William Gordon Hamill (born 23 May 1970) is an American international

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider. He is a former Speedway World Champion, winning the title in 1996 and earned 29 caps for the United States national speedway team.

Career

Early career

Hamill was born on 23 May 1970 in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. He began junior speedway in California in 1983, eventually turning professional in 1986. In 1990, he left California to race for Cradley Heathens in the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a British League Division Two, second division starting i ...

, joining fellow Californian and friend

Greg Hancock Gregory Alan Hancock (born June 3, 1970, in Whittier, California) is a former professional motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more ti ...

. In his debut season of racing in Europe, Hamill won his first FIM Gold Medal as the USA won the World Team Cup.

1991–1995

In 1991, Hamill again rode for the Heathens and was named captain and he also made his World Final debut at the

Ullevi Stadium Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

scoring six points. The 1992 World Championship campaign was cut short for Hamill after breaking his wrist at the Overseas final at Coventry's

Brandon stadium Brandon Stadium, also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. It also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Saturd ...

, however he was still a major part of the Heathens season, again

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...

over eight points. He was also part of the USA team which won the world team cup for a second time, in Kumla, Sweden, scoring 10 points. 1993 saw a belated return to Cradley for Hamill who went on to make his second world final appearance in

Pocking Pocking (; ) is a town in the Passau (district), district of Passau, in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is situated about 30 km south-west of Passau, close to the Austria, Austrian border. History A Roman settlement was founded in the area of Poc ...

, Germany which was won by fellow American Sam Ermolenko. He once again won the World team Cup as the USA regained their title in Coventry. In 1994, Hamill missed out on a place in the World Final in

Vojens Vojens () is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,424 (1 January 2025).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

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland. However, he won the second round in

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

, 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)

The 1996 season again saw Hamill riding for the Heathens (though now they were riding at 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 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 and therefore becoming USA's fourth Speedway World Champion.

1997–1999

In 1997, Hamill had to leave Cradley Heathens as the team folded, and he joined the

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 14 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, wit ...

in Britain's Elite League. The defence of his World title started off promisingly with a second place in the opening round in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

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 Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon, Warwickshire, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain. History Origins and 1920s The firs ...

) 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 Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

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 Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia (UK born). He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, and a World Cup winner. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Crump finished with sev ...

, 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 on a countback. The silver lining to the season was a 4th World Team Cup win with team USA, in Vojens Denmark. Hamill had recovered from his injuries in time for the 1999 campaign although he did not 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. Hamill struggled after returning 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 during the

Speedway Grand Prix Qualification The Speedway Grand Prix Challenge or Speedway Grand Prix Qualification is an annual speedway qualifying tournament to determine the qualifiers for the Speedway Grand Prix, which is the World Championship of speedway. History From 1995 the In ...

he won the GP Challenge, which ensured that he claimed a permanent slot for the 2000 Grand Prix.

2000–2002

2000 saw Hamill fully recovered from his back injuries and again challenging the world's 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 injuries two years previous. He finished the series in second place on ninety-five points, just seven behind eventual champion

Mark Loram Mark Roysten Gregory Loram (born 12 January 1971) is a British former motorcycle speedway rider, who won the World Speedway Championship in 2000 and won the British Championship in 1997, 1999, and 2001. He earned 36 international caps for t ...

. Hamill went into the 2001 season having joined

Team Roberts Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time w ...

and 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 complement 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. The United States national speedway team had qualified for the 2001 Speedway World Cup Final at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

in Wrocław, though Hamill originally wasn't part of the team. This changed two days before the final when Sam Ermolenko fell in his final ride of the Race-off and was injured and unable to take his place in the World Cup Final. Hamill answered the call and joined teammates Greg Hancock, Brent Werner,

Billy Janniro Billy Mitchell Janniro (born 30 July 1980 in Benicia, California, United States) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. He earned 11 caps for the United States national speedway team. Career Billy "The Kid" Janniro firs ...

and John Cook in Poland. Despite having to ride Ermolenko's bike as his own was unavailable, Hamill led the team with 13 points on the night, the US finished 5th and last in the final. 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.

2003–2008

After retiring from the Grand Prix series, Hamill concentrated on his league racing in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

, Sweden and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He rode one more season for the

before moving on to the

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964 Speed ...

and then on to Cradley Heath's bitter rivals the

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They were champions of the United Kingdom five times and raced at Monmore Green Stadium from 1928 to 2023. History 1928–1930 Speedway (known ...

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. He returned to international competition in 2012, scoring ten points in the USA's victory in the first round of the Speedway World Cup. In September 2012, he became the US champion for the sixth time.

USA Team Manager

In 2013, Hamill became the Manager of Team USA Speedway and successfully guided the team through to Event 2 of the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup at King's Lynn after topping the scorecard at the qualifying round in Miskolc, Hungary. He has organised the Gumball Rally for infant through to teenage riders, as well as running the Billy Hamill Speedway Academy, attempting to make USA a dominant force in World Speedway again in the future.

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

–

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

- 12th - 6pts *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

–

, Rottalstadion - 10th - 7pts *

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

–

Vojens Vojens () is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,424 (1 January 2025).Speedway Center - Reserve - 1ptBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

World Team Cup

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

–

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

, Svítkov Stadion - Winner - 37pts (4) *

– Vojens, Speedway Center - 3rd - 28pts (9) *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

–

Kumla Kumla is a locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. Geography Kumla is situated roughly 15 kilometres south of neighbouring city Örebro, and is connected to its much larger nei ...

, Kumla Speedway - Winner - 39pts (10) *

–

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Brandon Stadium Brandon Stadium, also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. It also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Saturd ...

- Winner - 40pts (10) *

–

Brokstedt Brokstedt is a municipality in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most ...

, Holsteinring Brokstedt - 5th - 17+1pts (0) *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

–

, Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium - 3rd - 19+3pts (2) *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– Vojens, Speedway Center - Winner - 28pts (16) *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

– Pardubice, Svítkov Stadion - 3rd - 29+3pts (6) *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

– Coventry, Brandon Stadium - 3rd - 35pts (10)

World Cup

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

–

- 5th - 30pts (13)

Speedway Grand Prix results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamill, Billy 1970 births Living people American speedway riders Individual Speedway World Champions Coventry Bees riders American expatriate speedway riders in England Oxford Cheetahs riders Wolverhampton Wolves riders Cradley Heathens riders Belle Vue Aces riders