The first round of the Arenacross World Tour witnessed some brilliant racing at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Arena, kicking the championship into life with some exceptional racing across all five classes, so let’s take a little recap of what went down before we head to Wembley this Saturday.
Adding fuel to the fire, literally, the ‘Fuel Girls’ played their part in making it a feast for the eyes with an awesome fire and pyrotechnics show to ignite the inaugural tour and of course the Freestyle Motocross Riders yet again delivered a brilliant aerial display between the races to keep the fans entertained through another awesome three hour show.
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Not only did the BP Pulse Arena host the first qualifying round in the race to the World Tour Finals at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, it was also the opening round of the ACU British Arenacross championship, which in the pro class is only open to UK based riders and British passport holders. So, it was double bubble for the likes of Dean Wilson, Tommy Searle and defending champion Jack Brunell and the rest of the British riders as they were scoring points in both the World Tour and British championship.
After some brilliant racing in the pro sprint heat races where three-time champion, SR75 World Team Suzuki’s Thomas Ramette, won both his heats to be the top qualifier for the final, the head to head races then provided more drama as they always do! It was Tommy Searle, debuting the new Triumph for his Dirt Store team that took the win in the head-to-head final to transfer to the main event. After flinching on the start gate Tommy’s rival, Steven Clarke, instantly reacted to Tommy’s movements and hit the gate, giving Searle an easy ride to the flag. In the dreaded ‘last chance qualifier’ it was the Spaniard, Joan Cross on the Substance JPR Kawasaki who got the job done and made up the 12 main event qualifiers.
Jorge Zaragoza led every lap on his Stark Future Racing machine to take the win and put him in firm position to safely qualify for Abu Dhabi. He was chased down by a hard charging Cedric Soubeyras on the DRT / Kawasaki who passed Dean Wilson with a committed move through the whoops. Wilson, making his Arenacross debut in the U.K for the Armor Vision St.Blazey Honda, rounded out the podium positions but in doing so took the win in the British championship. Further down the field Adam Chatfield, the first ever Arenacross champion back in 2013, took seventh in the race on his S.Briggs Honda which bagged him second in the British championship ahead of Stark Future Racing’s Eddie Wade who finished 7th in the World Tour standings and third in the British championship.
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Commenting on his first ever Arenacross in the U.K Dean Wilson had this to say; “Arenacross is tough man. I knew it would be, especially coming in under prepared due to my shoulder injury. Obviously, I haven’t had as much time on the bike as I would like so it’s going to be a case of racing myself back into shape, I think. There’re some quick riders out there and anything goes in Arenacross, which makes it hard, especially if you don’t get a good start….. and I didn’t, so that’s something I need to work on.
“I’ll take a third but I want to win and I expect myself to win. It’s nice to be come away with the win in the British championship though, so hopefully I can keep that going right to the end. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m really impressed with the whole show that the guys here lay on for the fans with the track walks and stuff like that. The autograph que was massive, and I enjoyed chatting to the fans and being back in the U.K.”
Second placed Soubeyras was another racer coming in not where he wanted to be due to injury but was happy to secure second place in the first of two World Tour qualifying rounds, the second of which will be at the AO Arena in Manchester on February 22nd. “Today was step by step and I’m happy with how it went. I topped qualifying, which was a bit of a surprise considering I only just got back on the bike last week. For me, my wife, my physio and everyone on my team, I want to say thank you very much to everyone for the support. I had tears in my eyes the last lap because I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it here tonight after my injuries. I love racing Arenacross in the U.K and I also didn’t want to miss the opportunity to race in Abu Dhabi for the World Tour finals so tonight is special. Congratulations to Jorge on his win, I now look forward to getting fully fit and racing again in Manchester.”
For Zaragoza and his Stark Future Racing team it was the perfect start to their AX World Tour campaign with an immaculate performance in the race that mattered. “I’m super happy to win the race, for myself of course, but also for the team and to continue our success from last year. This is my first Arenacross win in the U.K and it feels good, because it’s hard to win, the competition is tough, especially this year for the World Tour.
“Hopefully I can perform well again in Manchester and then look forward to then World Tour finals in Abu Dhabi. I’m excited about that because I’m sure it will be awesome experience for us all.”
Up next, it’s round two of the ACU British Arenacross championship at London’s historic OVO Arena, Wembley on Saturday 18th January where the ‘battle of Britain’ will resume. For tickets and more information go to
www.axworldtour.com.
Championship Standings
Words and Images by Arenacross World Tour
