Without exception every round of the 2016 Monster Energy Arenacross Tour, powered by Ford Ranger, has been a must see. Each time the athletes from the series stepped up to ride they produced a night to remember for the thousands of fans packed into the arena.
The final round at SSE Arena in Wembley, London was no exception. Actually, strike that. It was never just going to be another AX round once SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki’s Thomas Ramette won at the penultimate round in Sheffield. The impressive riding from the Frenchman in Steel City set up a London finale that would be exceptional even by Arenacross standards.
Last Saturday night in London the final round of the 2016 series finished with the 2015 AX champion Ramette off the podium, not the result he wanted or the crowd expected, but with enough points to take the 2016 Arenacross championship crown. His team, SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki would also seal the deal on the team championship.
Ramette’s team-mate Cyrille Coulon had a torrid Main Event which included a t-bone on Ramette’s title rival – Geartec Yamaha’s Cedric Soubeyras – who would end the Main disqualified.
On Sunday evening (February 28) Arenacross announced that there would be an investigation into the final round’s results.
We ran an exclusive video of the Pro Main Event yesterday, which ultimately became too hot to keep live with the series promoter asking us to remove it until the investigation was complete.
In the statement there was a vague hint at which results were in doubt but the wording left it open to readers which riders could come out a winner and which, if any, would be sanctioned for their actions.
MC Federation manager Roy Barton said: “It’s our duty to ensure the riders and teams both adhere to the rules and safety we set out as the licensing body for the Arenacross series. It’s clear that some of these rules were clearly and blatantly ignored during last night’s event at Wembley and we will be punishing riders and teams consistently in line with these rules.”
Matt Bates from e22 Sports also didn’t appear happy with some of the riding in Wembley. “There’s a very thin line between riding hard and riding without any care for the safety of other riders and this can’t continue.
“The MCF will decide if there are punishments due, but in my opinion, as much as the excitement level in the Arena was incredible, the reality is that the outcome could have been disastrous whilst the example this sets to our younger riders is terrible.”
Would sanctions change the championship standings to a point where we would have a new champion? Could we see Buildbase Honda’s Adam Chatfield, who won in London, rise in the points to take a third place in the series at the expense of Coulon?
The MCF has now released the results of the investigation and Coulon comes out of it with a disqualification from the Main. Chatfield moves up to third in the series standings and crucially for Ramette no sanctions for the Frenchman, which means it’s finally official…he’s the first Arenacross champion to successfully defend his title.
MCF statement on the Arenacross London results investigation:
The MCF has now had the opportunity to view all of the footage from the final Arenacross event at the SSE Arena, Wembley staged on Saturday night 27th February 2016. The reason for the post-event investigation in to the Main Event confirmed results was due to it not always being possible to witness every incident on the track throughout every lap. We therefore have relied upon viewing our filmed footage to make our final decisions.
Roy Barton, General Manager of the MC Federation has made it clear that action needed to be taken. “In the final Pro rider Main Event, SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki’s Cyrille Coulon (5) rode in to Geartec Yamaha’s Cedric Soubeyras (120) with the clear intention to take down the rider. The potential outcome being that Soubeyras would not able to finish the race. We feel that most other incidents that occurred during the race, although harsh, did not contain the same intent. However, the retaliation shown by Soubeyras against Coulon’s team-mate, Thomas Ramette was justification for his immediate elimination from the race. With the facts now available, we have made the decision to also disqualify Coulon from the Main Event.” Barton continued: “I fully appreciate that all racing incidents and the resulting disciplinary actions are a matter of opinion. Whilst I realise that due to the nature of the tight race tracks, Arenacross involves far closer racing than on a normal outdoor Motocross track, our duty as a regulatory body is to ensure the safety of riders and punish actions we believe to be dangerous riding.”
Commenting on the decision, Series promoter Matt Bates said: “I would like to make one point very clear; Saturday night at Wembley was nothing short of electric and I wouldn’t want anything to stand in the way of that, but I do also realise that some of these boys needed a bit of a ticking-off.” Bates further said: “The series has been amazing and I’m proud to think that it means so much to these young men to win. However, we all have to realise that they are young and talented individuals who are racing on the edge and get caught up in the heat of the moment. My personal opinion is that making a rational racing decision isn’t always going to prevail. I think the MCF has made the right decision as we don’t feel there’s any need to alter the overall winner of the Championship.”
The disqualification of Coulon from the Main Event promotes the UK’s Adam Chatfield of Buildbase Honda to third overall in the final Monster Energy Arenacross standings. “I was really chuffed to get the win on Saturday,” said a delighted Chatfield. “At London I just kept my head together and stayed out of trouble. The series didn’t start too well for me, but it all came together in the final three rounds. To now find out I also finished third in the championship is great news.”
In conclusion Bates said: “I’d like to draw a line under this now and reflect on the success of the Tour and how Arenacross has yet again delivered in taking Motocross to the masses in a very entertaining way.”
End statement.
What’s next for SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki and their two riders, Ramette and Coulon? We understand that Geoff and Ramette are now on their way back to London for a flight to Florida. Why Florida? Geoff Walker’s outfit are signed up to race Daytona this weekend at the ninth round of the AMA Monster Energy World Supercross Championship at the SX Daytona International Speedway.
As for the other super-fast Frenchman…Soubeyras is also off to the States to race the remaining rounds of the East Coast 250SX championship with Bud Racing.
We’ll let you know when we’ve been given the go ahead to put the video back online
Watch the controversial Wembley Main Event
We have now put the London Arenacross Main Event video back online and you can watch it here.
