Regal Reigns at AMSOIL Mississippi Arenacross

Kyle Regal’s Rocky Mountain Head 2 Head triumph nets him the Southaven AMSOIL Arenacross win; Dave Ginolfi clinches Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites title.

The competition in the 2015 AMSOIL Arenacross Series, featuring Ricky Carmichael’s Road to Supercross, has been so intense that some sort of tiebreaker has been required to determine the winner at several rounds this season.

It was more of the same last Friday night, March 13, at Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi, where Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing’s Kyle Regal needed a tiebreaker to claim his third victory of the 2015 season. Regal’s win in the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge proved to be the deciding factor.

Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose moved out ahead of ThermoTec/FMC Racing Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry and the Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing duo of Regal and Gavin Faith when the first of the night’s two main events got underway. Kiniry immediately put pressure on Blose and he made a pass for the lead as they crossed finish line on the first lap. Regal dropped Blose top third a couple laps later. The top three remained the same for the majority of the 15-lap main event until Faith also passed Blose to take over third placed on lap 10. Kiniry ran a clean race to win by 2 seconds over Regal. Faith was a solid third, with Blose fourth and TZR Woodstock KTM’s Travis Sewell fifth.

Kiniry had fun with the Southaven crowd as he enlisted their help to chose the inversion number for the second main event. The number eight was selected, meaning half of the 16-rider field would be inverted.

Faith emerged with the lead ahead of Regal and Team Babbitt’s Jacob Hayes at the start of the second main event, and the opening lap as action-packed as Blose blitzed from fifth to third while Hayes dropped three spots, from third to sixth. Out front, the Husqvarna duo ran comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, but Kiniry was on the move. The Yamaha rider methodically worked his way up from from sixth place. He was fourth by lap four.

The running order changed dramatically on lap 10 when Regal briefly went off the track and lost a spot to Blose. He was able to regroup and take the position back just one lap later. Blose then came under fire from Kiniry, who made the pass on Lap 12 to steal the final spot on the podium. Faith took the checkered flag nearly three seconds ahead of Regal, with Kiniry a close third. Blose finished fourth while Hayes held on to finish fifth.

The difference maker on the night actually came earlier, during the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge. Regal and Kiniry put on a show for the Landers Center crowd in the final pairing. The two riders traded lead over the course of the two-lap sprint, making passes all over the track. In the end Regal got the upper hand to take the win and score an additional championship bonus point.

Regal’s 2-2 results combined with that extra bonus point from the Head 2 Head Challenge gave him the overall win in yet another three-way tie for the overall win at the end of the night. Regal edged out Faith (3-1), who earned second by virtue of his better finish in the second main event. Kiniry was third (1-3) by just a single point. Blose finished fourth (4-4), while Team Babbitt’s Matt Goerke rounded out the overall top five (6-7). Regal came into Landers Center a slim one-point lead in the championship standings, but he left with a 12-point advantage over Matt Goerke. Hayes, who finished seventh overall (9-5), is now third, 13 points out of the lead.

College Hunks Moving Junk/Spinechillers KTM’s Dave Ginolfi only needed a third-place finish to capture his second Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Championship with two rounds still remaining, and when the main event was over, Ginolfi had gotten the job done while GEICO Honda’s Tristan Charboneau, a Road to Supercross competitor, earned the first win of his professional career.

Charboneau grabbed the holeshot in the 15-lap main event, running ahead of ThermoTec/FMC Racing Yamaha’s Josh Cartwright and Sizemore’s Garage Honda’s Drayke Sizemore. Charboneau and Cartwright were in a class of their own out front, but all eyes were on Ginolfi. The points leader started the main event in fifth, but he patiently moved his way into podium contention. A three-way battle took place among Sizemore, Motosport.com/Haeseker Racing KTM’s Daniel Blair and Ginolfi, with Blair and Ginolfi passing Sizemore on lap three.

Ginolfi then put pressure on Blair for several laps before making a pass for third place on lap six. Charboneau and Cartwright maintained their spots out front to finish one-two, with Ginolfi securing the title via his third-place finish. Ginolfi has been nothing short of impressive in his run to the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites title, earning two wins, six podium finishes and finishing no worse than fourth in eight nights of racing.

2015 AMSOIL Arenacross Series
Landers Center
Southaven, Mississippi
Results: March 13, 2015 (Race 13 of 20)

Arenacross Main Event 1
1. Bobby Kiniry-Yam
2. Kyle Regal-Hus
3. Gavin Faith-Hus
4. Chris Blose-Kaw
5. Travis Sewell-KTM
6. Matt Goerke-Kaw
7. Cory Green-Suz
8. Gared Steinke-KTM
9. Jacob Hayes-Kaw
10. Steven Mages-KTM

Arenacross Main Event 2
1. Gavin Faith-Hus
2. Kyle Regal-Hus
3. Bobby Kiniry-Yam
4. Chris Blose-Kaw
5. Jacob Hayes-Kaw
6. Gared Steinke-KTM
7. Matt Goerke-Kaw
8. Dave Ginolfi-KTM
9. Travis Sewell-KTM
10. Cory Green-Suz

Overall
1. Kyle Regal-Hus/2-2
2. Gavin Faith-Hus/3-1
3. Bobby Kiniry-Yam/1-3
4. Chris Blose-Kaw/4-4
5. Matt Goerke-Kaw/6-7
6. Travis Sewell-KTM/5-9
7. Jacob Hayes-Kaw/9-5
8. Gared Steinke-KTM/8-6
9. Cory Green-Suz/7-10
10. Dave Ginolfi-KTM/11-8

RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge Results
1. Kyle Regal-2 points
2. Bobby Kiniry-1 point
3. Travis Sewell-1 point
4. Gavin Faith-1 point
5. Cory Green-1 point
6. Brandon Glenn-1 point
7. Chris Blose-1 point
8. Dave Ginolfi-1 point

AMSOIL Arenacross Series Point Standings (After race 13 of 20)
1. Kyle Regal-340/4 main event wins
2. Matt Goerke-328/4 main event wins
3. Jacob Hayes-327/6 main event wins
4. Bobby Kiniry-273/2 main event wins
5. Travis Sewell-269
6. Chris Blose-257/4 main event wins
7. Gavin Faith-256/5 main event wins
8. Steven Mages-235/1 main event win
9. Gared Steinke-227
10. Cory Green-186

Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Main Event
1. Tristan Charboneau-Hon
2. Josh Cartwright-Yam
3. Dave Ginolfi-KTM
4. Daniel Blair-KTM
5. Brandon Glenn-KTM
6. Tanner Moore-KTM
7. Drayke Sizemore-Hon
8. Jacob Williamson-Kaw
9. Clay Elliott-KTM
10. Josh Struebig-KTM

Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Seires Point Standings (After race 8 of 11)
1. Dave Ginolfi-117/2 main event wins*
2. Steve Roman-65
3. Scott Zont-63
4. Daniel Herrleina-56
5. Jacob Williamson-51
6. Steven Mages-47/1 main event win
7. Dylan Rouse-45
8. Dave Blanchet-41
9. Darian Sanayei-35/2 main event wins
10. Mitchell Harrison-33/1 main event win
Tristan Charboneau-33/1 main event win
Josh Cartwright-33
* Clinched Eastern Arenacross Lites Championship