Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Gavin Faith dominates Amalie Arena in Tampa and takes over the AMSOIL Arenacross Series points lead.
With AMSOIL Arenacross Series points leader Jacob Hayes forced out of action for the night following a crash in practice, Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Gavin Faith took advantage of his teammate’s misfortune to sweep round seven of the 2016 AMSOIL Arenacross Series at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, Saturday night. In doing so, Faith also displaced Hayes as the series points leader.
In the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Main Event, TZR/Woodstock KTM’s Cody VanBuskirk enjoyed the best outing of his career to claim his first ever win, but A&Y Racing Honda’s Daniel Herrlein clinched his first career title by finishing second to sew up the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Championship.
Faith got hot right at the start of the first Arenacross main event, pulling the holeshot to lead TZR/Woodstock KTM’s Travis Sewell, Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Gared Steinke,
TiLUBE/Tuf Racing Honda’s Jace Owen, Herrlein and the rest of the pack through turn one. Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose, who entered the night third in points, crashed twice on the opening lap and found himself back in 16th place.
The front three remained the same for the entire 15 laps of the main as Faith pulled out to a 2-second lead by the tihe checkered flag fell. Sewell was second, and Steinke was third, with Owen fourth and Custom Powersports/Slaka Wear Kawasaki’s Steven Mages in fifth. Blose salvaged a 10th-place finish.
Faith selected the inversion case with the number eight, meaning half the field would be inverted for the second Arenacross main event. Off the start, Sewell edged out Faith for the holeshot, with Owen and Steinke battling for third place. Sewell thn crashed out of the lead in the track’s sand section on lap two, handing Faith the lead. Owen and Steinke also moved past Sewell before he could get back underway. Once out front, Faith never looked back, crossing the finish line less than a second ahead of Owen, while Sewell managed to repass Steinke to claim third place. Mages finished fifth.
Faith’s 1-1 effort gave him four main event wins thus far in the season. Sewell finished second overall (2-3) while Owen’s runner-up effort in the second main event (4-2) moved him past Steinke (3-4) for third overall. Mages completed the top five (5-5).
In RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge action, the Team Babbitt’s duo of Blose and Faith made the Final, with Blose taking the win grab extra championship bonus point. But that didn’t stop Faith from taking over the lead in the AMSOIL Arenacross Series standings for the first time since the second race of the championship. Faith is now 11 points ahead of Sewell, who moved into second, while Hayes fell from first to third after he was unfit to compete in Tamapa. Hayes is 14 points out of the lead.
TZR/Woodstock KTM’s Scott Zont got holeshot ahead of his teammate VanBuskirk and Team DirtBikeMike KTM’s Brandon Marley at the start of the 15-lap Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites main event. The top two finishers a week ago, Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Sean Cantrell and Herrlein, followed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Zont and VanBuskirk paced the field for the first handful of laps while Herrlein made his way to third place by lap three.
VanBuskirk and Herrlein seized the opportunity to pass Zont on lap six to run one-two respectively. The lead duo would pull away from the field with Herrlein pressuring VanBuskirk for the lead throughout the race. VanBuskirk withstood all of Herrlein’s challenges to bag the win by just over a second. Cantrell finished third, taking over the position from Zont on lap seven. FCC Motorsports Yamaha’s Brandon Hartranft was fifth.
Herrlein claimed the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Championship by capturing two main event wins and finishing off the podium just once. He started the season fourth in the standings but after he took over the points lead at the second round in Baltimore he continued to extend his points lead at every round.
The 2016 AMSOIL Arenacross season will observe its first off weekend before returning to action at Omaha, Nebraska’s CenturyLink Center on Saturday, March 5, the penultimate race before the Race to the Championship countdown begins.
2016 AMSOIL Arenacross Series
Amalie Arena
Tampa, Florida
Results: February 20, 2016
Arenacross Main Event 1
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw
2. Travis Sewell-KTM
3. Gared Steinke-Hus
4. Jace Owen-Hon
5. Steven Mages-Kaw
6. Daniel Herrlein-Hon
7. Austin Stroupe-Hus
8. Ben Lamay-Hon
9. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
10. Chris Blose-Kaw
Arenacross Main Event 2
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw
2. Jace Owen-Hon
3. Travis Sewell-KTM
4. Gared Steinke-Hus
5. Steven Mages-Kaw
6. Ben Lamay-Hon
7. Chris Blose-Kaw
8. Daniel Herrlein-Hon
9. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
10. Scott Meshey-KTM
Arenacross Overall
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw/1-1
2. Travis Sewell-KTM/2-3
3. Jace Owen-Hon/4-2
4. Gared Steinke-Hus/3-4
5. Steven Mages-Kaw/5-5
6. Daniel Herrlein-Hon/6-8
7. Ben Lamay-Hon/8-6
8. Chris Blose-Kaw/10-7
9. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM/9-9
10. Jared Lesher-KTM/11-11
RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge Results
1. Chris Blose-Kaw/2 points
2. Gavin Faith-Kaw/1 point
3. Austin Stroupe-Hus/1 point
4. Daniel Herrlein-Hon/1 point
5. Gared Steinke-Hus/1 point
6. Steven Mages-Kaw/1 point
7. Jace Owen-Hond/1 point
8. Travis Sewell-KTM/1 point)
2016 AMSOIL Arenacross Series Points Standings
1. Gavin Faith-276/4 main event wins
2. Travis Sewell-265/5 main event wins
3. Jacob Hayes-262/8 main event wins
4. Chris Blose-256/1 main event win
5. Ben Lamay-185
6. Jace Owen-175
7. Gared Steinke-171
8. Daniel Herrlein-148
9. Kyle Regal-130
10. Kyle Bitterman-115
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Main Event
1. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
2. Daniel Herrlein-Hon
3. Sean Cantrell-KTM
4. Scott Zont-KTM
5. Brandon Hartranft-Yam
6. Ramyller Alves-Yam
7. Brandon Marley-KTM
8. Dylan Walker-Hon
9. Scott Meshey-Kaw
10. Dylan Rouse-KTM
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Series Points Standings
1. Daniel Herrlein-105/2 main event wins*
2. Dylan Walker-63
3. Jacob Williamson-49/1 main event win
4. Steve Roman-43
5. Justin Cooper-42
6. Lane Staley-39
7. Tyler McSwain-35
8. Henry Miller-34
9. Sean Cantrell-30
10. Brandon Hartranft-30
*clinched championship
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