Another week, another country for Apico Honda and the Arenacross World Tour! This time, we headed north of the border to Aberdeen for the 5th round of the series. After Tom’s injury, we were down to a 1-man team with Martin competing and then a quick turnaround with him heading south after the final flag to Hawkstone International to compete there on Sunday.
Martin went out in the first session and posted his quickest time towards the end on lap 9 going 4th fastest. He managed 5th in the second session lining himself up for a decent gate pick in the night heat races.
Martin went out in the first heat and had a mid-pack start, making his way down the inside to turn 2 and through into 3rd before losing places to Wade and Chatfield. This was short-lived as he followed Chatfield passed Wade into 4th and it looked as if Martin was going to pull through over Chatfield until he realised Martin was close and opened up the gap. Martin was well settled into 4th position by this point and rode out the rest of the race knowing the position was enough to help him get to the main.
In the final heat race, Martin got a good jump and was straight into 4th position before passing Jack Brunell and Chris Bayliss for second behind Conrad Mews. Martin stayed there for a few laps before leaving the inside open for Brunell to make the pass on the penultimate turn and finish 3rd at the flag. Martin knew he’d done enough to make the main and have a decent gate pick going into the final.
As the gate dropped on the Aberdeen final, Martin didn’t get the jump and found himself in 8th rounding the second corner, coming down the first set of rollers. A sharp turn to cross the finish line and mistakes from Tommy Searle and Adam Chatfield and Martin was into 6th. Tommy came back at Martin, and they battled for several laps where the front of the field managed to move away from them. Martin made a textbook-tight turn to make the pass back on Tommy and made it stick. With Wade in his sights, Martin pushed on and caught him up, applying the pressure Martin made Eddie make a mistake and he passed for 6th. Chris Bayliss had an issue, and Martin was easily able to pass him for 5th and take it to the finish line.
As the team packed up Martin was already down the road heading for Hawkstone. It was his first time on the 2025 bike and the day started well. Unfortunately, after posting a decent 15th fastest qualifying time, Martin was unable to finish both races due to technical issues, though something that will be an easy fix for the team.
We now look to the final round of the British Arenacross Tour at our home venue of Manchester in a couple of weeks, before the outdoor season starts at the end of March. We’d like to thank all our sponsors and people involved with the team and hope to see Tom at the races on his road to recovery for the outdoor season.
Words by Apico Honda – AX Images courtesy of AX World Tour
