Hancock fury in cheat storm

GREG HANCOCK was at the centre of a cheat row after claiming his fourth world title on Saturday.

The 46-year-old American clinched the title in his opening ride at the Australian Grand Prix.

But he stormed out of Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium when disqualified after his third ride.

The race jury decided he had deliberately slowed down on the last lap of Heat 9 to let Monster Energy team-mate Chris Holder, who had a chance of a podium placing, take the race win.

Hancock insisted he was struggling with a clutch problem and slowed down because he was trying to nurse his bike to the finish line.

Hancock (above) is taking advice over whether to take the matter further. It marred what should have been the greatest night of his career as he sealed his third World Championship in six years. He added: “I just couldn’t believe it, they’ve ripped me apart because they think they’ve seen something that isn’t there and I know now what they think of me.

“They think I’m a cheat. Well okay, we’ll see where that goes now and I say good luck to them. “I am so, so angry. I walked away from going for glory, from prize money, from the fun of racing my bike in that stadium, because I feel that strongly about how I was treated. “I show them what the problem is and a bunch of guys who haven’t looked at it decide what happened?”

Poole ace Holder won the round but missed out on bronze by two points, finishing fourth behind Hancock, runner-up Tai Woffinden and Poland’s Bartosz Zmarzlik.