ArenaCross Media Press Release:
The eighth round of the 2015 AMSOIL Arenacross, featuring Ricky Carmichael’s Road to Supercross, came to a dramatic conclusion on Saturday inside the Mid-America Center. As has been the case on several occasions this season, a tiebreaker was needed in order to determine the overall winner in the Arenacross Class, but this time it came down to a trio of riders.
In the end, a dominant performance in the final Main Event of the evening allowed Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki‘s Matt Goerke to capture his third victory of the season over Husqvarna teammates Gavin Faith and Kyle Regal. In the Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Main Event, current championship points leader Daniel Blair raced to his third victory of the season aboard his KTM, extending his points lead.
Regal made the first statement of the evening by grabbing the holeshot in the first Arenacross Class Main Event, ahead of Kawasaki teammates Chris Blose and Jacob Hayes. Earlier in the evening Blose claimed the win in the Head 2 Head Challenge, while Hayes was looking for his second straight victory after claiming the overall victory on Friday night.
Hayes, the Arenacross Class championship leader entering the evening, encountered misfortune on Lap 2 and crashed in the whoops, dropping to the tail end of the 16-rider field. That allowed Blose to assume control of second, while Faith took over third. KTM’s Gared Steinke sat fourth, while Goerke moved into fifth. Several laps later Goerke slotted himself into fourth to put himself in podium contention. Regal maintained his lead over the field for the entirety of the 15-lap Main Event, but Blose was pushing hard to catch him and ultimately went down in the whoops on Lap 13. Faith took advantage of the misfortune to take over second, while Goerke moved into third. As the checkered flag flew, the top three remained the same with Regal, Faith and Goerke. Hayes fought his way back up to eighth, while Blose had to settle for 10th.
Regal had the opportunity to select the inversion for the second Main Event, and was fortunate enough to select the case with the number zero, meaning no riders would be inverted.
As the second Main Event got underway, ThermoTec/FMC Racing Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry raced to the holeshot just ahead of Hayes and Goerke. On the opening lap Hayes and Kiniry made contact in the whoops, forcing Hayes to fall and drop back to the tail end of the field, remounting nearly a lap behind. Kiniry stayed on two wheels, but fell all the way to eighth. Goerke seized the opportunity to put himself at the front of the field and took over the lead. Faith and Regal followed to move into second and third by the conclusion of Lap 1.
The torrid pace set by the top three and the consistency of Goerke, Faith and Regal meant there was little change up front throughout the duration of all 15 laps. Goerke took his fourth Main Event win of the season, with Faith following in second and Regal third. Hayes did all he could to recover from his early troubles and fought his way back to an 11th-place finish.
The identical first and third-place finishes by Goerke and Regal locked them into a tie for first in the overall classification, while Faith’s consistent pair of runner-up finishes made him a third player in the tiebreaker. In the end, Goerke’s win in the second Main Event gave him the advantage over the other two, while Faith’s second-place finish slotted him ahead of Regal’s third-place effort. TZR Woodstock KTM’s Travis Sewell finished fourth (5-4) while Steinke rounded out the top five (4-5).
Regal, who entered the night 14 points out of the lead, took over the Arenacross Class points lead as a result of Hayes’ tough night, finishing ninth overall. Hayes and Goerke sit in a tie for second, just one point behind Regal as the schedule heads into the final round before the season-ending Race to the Championship begins.
Blair was dominant in the Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Main Event, racing to the holeshot ahead of KTM’s Scott Zont and Yamaha’s Josh Cartwright, and never looking back. As Blair opened up a lead, Cartwright applied pressure on Zont for second and took the position on Lap 2. Blair and Cartwright asserted themselves out front, while KTM’s Dave Ginolfi was on a charge through the field, overcoming a seventh-place start to move into podium position on Lap 12. As the checkered flag flew, Blair cruised to a wire-to-wire victory ahead of Cartwright and Ginolfi.
Blair extended his lead in the championship standings to 19 points over TZR Woodstock KTM’s Cody VanBuskirk, who finished sixth. Team DirtBikeMike Yamaha’s Brandon Glenn, who finished fifth, sits third, 21 points back.
Arenacross Class Results – Main Event 1:
Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Husqvarna
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Husqvarna
Matt Goerke, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki
Gared Steinke, Temecula, Calif., KTM
Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM
Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, N.Y., Yamaha
Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki
Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki
Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Kawasaki
Arenacross Class Results – Main Event 2
Matt Goerke, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Husqvarna
Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Husqvarna
Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM
Gared Steinke, Temecula, Calif., KTM
Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, KTM
Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, N.Y., Yamaha
Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki
Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM
Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, Yamaha
Arenacross Class Results – Overall (Main Event Finishes)
Matt Goerke, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki (3-1)
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Husqvarna (2-2)
Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Husqvarna (1-3)
Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (5-4)
Gared Steinke, Temecula, Calif., KTM (4-5)
Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, N.Y., Yamaha (6-7)
Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki (7-8)
Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM (9-9)
Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki (8-11)
Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, KTM (16-6)
RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge Results:
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Kawasaki (2 points)
Gared Steinke, Temecula, Calif., KTM (1 point)
Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Husqvarna (1 point)
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Husqvarna (1 point)
Matt Goerke, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki (1 point)
Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (1 point)
Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki (1 point)
Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki (1 point)
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Results:
Daniel Blair, Lodi, Calif., KTM
Josh Cartwright, Tallahassee, Fla., Yamaha
Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM
Scott Zont, Algonquin, Ill., KTM
Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, Yamaha
Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM
Dylan Rouse, Florence, Ky., KTM
Tanner Moore, Auburn, Kan., KTM
Jake Locks, Dixon, Calif., KTM
Mason Wharton, Brush Prairie, Wash., Kawasaki
Arenacross Class Points (Race 12 of 20)
Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Husqvarna – 308 (4 Main Event wins)
Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki – 307 (6 Main Event wins)
Matt Goerke, Temecula, Calif., Kawasaki – 307 (4 Main Event wins)
Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM – 248
Bobby Kiniry, Holland Patent, N.Y., Yamaha – 242 (1 Main Event win)
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Kawasaki – 230 (4 Main Event wins)
Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, KTM – 227 (1 Main Event win)
Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Husqvarna – 225 (4 Main Event wins)
Gared Steinke, Temecula, Calif., KTM – 207
Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki – 168
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Points (After Race 5 of 9)
Daniel Blair, Lodi, Calif., KTM – 69 (2 Main Event wins)
Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM – 50
Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, KTM – 48
Jake Locks, Dixon, Calif., KTM – 26
Mason Wharton, Brush Prairie, Wash., Kawasaki – 24
Clay Elliott, Buford, Ga., KTM – 22
Dalton Oxborrow, Lehi, Utah, Kawasaki – 18
Benjamin Nelko, Aliquippa, Pa., KTM – 18
Jason McConnell, , Canonsburg, Pa., KTM – 18
Tanner Moore, Auburn, Kan., KTM – 17
The 2015 AMSOIL Arenacross continues next weekend with the ninth round of the championship from Southaven, Mississippi, on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14. Both nights of action inside the Landers Center begin at 5 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET.
Tickets for each round of AMSOIL Arenacross are on sale HERE.
The entire AMSOIL Arenacross season will air on FOX Sports 1, including re-airs on Fox Sports 2.
For more information: www.arenacross.com
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