The battle to win the use of a Honda CR-V for a year went down to the wire at Wembley Arena with three riders – Steven Clarke, Neville Bradshaw and Kristian Whatley – slugging it out for the keys in the final Main Event of the 2014 Garmin Arenacross Tour.
The car was for the highest-placed UK-based rider at the end of the seven-round series and heading into London it was Steven leading the way on 76 points, one ahead of Neville and six clear of Kristian.
With Steven still suffering from a wrist injury sustained two weeks earlier in Sheffield the advantage initially laid with Neville but a couple of bonus points picked up in the Head-to-Head races kept Kristian’s hopes alive.
Out of the three contenders it was Kristian who got the better start and the 23-year-old kept his cool to cross the line fourth. Despite some dramatic late passes Neville could only get as high as seventh which left them tied on points with Kristian getting the nod thanks to his better record of podium finishes.
“I’m delighted,” says Kristian, “absolutely loving it! It’s such a cool prize. I knew it was going to be tough to make up so many points on Neville and Steven but when I picked up those couple of bonus points in the Head-to-Head races I thought it might be on the cards.”
