Report: 2016 Monster Energy Arenacross – Belfast Round Five

Round four of the 2016 Monster Energy Arenacross Tour, powered by Ford Ranger, on Friday night was just the taster session for what was to be an absolute corker of a night on Saturday in Belfast for round five.

In front a sold out Northern Irish crowd, Frenchmen Fabien Izoird took the Pro main event win after an eventful race that saw crashes, comebacks and take outs.

Youth and Pro Lites

In the Supermini class Harry Kimber returned to his winning ways on Saturday night, although he had some company in the form of Ben Clayton and Kacey Hird.

Clayton – younger brother to Pro Lites supremo Joe – was a new face up front on Saturday. But the Honda 150 rider wasn’t phased, and he kept Kimber honest throughout the race.

The top three were pretty evenly matched, we saw a lot of yoyo-ing between the trio. However the difference maker between the eventual race winner, Harry Kimber, and his comrades was the finish line leap.

Once again the gutsy young Husqvarna rider was the only Supermini pilot making the leap lap after lap. That was enough to give Kimber a comfortable enough cushion to take the race win with confidence.

Ben Clayton crossed the line very happy with himself in second and Kacey Hird put his Team Green Kawasaki on the box in third.

We saw another start line pile up in the 65cc class. However, our front runners were able to break away cleanly.

Ollie Colmer took control of the race early on and a sore Kiean Boughen sat second after a big crash in the first heat earlier on in the day.

Arai Elcock sat in third behind the duelling Boughen and Colmer. While out in the lead Ollie Colmer went down hard in one of the technical rhythm sections.

He looked to be hurt at first but the young rider soldiered on, remounted and re-joined the race – earning a big cheer from the Irish crowd.

With Colmer’s misfortune Boughen inherited the lead, Elcock moved into second and Tye Jones bumped up into a podium spot.

That’s the order that they crossed the finish line. Yet again Colmer and Boughen traded wins on the day and the 65 class championship only gets more intense.

After a rather mellow start to the Arenacross season the Pro Lites class racing is really starting to heat up. Yet again Joe Clayton took the win, but boy did he have to work for it.

Jordan Moxey took the holeshot but he was soon passed by George Clark and point’s leader Clayton. These two guys were on a different level on Saturday night, nearly lapping the entire field whilst embroiled in their own duel for the lead.

In order to get the job done Clayton was forced to make an aggressive pass on one of the 180 bowl berms. Clark tried his hardest to return the favour without any luck. Clayton went on to take the win, with Clark not far behind in second place.

Edward Briscoe eventually came home in third. It seems as though Clark stepped up his game this week in Belfast, so we are looking for him to challenge Clayton’s reign at the top next weekend in Birmingham.

Pro class

The night started out with well for Izoird as he took the Heat 1 win after making a move around Cyrille Coulon who had the early lead- a far better start for the #5 Suzuki in comparison to his Friday night.

After an average start team-mate Thomas Ramette was able to work his way to third. For a while the top three were tight, but as the race went on each of the French riders settled into their positions. Once more we had a French 1-2-3 to start off the night.

Cedric Soubeyras was one of the most talked about riders of the weekend. He led the Heat 2 riders to the gates. He was joined by the likes of Josh Hansen and Matt Bayliss. Soubeyras, much like Izoird, started his night as he finished it – with a bad jump out of the gate.

In complete contrast both Bayliss and Hansen had absolutely flying starts.

Bayliss grabbed the early lead and Hansen gave chase. Jack Brunell was running third early on, but before long Soubeyras had made his way through the pack eventually passing the Brit to take third spot.

Soubeyras, as in previous weeks, looked fast and loose in Belfast. And that’s because he had to be, the Geartec Yamaha rider struggled out of the gates all weekend long and in Arenacross being fast, loose and aggressive is the only way to make passes.

Out front Bayliss and Hansen played a game of cat and mouse. After a few back and forth exchanges Hansen emerged with the race lead. By that time Soubeyras was right on the tail of the front two.

Soubeyras was able to make another aggressive pass around Bayliss to move in to second position. The Frenchmen had proved that there was plenty of places to pass on the tight Belfast circuit.

However, Cedric’s fast and loose style bit him back on the final lap as he went cartwheeling through one of the rhythm lanes.

The Geartec rider was able to remount and ride away from what looked like a nasty crash.

Hansen eventually took the Heat 2 win, Bayliss followed him in second.

Pro Heat 3 saw a stacked field that featured reigning champ Ramette, point’s leader Soubeyras, former champion Izoird and lightning fast Brit Bayliss.

It was Ramette who took the Heat 3 holeshot, Izoird followed him in second and Bayliss third.

Once again Soubeyras struggled out of the gate and found himself fighting through the field. Before long Izoird had made the pass on Ramette for the lead.

The Champ didn’t look quite so confident compared to his riding on Friday night. Despite his big crash earlier on in the evening Soubeyras was still hanging loose as he made his way past Bayliss into third place.

Izoird took the flag, throwing a sweet Nac Nac over the line, Ramette was second and after yet another come from behind ride Soubeyras was third.

Jordan Booker was able to get some incredible drive out of the gate in Heat 4. The Hitachi Husqvarna rider claimed the holeshot followed by Adam Chatfield and Harri Kullas.

That running order didn’t last long however as Hansen soon moved up into third. Hansen had a secret weapon stored in his arsenal on Saturday night.

The American ace had a double-triple combination through the final rhythm lane that he finally pulled out of the bag in Heat 4.

No other rider was able to pull off this feat, which allowed Hansen to make considerable time on his competitors.

Hanny fired his weapon to leap past both Chatfield and Booker on consecutive laps. Booker tried his hardest to fight back against #100 but the double-triple combo was just too damn fast.

That line could well have been the difference in the Main. Hansen went on to win, Kullas had a late surge to place second and Booker ended up third.

LCQ

Despite his third place finish in Heat 4 Booker still found himself in the LCQ. He obviously had his starts dialled in Belfast as he took yet another holeshot.

The Italian Stallion, Angelo Pellegrini soon moved past the Brit and took over the race lead. Pellegrini has often found himself in the LCQ this season, but he always seems to stand the pressure and pull it out of the bag to make the Main. The Buildbase rider may just be the King of the LCQ.

Booker made a mid-race mistake which allowed Brunell to join Pellegrini in the final.

Head-to-Head

Yet again we saw a flurry of outrageously awesome Head-to-Head match-ups on Saturday night.

Most definitely the best duel of the night – and perhaps the season so far – was the semi-final between Izoird and Ramette.

Ramette led the entire thing until Izoird railed the final berm before the finish to cross the line literally side by side with the SR75 Molson Suzuki rider.

Both riders – and the entire arena – had to wait for confirmation from the race officials before we knew who would proceed to the H2H final.

In the end Izoird was the rider given the win and the place in the final.

The Frenchmen would have to take on Hanny for a chance at bagging the bonus championship points. Hansen nailed the start and hit the double-triple yet again, stretching a lead that Izoird couldn’t close. Hansen was the overall H2H victor on Saturday evening.

Main Event

With a handful of riders displaying speed and confidence on Saturday it was anyone’s guess at who would take the win - and as we know Monster Energy Arenacross never fails to give us a few surprises along the way.

The first of these surprises occurred almost instantaneously after the gate drop. After his stellar start in the Head-to-Head final we expected that Hansen might well take the holey in the main.

On the contrary, the SJR Kawasaki rider found himself on the floor and being dragged down the start straight by Adam Chatfield.

Both riders would go down and remount, but that would put them out of contention from there on out.

Izoird and Ramette emerged from the carnage battling for the lead. Izoird was able to put a pass on Ramette to take control of the race, while Bayliss tried to fend off attacks from Coulon and Soubeyras, who once again could only manage an average jump from the gates.

The hard charging Geartec Yamaha rider soon made quick work of Coulon and Bayliss to move into third and join the battle for the lead.

As the laps clicked off the top three drew closer and closer together. Soubeyras went to make a hard pass on Friday night’s winner Ramette in one of the 180 berms.

In a controversial move Soubeyras put the champion on the floor. Ramette struggled to start his bike and found himself way down the order once he finally got going. Neither Ramette nor his SR75 team were too pleased with Soubeyras once the race was over.

Out front Izoird was able to avoid this mess and take the chequered flag followed by Soubeyras and Coulon.

Izoird had an almost perfect night on Saturday: “I had a great day today. I won both of my heats. I made it into the final of the Head-to-Heads and battled with Josh [Hansen],” said Izoird.

“He was faster than me so I finished second, but I was in a good position going into the main.

“In the main I started well in third place, I waited a few laps and watched a few of Thomas’ lines. Then I passed him and led the race from there.

“I had a small mistake when I was lapping Greedy. I don’t know what he was trying, but it was a little bit stupid. But that’s racing.

“I stayed focused and took the win. It was really important to finish the weekend like this, I felt good on the bike and I’m happy. We’ll see what next week brings in Birmingham.

“Obviously I didn’t race last year because of my broken back. But this year has been completely different to when I last raced.

“There are a lot of good riders and you need to push hard every race. On the corners if you go too wide you have guys coming up on the inside. Some guys make clean moves, other riders are a little dirty.

“All I can do is focus on myself. It’s a good championship and we have good races every time so I’m just happy to be here for another year.”

In one of the wildest weekends of AX action so far, Izoird was able to walk away with a win and with that take over the championship lead.

After his controversial last-lap move Soubeyras has made an enemy in the form of reigning champ Ramette. This is surely a rivalry that will boil over into Birmingham next weekend. Those lucky Brummies’.

2016 Monster Energy Arenacross Belfast Round Five Results

Monster Energy Arenacross Pro Main Event