Arenacross breaking news: Coulon disqualified from London main event
By TMX Archives on 2nd Mar 16
Arenacross Tour Cyrille Coulon
The MCF has now had the opportunity to view all of the footage from the final Arenacross event at the SSE Arena, Wembley staged on Saturday night February 27.
The reason for the post-event investigation in to the Main Event confirmed results was due to it not always being possible to witness every incident on the track throughout every lap. We therefore have relied upon viewing our filmed footage to make our final decisions.
Roy Barton, General Manager of the MC Federation has made it clear that action needed to be taken. "In the final Pro rider Main Event, SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki's Cyrille Coulon (5) rode in to Geartec Yamaha's Cedric Soubeyras (120) with the clear intention to take down the rider. The potential outcome being that Soubeyras would not able to finish the race.
"We feel that most other incidents that occurred during the race, although harsh, did not contain the same intent. However, the retaliation shown by Soubeyras against Coulon's team mate, Thomas Ramette was justification for his immediate elimination from the race. With the facts now available, we have made the decision to also disqualify Coulon from the Main Event”. Barton continued;
"I fully appreciate that all racing incidents and the resulting disciplinary actions are a matter of opinion. Whilst I realise that due to the nature of the tight race tracks, Arenacross involves far closer racing than on a normal outdoor Motocross track, our duty as a regulatory body is to ensure the safety of riders and punish actions we believe to be dangerous riding.”
Commenting on the decision, Series promoter Matt Bates said; "I would like to make one point very clear; Saturday night at Wembley was nothing short of electric and I wouldn't want anything to stand in the way of that, but I do also realise that some of these boys needed a bit of a ticking-off”. Bates further said; "The series has been amazing and I'm proud to think that it means so much to these young men to win. However, we all have to realise that they are young and talented individuals who are racing on the edge and get caught up in the heat of the moment.
"My personal opinion is that making a rational racing decision isn't always going to prevail. I think the MCF has made the right decision as we don't feel there's any need to alter the overall winner of the Championship.”
The disqualification of Coulon from the Main Event promotes the UK's Adam Chatfield of Buildbase Honda to third overall in the final Monster Energy Arenacross standings. "I was really chuffed to get the win on Saturday,” said a delighted Chatfield. "At London I just kept my head together and stayed out of trouble. The series didn't start too well for me, but it all came together in the final three rounds. To now find out I also finished third in the championship is great news.”
In conclusion Bates said; "I'd like to draw a line under this now and reflect on the success of the Tour and how Arenacross has yet again delivered in taking Motocross to the masses in a very entertaining way”.
