TACOMA, Wash. - AMSOIL Arenacross reached the halfway point of the Race to the Championship on Saturday with its second visit to the Tacoma Dome in the picturesque Pacific Northwest. The intensity of the playoff continued with a thrilling night of racing that saw a shift atop the championship standings as Team Babbitt's/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki's Gavin Faith earned his first overall win of the Race to the Championship and moved into a tie for the points lead. In the Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class, MX Athletics/Racetech KTM's Carlen Gardner became the fourth straight rider to break through for the first win of his career.
The RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge set the tone for the Arenacross Class Main Events, with TZR/Woodstock KTM's Travis Sewell taking a narrow win and extra championship bonus point following a captivating battle with TiLUBE/TUF Racing Honda's Ben Lamay.
When the first Arenacross Class Main Event roared out of the gate it was Team Babbitt's/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki's Jacob Hayes who grabbed the holeshot, only to lose the lead to his teammate and championship leader Chris Blose before regaining the position before the completion of the opening lap. Faith started third.
Hayes ran consistent laps to keep Blose at bay, but there was little distance between the pair throughout the opening laps. On Lap 4, Hayes' hopes of winning his first Main Event in the Race to the Championship came to an end after he collided with a downed rider and hit the dirt, ultimately remounting in fifth. Hayes' misfortune proved to be Blose's benefit as the points leader comfortably held onto the top spot throughout the remainder of the race. Behind him, Faith and TiLUBE/TUF Racing Honda's Ben Lamay, the overall winner at the previous round, engaged in an intense battle for second. Blose took his third Main Event win of the Race to the Championship ahead of Faith, who held off Lamay for second. Sewell was fourth, with Hayes recovering from his crash to finish fifth.
The second Main Event saw TiLUBE/TUF Racing Honda's Jace Owen grab the holeshot over Hayes and Faith, with Blose not far behind in fourth. Blose made an early move on Faith to take over third on Lap 1 and put himself in a position to secure the overall. However, everything changed on Lap 2 when Blose crashed in the rhythm section and fell to the tail end of the field in 13th. That gave third back to Faith, with Lamay moving into fourth.
The front of the field went unchanged until the late stages of the Main Event when Hayes passed Owen for the lead on Lap 13 after patiently waiting for his opportunity to strike. He set a torrid pace on the final lap and went on to take the win by three seconds over Owen, with Faith third, Lamay fourth and Yamaha rider Ryan Breece fifth. Blose made an impressive climb back up to seventh.
Faith's pair of podium finishes led him to the overall win (2-3), edging out Hayes (5-1) by one point in the final tally. Lamay rounded out the overall podium in third (3-4), with Owen fourth (6-2) and Blose fifth (1-7). Blose's crash in the second Main Event not only cost him a shot at a third overall win in the Race to the Championship, it also meant his slim three-point lead in the standings was eliminated. As a result, he and Faith now sit knotted atop the Race to the Championship with only three nights of racing remaining. Both riders will carry red number plates at the next round as co-leaders in the points. Hayes is third and sits 23 points out of the lead.
Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna Factory Racing's Kyle Bitterman kicked off the 15-lap Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Main Event with the holeshot ahead of BTO KTM's Tallon Lafountaine and Gardner. Championship leader Cody VanBuskirk started in 14th aboard his TZR/Woodstock KTM after crashing just after the whoops.
Gardner's march to the front started by taking over second from Lafountaine on Lap 1, with DrivenMX/MEPMX KTM's Jared Lesher following into third. The lead group stabilized for a few laps, during which VanBuskirk started his climb through the field, breaking into the top 10 by Lap 2 and then past championship rival and Team DirtBike Mike/KTM Sports Center of Little Rock KTM rider Ben Nelko for sixth on Lap 4.
On Lap 5 the battle for the lead heated up as Gardner pressured Bitterman and made the pass for the lead. Once out front, Gardner took control of the race and started to gradually pull away. VanBuskirk's impressive run continued by moving into the top five on Lap 6. He would lose a spot and drop to sixth several laps later, but picked up a pair of positions on Lap 13, taking advantage of a heated battle between Lafountaine and Yamaha rider Robbie Wageman for fourth.
Gardner and Bitterman asserted themselves in first and second, respectively, with Gardner taking his first career win by a healthy margin of over 10 seconds ahead of Bitterman. Lesher encountered misfortune on the final lap and fell out of podium position to sixth, which opened the opportunity for VanBuskirk to assume control of third and finish on the podium, improving 11 positions from his opening-lap crash. Wageman was fourth, with Lafountaine fifth.
The resilient ride by VanBuskirk proved to pay big dividends in the Western Regional Championship standings. He now has an 11-point lead over Nelko, who finished 11th, with two races remaining. Gardner moved into a tie for third with Shawnee Motor Company/Justified Cultures KTM's Cheyenne Harmon, 24 points back. The Race to the Championship continues next weekend with two nights of action from Nampa, Idaho, and Ford Idaho Center. The fourth and penultimate round of the playoff will kick off on Friday, April 22, and continue on Saturday, April 23, with racing scheduled to get underway on both nights at 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT / 9 p.m. ET.
Arenacross Class Results - Main Event 1
1. Chris Blose, Phoenix, Kawasaki
2. Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki
3. Ben Lamay, Forney, Texas, Honda
4. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM
5. Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki
6. Jace Owen, Matoon, Ill., Honda
7. Kyle Regal, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Husqvarna
8. Austin Politelli, Menifee, Calif., Kawasaki
9. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., Husqvarna
10. Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, Kawasaki
Arenacross Class Results - Main Event 2
1. Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki
2. Jace Owen, Matoon, Ill., Honda
3. Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki
4. Ben Lamay, Forney, Texas, Honda
5. Ryan Breece, Athol, Idaho, Yamaha
6. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM
7. Chris Blose, Phoenix, Kawasaki
8. Austin Politelli, Menifee, Calif., Kawasaki
9. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM
10. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., Husqvarna
Arenacross Class Overall Results (Main Event Results)
1. Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki (2-3)
2. Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki (5-1)
3. Ben Lamay, Forney, Texas, Honda (3-4)
4. Jace Owen, Matoon, Ill., Honda (6-2)
5. Chris Blose, Phoenix, Kawasaki (1-7)
6. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (4-6)
7. Austin Politelli, Menifee, Calif., Kawasaki (8-8)
8. Ryan Breece, Athol, Idaho, Yamaha (12-5)
9. Kyle Regal, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Husqvarna (7-12)
10. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM (11-9)
RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge Results (Bonus Points)
1. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (2 points)
2. Ben Lamay, Forney, Texas, Honda (1 point)
3. Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki (1 point)
4. Chris Blose, Phoenix, Kawasaki (1 point)
5. Kyle Regal, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Husqvarna (1 point)
6. Jace Owen, Matoon, Ill., Honda (1 point)
7. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM (1 point)
8. Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki (1 point)
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Results
1. Carlen Gardner, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM
2. Kyle Bitterman, West Pelzer, S.C., Husqvarna
3. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM
4. Robbie Wageman, Newhall, Calif., Yamaha
5. Tallon Lafountaine, Banning, Calif., KTM
6. Jared Lesher, Ball Ground, Ga., KTM
7. Jake Anstett, Port Angeles, Wash., KTM
8. Dylan Rouse, Florence, Ky., KTM
9. Dillon Cloyed, Papillion, Neb., Honda
10. Chris Howell, Spokane Valley, Wash., Husqvarna
Race to the Championship Standings
1. Gavin Faith, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Kawasaki - 126 (8 Main Event Wins)
2. Chris Blose, Phoenix, Kawasaki - 126 (4 Main Event Wins)
3. Jacob Hayes, Liberty, N.C., Kawasaki - 113 (9 Main Event Wins)
4. Jace Owen, Matoon, Ill., Honda - 110 (1 Main Event Win)
5. Ben Lamay, Forney, Texas, Honda - 105 (3 Main Event Wins)
6. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM - 95 (5 Main Event Wins)
7. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., Husqvarna - 82
8. Kyle Regal, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Husqvarna - 74
9. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM - 45
10. Daniel Herrlein, Bethesda, Ohio, Honda - 1
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Standings
1. Cody VanBuskirk, Harvard, Ill., KTM - 113 (1 Main Event Win)
2. Ben Nelko, Aliquippa, Pa., KTM - 102 (2 Main Event Wins)
3. Carlen Gardner, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM - 89 (1 Main Event Win)
4. Cheyenne Harmon, Colleyville, Texas, KTM - 89 (1 Main Event Win)
5. Jared Lesher, Ball Ground, Ga., KTM - 84 (1 Main Event Win)
6. Dylan Rouse, Florence, Ky., KTM - 67
7. Scott Zont, Algonquin, Ill., KTM - 63
8. Dave Ginolfi, Midvale, Utah, Husqvarna - 56
9. Dillon Cloyed, Papillion, Neb., Honda - 41
10. Brandon Marley, McEwen, Tenn., KTM - 35
