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Greg Hancock - happy retirement

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On 2/15/2020 at 12:07 PM, Phil The Ace said:

Can only echo everyone else, happy retirement 

 

He was my least favourite rider of all time tbh but hes a 4x world champ. Cant fault that. 

 

But could he have not waited one more day to announce it. Yesterday was a day  to celebrate danny ayres life but ended up everyone talking about hancock. Made it all about himself. Pretty selfish 

The decision when to announce it was the FIM's. 

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His longevity was remarkable, and a tribute to his fitness. His winning of four World Titles has to earn respect but he lost a great deal of respect from me when he kept failing to ride in major events in Britain, coming up with the excuse of "Giving kids a chance". I suspect the real reason was a good deal less positive. To me he snubbed his British fans on more than one occasion, but then when did the fans count?

His antics at Melbourne didn't impress either. It rather echoed the appalling mistake made by Bruce Penhall at White City. 

It's sad that there is no American representation in the SGP for the first time. A great flow of talent has come to an end....for now. I do hope that Nicol or Becker can meet the challenge to replace him in due time. Over the years the Americans have given us a lot of fun, even if some of it was rather worrying ;-) Not in Greg's case. I did work with a few and those smiles weren't all that real in several cases in the 80s. I never got to know Greg so can't comment on him. 

The illness to his wife will have changed all priorities. I wish him a good retirement with the woman he loves at his side. Speedway is important but not THAT important.  

Edited by RobMcCaffery
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Was never a Huge Greg fan, Billy was always my favorite rider. However I got to know Greg when he visited NYC a couple of years ago and we have remained friends ever since. What I can say he is as nice in person as you see on the camera. Its not a front or BS. But he was fiercely determined to be successful without over stepping boundaries. Its fascinating talking to him on how he reinvented himself in 2010 to make himself a contender again.
A genuinely nice bloke and whether or not  you enjoyed watching him ride, deserves a massive amount of respect for the career he had.

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Typical of Hancock, he could have made it clear in October that he wouldn't ride this year, instead he waits until a couple of months before the season which doesn't give Smolinski long to plan his season and get sponsors to help him with his GP series.

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1 hour ago, TheReturn said:

Typical of Hancock, he could have made it clear in October that he wouldn't ride this year, instead he waits until a couple of months before the season which doesn't give Smolinski long to plan his season and get sponsors to help him with his GP series.

Rather presumptuous - perhaps his decision was not made until recently?

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Just now, SPEEDY69 said:

Rather presumptuous - perhaps his decision was not made until recently?

It probably wasn't, but it's still bad considering he had an entire year away from the track to make a decision.  I am surprised he didn't claim he was pulling out to give a younger rider a chance!

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18 minutes ago, TheReturn said:

It probably wasn't, but it's still bad considering he had an entire year away from the track to make a decision.  I am surprised he didn't claim he was pulling out to give a younger rider a chance!

That only applied to Britain, SGP excepted. 

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All this crap...halfway through reading the article on Greg Hancock and his family in the Speedway Star, best wishes to Greg’s wife and all the family.

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4 hours ago, topaz325 said:

All this crap...halfway through reading the article on Greg Hancock and his family in the Speedway Star, best wishes to Greg’s wife and all the family.

You can feel sympathy to him without treating him as a saint. 

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On 2/20/2020 at 10:50 AM, TheReturn said:

It probably wasn't, but it's still bad considering he had an entire year away from the track to make a decision.  I am surprised he didn't claim he was pulling out to give a younger rider a chance!

Firstly, there are reserves in place who are well prepared to come in at any point. And the chosen first reserves especially will know from recent history that there is a good chance they will be called into action. Secondly he desperately wanted to ride and have another shot at being world champion again, unfortunately his wife needs continued treatment for the cancer and he didnt want to be away from her and the family. So its a bit harsh to say he didnt make his mind up soon enough 

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45 minutes ago, RPNY said:

Firstly, there are reserves in place who are well prepared to come in at any point. And the chosen first reserves especially will know from recent history that there is a good chance they will be called into action. 

Yes, but you're missing the point.  Last year didn't Lambert say he struggled in some GPs because of his full calendar after originally opting for the SEC not expecting to do the SGP.   I don't know what Smolinski and second reserve had planned for this year, but one would assume they have to change their entire season plans at this late stage.

 

45 minutes ago, RPNY said:

Secondly he desperately wanted to ride and have another shot at being world champion again, unfortunately his wife needs continued treatment for the cancer and he didnt want to be away from her and the family. So its a bit harsh to say he didnt make his mind up soon enough  

He was never going to be that after being out all of last season, and that's why I felt the decision to give him a wildcard was ridiculous.  I have all sympathy for his wife, I wish her well and I respect Hancock for retiring to be with his family, I respect him for his World titles too. But that doesn't mean I respect some of the things he's done in recent years, the bullying against Nicki (the website post Hancock made), the lame excuse to pull out of riding at Belle Vue to say he wanted to give younger riders a chance (rather than admit he didn't want to ride) and the fact he took a wildcard in October and waited until now to retire all of which were dicking actions.

 

Edited by TheReturn

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MAYBE, he was hoping his wife would recover to such an extent he could confidently ride this year. MAYBE she not responded so well, such he taken the decision to stay home.     
I do hope his wife is doing well, but if not, there is a lot been said on here that should not have been said - like he thinking of himself, he is selfish etc

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FWIW, I believe that although we only found about it last week, people on the inside knew a while ago...

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