In just his second race of the 2025 season, Crendon Tru7 Honda’s Conrad Mewse raced to another two heat wins and then took second in the pro final at the Belfast Arenacross on Friday night. Then he repeated the feat again on the sold-out Saturday event in the only double-header event of the Arenacross tour.
But it was so close to a win on the Saturday night as Mewse chased home fellow Honda rider Dean Wilson, who was then penalised after officials deemed he’d ignored a waved yellow flag. So Mewse was announced as the winner and he topped the podium from Tommy Searle and Jack Brunell.
But Wilson lodged a protest, with video evidence that he hadn’t broken the rules. So after the crowd had already left, Wilson was re-instated as the victor and Mewse demoted to second once more.
As the 25-year-old Briton Mewse had missed the opening round after injuring his shoulder in a pre-season test session, he has now won every single one of his heat races and finished second three times in the final to fellow Honda rider Wilson, who also won the opening round.
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Mewse was in fantastic form on both nights in Northern Ireland, topping his qualifying group and then coming from behind to win his heat races which saw him go straight through to the final. Wilson also won both his heats.
On the Friday final, Wilson made all the running after Mewse was lucky to stay on after he was bunched up by the pack after the first corner. Mewse quickly came through to second place but couldn’t catch the former AMA champion who has raced US Supercross full-time for more than a decade. It was a great evening for Honda as local hero Martin Barr put his CRF450R on the podium in third place.
In the Saturday final, Wilson pulled a holeshot and immediately began to pull away. But Mewse raced hard and set the fastest lap of the race, reeling in his rival through the traffic of backmarkers to cross the line less than a second adrift.
From the top of the podium where he was initially announced as the winner, Mewse said: “It’s unfortunate about Dean being penalised but I’ve been docked places before. When I saw the waved yellows, I rolled the jump every lap then spent the whole race catching up.
“I had a great race with Dean for the lead and it was so great to see such a busy arena packed with fans.”
The next round is at Aberdeen on Saturday night.
Photos courtesy Arenacross/ Mantis Pro Media and Ellie Mawby.
