Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose jumps to the early lead in the AMSOIL Arenacross Race to the Championship with a win at Smoothe King Center in New Orleans.
Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose dominated the first round of the playoff-inspired, season-ending Race to the Championship when the AMSOIL Arenacross Series visited Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, Saturday night, March 21.
A wild night of competition—an AMSOIL Arenacross Series trademark—culminated with Blose sweeping both Arenacross main events to take control of the series point standings. In the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class, Slaka Wear KTM’s Steven Mages earned his fourth main event win of the season.
Team Babbitt’s Jacob Hayes bagged the holeshot ahead of Blose and Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing’s Kyle Regal, but Blose made a quick pass on Hayes in the whoops to take the lead. Rega also made an aggressive move on Hayes for second just before the catapult. Regal took the position away from Hayes, but contact between the two created a traffic jam that forced them and the rest of the field to miss the finish line jump.
That miscue allowed Blose to pull away, and he maintained a comfortable gap over second place, which became a four-way race among Regal, Babbitt’s Online Suzuki’s Cory Green, Hayes and TUF Racing’s Gavin Faith. Hayes was able to work his way around Green for third before pressuring Regal for second. Hayes slipped past Regal on lap 10. Regal would crash in the whoops, dropping to ninth.
Blose led the main event wire to wire for the win, followed by Hayes. Faith finished third, ahead of Team Babbitt’s Matt Goerke. Green finished fifth. Regal, who came into the New Orleans round with the series point lead, salvaged an eighth-place finish.
Now in third, Faith set his sights on his teammate, Regal, and he made the pass for second place on lap five. However, things went bad for Faith when he lost control in the whoops and crashed, dropping back to eighth place. Regal briefly retook control of second while Goerke moved into third. Goerke, who won the previous round, passed Regal for second place, leaving Regal to contend with Motosport.com/Haeseker Racing KTM’s Gared Steinke in fourth.
Blose simply had no issues out front, and he cruised to his second main event win of the night to cinch the overall win in a series that has seen the tiebreaker invoked to determine the winner at numerous rounds this year. Goerke came home second, and Steinke was able to make a pass on Regal for third after the Husqvarna rider went down in the whoops on lap 12. Faith regrouped to finish fifth.
Blose’s 1-1 effort easily gave him the overall win, while Goerke’s runner-up effort in the second main event secured second overall (4-2). Despite his trouble in the second main event, Faith captured third overall (3-5). Earlier in the evening the New Orleans crowd saw Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing teammates Regal and Faith battle for the win in the RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge. Regal netted an extra championship bonus point that helped him secure fourth overall (8-4). Green finished fifth (5-6).
Regal entered the night as the top seed in the Race to the Championship, but Blose’s performance jumped him from sixth to first in the points. The Kawasaki rider holds a three-point lead over his Team Babbitt’s teammate, Goerke, and a six-point lead over Regal.
Fresh off his championship-winning effort the week prior, College Hunks Hauling Junk/Spinechillers Racing KTM’s Dave Ginolfi raced to the holeshot in the Metro PCS Blazing Fast Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class main event, but he exited the race early after feeling the effects of a crash in his heat race earlier in the night, which left him with a sore wrist. That allowed Mages to take control of the race and once out front, he was able to maintain his advantage for the entire 15-lap distance.
Motosport.com/Haeseker Racing KTM’s Daniel Blair overcame an off-track excursion on the opening lap that dropped him to sixth place and moved into third on the opening lap. Blair then took over second place on two, and he kept Mages honest but could not get close enough to challenge him for the win. Team Babbitt’s/MMCR Kawasaki’s Jacob Williamson made a pass on Sizemore’s Garage Honda’s Drayke Sizemore for third on lap three to claim the final podium position.
AMSOIL Arenacross Series
Smoothie King Center
New Orleans, Louisiana,
Results: March 21, 2015
Arenacross Main Event 1
1. Chris Blose-Kaw
2. Jacob Hayes-Kaw
3. Gavin Faith-Hus
4. Matt Goerke-Kaw
5. Cory Green-Suz
6. Bobby Kiniry-Yam
7. Travis Sewell-KTM
8. Kyle Regal-Hus
9. Steven Mages-KTM
10. Scott Zont-KTM
Arenacross Main Event 2
1. Chris Blose-Kaw
2. Matt Goerke-Kaw
3. Gared Steinke-KTM
4. Kyle Regal-Hus
5. Gavin Faith-Hus
6. Cory Green-Suz
7. Bobby Kiniry-Yam
8. Travis Sewell-KTM
9. Steven Mages-KTM
10. Scott Zont-KTM
Arenacross Overall (Main Event Finishes)
1. Chris Blose-Kaw/1-1
2. Matt Goerke-Kaw/4-2
3. Gavin Faith-Hus/3-5
4. Kyle Regal-Hus/8-4
5. Cory Green-Suz/5-6
6. Bobby Kiniry-Yam/6-7
7. Jacob Hayes-Kaw/2-12
8. Travis Sewell-KTM/7-8
9. Gared Steinke-KTM/13-3
10. Steven Mages-KTM/9-9
RMATV/MC Head-2-Head Challenge
1. Kyle Regal-Hus/2 points
2. Gavin Faith-Hus/1 point
3. Jacob Hayes-Kaw/1 point
4. Chris Blose-Kaw/1 point
5. Cory Green-Suz/1 point
6. Steven Mages-KTM/1 point
7. Travis Sewell-KTM/1 point
8. Scott Zont-KTM/1 point
Amsoil Arenacross Series Race to the Championship Point Standings (After 1 of 6 rounds)*
1. Chris Blose–36/1 win
2. Matt Goerke-33
3. Kyle Regal-30
4. Gavin Faith-29
5. Jacob Hayes-25
6. Bobby Kiniry-25
7. Cory Green-25
8. Travis Sewell-23
9. Gared Steinke-20
10. Steven Mages-18
*Points race is reset among the top-10 contenders to determine the champion over the final six rounds of the series.
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Main Event
1. Steven Mages-KTM
2. Daniel Blair-KTM
3. Jacob Williamson-Kaw
4. Drayke Sizemore-Hon
5. Ben Nelko-KTM
6. Jason McConnell-KTM
7. Brian Alquist-KTM
8. Jake Lowry-Kaw
9. Jonah Locks-Kaw
10. Clay Elliott-KTM
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Points (After Race 10 of 11)
1. Dave Ginolfi-134/2 main event wins
2. Jacob Williamson-79
3. Scott Zont-75
4. Steve Roman-65
5. Steven Mages-63/2 main event wins
6. Daniel Herrlein-56
7. Dylan Rouse-45
8. Dave Blanchet-41
9. Drayke Sizemore-36
10. Darian Sanayei-35/2 main event wins
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