The Arenacross ACU British championship will see-saw through the halfway stage this weekend as rounds 3 & 4 of the tour call in at the SSE Arena, Belfast City on Friday 31st January and Saturday 1st February.
Belfast has featured on the tour every year Arenacross has run since its inception back in 2013 and the partisan Northern Irish and Irish fans always make it a great night with their infectious enthusiasm and love for motorcycle racing and no doubt they will again.
They will have plenty of their own racers from the Emerald Island to cheer on, which helps generate a brilliant atmosphere. Apico Factory Racing Honda’s Martin Barr and DAD / AWP’s Jason Meara will certainly have the majority of the crowd on their side as the only two riders from Northern Ireland in the pro ranks.
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As much as the crowd will be doing all they can to fire them up, both Barr and Meara will have to ride out of the skin to make it to the podium over the two back-to-back rounds, with the pro rider line up the strongest it’s ever been in the AX ACU British Championship and World Tour, which resumes at the AO Arean in Manchester on February 22nd where the two championships align again for the 100th night of Arenacross.
Coming into rounds 3 & 4 at Belfast this weekend, Armor Vision / St. Blazey Honda’s Dean Wilson has a firm grasp on the AX British championship with two wins out of two, but he knows he’s going to be kept on his toes. Last time out at Wembley Conrad Mewse (Crendon Tru 7 Honda Racing) came out swinging after missing round one with a shoulder injury and really made Deano work for the win. With Conrad giving up valuable points at the first round he’ll be going all out for race wins at all the remaining rounds.
The very first Arenacross champion back in 2013, Adam Chatfield (S. Briggs Honda) is proving he’s still got fuel in the tank and has put together two strong rounds of this year’s championship to put himself in second place, thirteen points behind Wilson and will be fighting hard to stay there. Two points behind Chatfield is the 2023 champion Tommy Searle on his Dirt Store Triumph Racing 250. Tommy is the only rider in the pro class racing a 250 and so far, he’s pulled a holeshot in every race he’s started and looks to be getting better each time out, after finishing third last time out at Wembley.
Holding down fourth in the championship is Matt Bayliss (SC Sportshome Husqvarna) who is also looking smooth and strong, even though he picked up a midweek knock coming into Wembley. Bayliss is definitely in the mix as he’s only one point behind Searle. Rounding out the top five is Stark Future Racing’s Eddie Wade who got off to a great start at Birmingham with a third but crashed out of the final at Wembley in a first turn crash. Things aren’t going to plan for his teammate and reigning champion Jack Brunell who sits just one point behind Wade. After a tough opening night at round one in Birmingham where he was also caught up in a first turn pile up, he then jacked up his thumb in a freak accident off the bike coming into Wembley and had to tough it out, bringing it home in ninth and putting him sixth in the championship.
Add the rest of an impressive line up of British talent including Taylor Hammal, Joe Clayton, Ash Greedy, Steven Clarke, Elliot Banks Browne, Tom Grimshaw, Chris Bayliss, Ben Clayton, Jayden Ashwell, Jake Preston, Bailey Johnson and Kyle McNicol and the next two rounds of the Arenacross ACU British championship at Belfast this weekend are set for more awesome action. Not forgetting all the drama and excitement that the amateur and youth classes and the freestyle mx riders add to the mix and make Arenacross what it is…. a brilliantly entertaining night out! There’ll also be special guest appearances from six-time World Superbike Champion Johnny Rea, the Isle of Man TT’s most successful racer, Michael Dunlop and former British motocross champion and GP winner Gordon Crockard.
General admission tickets are available on wwww.ssearenabelfast.com
VIP packages are available at https://www.axworldtour.com
For more information on Arenacross, check out https://www.axworldtour.com
Standings
