RESULTS: Arenacross Tour 2019 set for epic clash of the titans finale tonight at Sheffield FlyDSA Arena

Arenacross Tour 2019 fans are set for an epic clash of titans tonight at Sheffield FlyDSA Arena with the sport's top two stars Cedric Soubeyras and Greg Aranda level on points after the first of two nights of high octane action.
Pro AX podium [l-r] Escoffier, Soubeyras, ArandaPro AX podium [l-r] Escoffier, Soubeyras, Aranda
Pro AX podium [l-r] Escoffier, Soubeyras, Aranda

The main protagonists in the Pro AX championship, Soubeyras (FRO Systems) and Aranda (Team Green Kawasaki) line up for the 2019 Main Event Super Final with 67 points apiece and everything to go for.

Full report and results from last night - Friday, February 15 - below.

BUY TICKETS: For remaining Arenacross Tour tickets, including VIP rider meet and greets, enquire and buy in person from the Arena Box Office, call 0114 256 5656 or visit www.flydsaarena.co.uk.

The Arenacross Tour – the UK’s fastest-growing indoor Motocross race contest – takes the spectacular elements of outdoor racing on to purpose-built indoor jump-infested dirt tracks.

With a killer mix of all-action racing and gravity-defying Freestyle Motocross, pyrotechnics and lasers, set to a pumping soundtrack, this is a non-stop, three-hour white-knuckle ride featuring some of the world’s best Arenacross and Freestyle Motocross riders.

There’s a sense of déjà vu sweeping across the Arenacross Pro paddock as the Tour heads into its Grand Finale and super showdown tonight Saturday, February 16. Doors are 6pm, with the opening ceremony getting underway at 7.30pm.

Petr Pilat in high flying actionPetr Pilat in high flying action
Petr Pilat in high flying action

Firing off the start line last night, Valentin Teillet (SR75 Suzuki) continued his morning charge and held the lead until around half-race distance.

But, with Adrien Escoffier (Buildbase Honda), Soubeyras and Aranda hot on his heels, the Suzuki man had his work cut out. Escoffier made a move to the front, swiftly followed by Soubeyras and Aranda.

Aranda made quick work of getting out front, and he and Soubeyras instantly pulled away and got stuck into their own race.

Aranda was driven, but the reigning AX champ wasn’t about to give up.

Martin Barr and Cedric Soubeyras battle it outMartin Barr and Cedric Soubeyras battle it out
Martin Barr and Cedric Soubeyras battle it out

As the race approached the last few laps, the pressure was on and Soubeyras couldn’t afford to let Aranda get away.

They touched and went down on the last lap, within sight of the final corner and chequered flag. Soubeyras was the first to recover, leaving Aranda to remount behind Escoffier and finish third.

That pivotal clash, means that Aranda and Soubeyras leave the penultimate round tying on points, paving the way for another tense and epic Arenacross Grand Finale.

Last night's show swung into life with a heady mix of lights, music and enough attitude to rival a pack of argumentative teenagers.

Rookie action as Zane Stephens gets the holeshot ahead of #100 Isaac AshRookie action as Zane Stephens gets the holeshot ahead of #100 Isaac Ash
Rookie action as Zane Stephens gets the holeshot ahead of #100 Isaac Ash

The Fix Auto FMX crew of Dan Whitby, Samson Eaton, Arran Powley, Nez Parker and Petr Pilat, set the tone for the three-hour extravangaza with a series of ‘outta sight’ tricks, flips and whips, whilst the Tour hosts Matt Crowhurst and Jeff Perrett stirred the cheering Sheffield audience into a frenzy.

Mexican waves, t-shirt cannons, spot prizes, star guests and Supercross2 e-gaming all added to the festival atmosphere, prior to the Pro riders getting down to fast, and sometimes dirty, business.

The Pro 450 and Pro Lites Main Events were largely uneventful, and the usual suspects at the top of the leaderboard.

The notable difference to the norm was that 18-year-old Dylan Woodcock, who flew back to the UK from America specially to join the Shocktech Kawasaki at the eleventh hour, took a hard-fought fourth place in the Pro Lites to secure a well-deserved automatic place in the Main Event Super Final.

He joined fellow Brits Adam Chatfield (Buildbase Honda) and Matt Bayliss (Wooldridge Demolition) from the Pro 450 class, on the Super Final starting grid.

Prior to the Main Event Super Final, Head-to-Head supremo Ashley Greedy, left the opposition in his wake as he claimed his third H2H win.

The rest of the field went into the Last Chance Qualifier to fit it out for the vital three remaining places; Portuguese Graca Diogo (Castrol Power1 Suzuki), Julien Lebeau (Wooldridge Demolition) and another Brit James Dunn (Castrol Power1 Suzuki) took the honours.

FULL RESULTS BELOW

The fifth round of the Arenacross Tour witnessed plenty of action across all youth classes on Friday night, with all riders battling away to secure vital points and boost their all-important championship positions.

The first race of the Rookie Cup, a class for teenage riders that sit between the youth and Pro groups, saw a surprise result in the opening race, with championship leader and hot favourite Ben Clayton having to settle for second behind an ever-improving Adam Collings.

The tables were turned in favour of the Devonshire lad though in the evening public show, when Clayton grabbed the holeshot and led from start to finish.

It wasn’t made easy for him as he had Collings closing him down, whilst further back German compatriots Carl Ostermann and Max Lausch had a tussle of their own with Ostermann emerging the victor.

The Team Green Supermini Cup too was turned upside down a little in the morning race when championship contender Alfie Jones finished fourth behind championship leader Raife Broadley, Ethan Sills and an on-form Boston Gilbert.

In front of an enthusiastic night-time crowd, the trio of Jones, Sills and Broadley put on a great display of race skill and tactics.

Jones took a gate to flag win, but Sills was all over him, wringing everything out of his Kawasaki in an effort to get past the leader, whilst holding Broadley at bay. Jones won the race but, thanks to his pair of seconds, Sills took the overall and moved up to 11 points behind Broadley in the championship.

Over in the youngest race group, the Youth 65s, Isaac Ash, from Chudleigh, was on fire, winning both races with a considerable margin, doubling jumps and proving to be unstoppable. Championship leaders Zane Stephens and Freddie Bartlett were second and third in the first race but, in the second, Stephens hit the start gate and was held back whilst the rest of the pack tore away.

Underlining the determination of these young racing warriors, Stephens raced through the field to finish in a creditable fourth and keep his championship hopes alive by a slender one point over Bartlett who, in turn, is just six points ahead of Ash.

Local rider, from Sheffield, Ethan Jordan posted impressive seventh and ninth place finishes in his first-ever Arenacross race event.

With so much to fight for – on the race track at least – tonight's Grand Finale at The FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield, is set to be a belter.

RESULTS FRIDAY, FEB 15, 2019:

Main Event 1

Pro Lites

1. #1 Cedric Soubeyras, FRO Systems, 15 points

2. #737 Valentin Teillet, SR75 Suzuki, 13

3. #744 Diogo Graca, Castrol Power 1 Suzuki, 11

4. #260 Dylan Woodcock, Shocktech Kawasaki, 9

5. #6 Adrien Escoffier, Buildbase Honda, 8

6. #1 Joe Clayton, Team Green Kawasaki, 7

Pro 450

1. #20 Greg Aranda, Team Green Kawasaki, 15 points

2. #3 Charles Le Francois, SR75 Suzuki, 13

3. #9 Adam Chatfield, Buildbase Honda, 11

4. #33 Ashley Greedy, FRO Systems, 9

5. #25 Florent Richier, Shocktech Kawasaki, 8

6. #17 Matt Bayliss, Wooldridge Demolition, 7

Main Event 2

Pro Lites

1. #1 Cedric Soubeyras, FRO Systems, 15 points

2. #737 Valentin Teillet, SR75 Suzuki, 13

3. #6 Adrien Escoffier, Buildbase Honda, 11

4. #259 Julien Lebeau, Wooldridge Demolition, 9

5. 1x Joe Clayton, Team Green Kawasaki, 8

6. #260 Dylan Woodcock, Shocktech Kawasaki, 7

Pro 450

1. #20 Greg Aranda, Team Green Kawasaki, 15 points

2. #3 Charles Le Francois, SR75 Suzuki, 13

3. #9 Adam Chatfield, Buildbase Honda, 11

4. #17 Matt Bayliss, Wooldridge Demolition, 9

5. #64 Nique Thury, FRO Systems, 8

6. #25 Florent Richier, Shocktech Kawasaki, 7

Pro AX Main Event Super Final

1. #1 Cedric Soubeyras, FRO Systems, 15 points

2. #6 Adrien Escoffier, Buildbase Honda, 13

3. #20 Greg Aranda, Team Green Kawasaki, 11

4. #737 Valentin Teillet, SR75 Suzuki, 9

5. #3 Charles Le Francois, SR75 Suzuki, 8

6, #9 Adam Chatfield, Buildbase Honda, 7

Championship

Pro Lites

1. #1 Cedric Soubeyras, 215 points

2. #737 Valentin Teillet, 157

3. #6 Adrien Escoffier, 138

4. #259 Julien Lebeau, 121

5. #10 Joe Clayton, 87

6. #744 Diogo Graca, 81

Pro 450

1. #20 Greg Aranda, 215 points

2. #3 Charles Le Francois, 159

3. #64 Nique Thury, 102

4. #4 Fabien Izoird, 93

5. #9 Adam Chatfield, 87

6. #33 Ashley Greedy, 79

Pro AX Championship

1. #1 Cedric Soubeyras, 67 points

2. #20 Greg Aranda, 67

3. #737 Valentin Teillet, 40

4. #6 Adrien Escoffier, 37

5. #3 Charles Lefrancois, 33

6. #4 Fabien Izoird, 30

7. #259 Julien Lebeau, 27

8. #64 Nique Thury, 24

9. #10 Jack Brunell, 17

10. #33 Ashley Greedy, 16

Pro Team Championship

1. Team FRO Systems, 317 points

2. SR75 Suzuki, 316

3. Team Green Kawasaki, 302

4. Buildbase Honda, 212

5. Wooldridge Demolition, 197

6. Shocktech Kawasaki, 181

7. Castrol Power 1 Suzuki, 121

ROOKIE CLASS RESULTS

Race 1

Rookie Cup

1. #48 Adam Collings, 15 points

2. #11 Ben Clayton, 13

3. #10 Carl Ostermann, 11

4. #5 Max Lausch, 9

5. #33 Josh Greedy, 8

6. #22 Ben Burridge, 7

Team Green Supermini Cup

1. #9 Raife Broadley, 15 points

2. #11 Ethan Sills, 13

3. #6 Boston Gilbert, 11

4. #4 Alfie Jones, 9

5. #10 Charlie Palmer, 8

6. #14 Tye Jones, 7

Youth 65 Cup

1. #100 Isaac Ash, 15 points

2. #80 Zane Stephens, 13

3. # 292 Freddie Bartlett, 11

4. #184 Jamie Keith, 9

5. #94 Alfie Osborn, 8

6. #21 Lewis Spratt, 7

Race 2

Rookie Cup

1. #11Ben Clayton, 15 points

2. #48 Adam Collings, 13

3. #10 Carl Osterman, 11

4. #33 Josh Greedy, 9

5. #5 Max Lausch, 8

6. #369 Axel Boldrini, 7

Team Green Supermini Cup

1. #4 Alfie Jones, 15 points

2. #11 Ethan Sills, 13

3. #9 Raife Broadley, 11

4. #10 Charlie Palmer, 9

5. #Boston Gilbert, 8

6. #Tye Jones, 7

Youth 65 Cup

1. #100 Isaac Ash, 15 points

2. #292 Freddie Bartlett, 13

3. #184 Jamie Keith, 11

4. #80 Zane Stephens, 9

5. #810 Sebastian Moore, 8

6. #94 Alfie Osborn, 7

CHAMPIONSHIP

Rookie Cup

1. #11 Ben Clayton, 144 points

2. #48 Adam Collings, 119

3. #10 Carl Osterman, 104

4. #33 Josh Greedy, 102

5. #22 Ben Burridge, 67

6. #338 Ben White, 50

Team Green Supermini Cup

1. #9 Raife Broadley, 127 points

2.# 4 Alfie Jones, 122

3. #11 Ethan Sills, 116

4. #7 Tom Harris, 84

5. #10 Charlie Palmer, 84

6. #1 Jaygo Beasty, 68

Youth 65 Cup

1. #80 Zane Stephens, 126 points

2. #292 Freddie Bartlett, 125

3. #100 Isaac Ash, 109

4. #184 Jamie Keith, 77

5. #53 Ben Casey, 54

6. #21 Lewis Spratt, 50