Armor Vision / St. Blazey Honda’s Dean Wilson tightened his grip on the Arenacross ACU British championship in Belfast this past weekend by dominating rounds three and four of the tour in emphatic style.
Wilson topped qualifying on both days and won five out of the six races he lined up in, with a third in his first heat race for round three on Friday the one that got away from him. Regards of overall wins in the Arenacross ACU British championship, the Scot has so far gone unbeaten and with two rounds remaining will no doubt want to put together a perfect championship score as looks to win his first British title.
However, ‘Deano’ will know he’ll be kept on his toes all the way to the end of the tour by Conrad Mewse (Crendon Tru7 Honda Racing) who once again pushed him to the chequered flag in both finals as the two of them continue to set the bar that little out of reach of the others. With his third consecutive second place finish Mewse now moves up to third in the championship after missing round one with a shoulder injury, but sits 34 points behind Wilson.
Arguably the highlight across the two rounds of racing in Belfast was Martin Barr’s podium finish on the Friday night that felt like it lifted the roof of the SSE Arena. The Apico Factory Racing Honda rider sent the partisan crowd wild with delight with a solid ride in his home country and judging by his own reaction probably surprised himself. Never has there been a more popular third place finish in Arenacross history.
Unfortunately, for Martin he couldn’t repeat his performance on the Saturday night after a coming together with Adam Chatfield resulted with him getting punted off the track early in the final. Chatfield (S.Briggs Honda) went on to finish sixth in Saturday’s final after getting fifth the night before which gave him enough points to hold onto second in the championship, just two points ahead of Mewse.
2023 Champion, Tommy Searle, made up for the disappointment of being taken out of Friday’s final in a first turn pile up with a solid bounce back ride on the Saturday on his Dirt Store Triumph 250 to take another third placed finish. As the only 250cc rider in the class Tommy is making a great account of himself and the new Triumph and has pulled more than his fair share of holeshots during the tour.
Reigning champion Jack Brunell showed his fighting spirit as he tries to get some momentum moving for him and his Stark Future Racing team’s championship defence. After dislocating his thumb in an off-track incident just before round two in Wembley, where he reached out to stop his bike falling over, he ground out a fourth on both nights to move him up to fifth in the championship and tied on points with Tommy Searle.
As is so often the case, the youth and amateur classes held up their side of the bargain in Belfast with some incredible race action that had the crowd on the edge of their seat. In the ‘Mini’ class Mason Straddon maintained his championship lead across the two rounds after responding to Cameron Berry’s win on the Friday by taking the victory on the Saturday as the pair went toe to toe, dominating the top two spots. Three appears to be the magic number for Frank Bishop as he made it three third place finishes on the spin to maintain his third place in the championship, John Slade continues to lead the ‘Supermini’ class by a slender seven points over George Cherry, whilst comfortably leading the small wheel championship incorporated into the Supermini class. Again, the two of them traded paint and wins over the two days with Slade taking Friday’s round three overall win before Cherry bounced back on Saturday. Oliver Williams again made it on to the podium, this time coming in second at both rounds to put him in the equation 17 points off Slade and seven behind Cherry. Louis McGee was the only other rider to make the podium with his best ride of the tour coming in third on the Friday.
In the hotly contested ‘Futures’ 125cc class it was status quo at the top with Issac Ash and Harry Lee again trading wins. Lee took victory on Friday, with series leader Ash retaliating on the Saturday to maintain his eight-point lead. Northern Ireland’s Lewis Sprat led laps and got the locals up out of their seats but a few mistakes and over exuberance cost him but he still soaked up the appreciation rounding off the podium in third for both nights.
The battle for the amateur title is also getting spicy as Louis Brookes and Raife Broadley continue to trade blows. Brookes extended his championship lead on Friday night’s round three, taking the win ahead of Broadley. Then Raife responded by turning the tables and taking the win the following night ahead Louis and Adam Wells who put in two solid rides over the two rounds to get third on both nights, putting him third in the championship. The gap at the top between Brookes and Broadley is just three points, so expect more excitement and quality racing from the amateur class next time out.
The Arenacross ACU British championship tour now moves back across the Irish Sea to Scotland for round five this coming weekend with ‘the Granite City’ of Aberdeen hosting the event at the brilliant P&J Live Arena. If rounds three and four at Belfast are anything to go by expect more twists and turns as the drama of Arenacross continues.
All results from all rounds of the Arenacross ACU British championship and AX World Tour can be found here.
https://speedhive.mylaps.com/organizations/536086
For more information, event tickets or to purchase varying live stream packages go to www.axworldtour.com
