present

After retiring from the Grand Prix series, Hamill concentrated on his league racing in Britain, Sweden and Poland. He rode one more season for the Coventry Bees before moving on to the Oxford Cheetahs and then on to Cradley Heath's bitter rivals the Wolverhampton Wolves in 2006 and 2007.

2007 saw Hamill became USA National Champion for the fifth time, defeating Greg Hancock. Hamill retired from racing in Europe at the end of the 2007 and returned to his home in California. He started racing in the 2008 Californian season but was injured in a race fall and has missed most of the season. On Doctors advice, Billy has now retired from competitive racing.

Away from racing

Hamill lives with his wife Christina and his children Margi and Kurtis in the Midlands in England during the European speedway season and in California during the off season winter months. He also organises the Gumball Rally for infant through to teenage riders, saying that it is his way of giving back to the sport he loves.

World final appearances

* 1991 - Flag|SWE Gothenburg - 12th - 6pts
* 1993 - Flag|GER Pocking - 10th - 7pts
* 1994 - Flag|DEN Vojens - Reserve - 1pt [Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). "A History of the World Speedway Championship". Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5]

peedway Grand Prix results

References