Ramette raid at Wembley
By Dick Law on 7th Mar 14
Arenacross Tour Thomas Ramette
The seventh and final round of this years Garmin Arenacross series took place at Londons Wembley Arena on Saturday evening, where an almost capacity crowd saw five new champions crowned after a night of bar-banging no-holds barred racing action.
And MBO Sport Yamaha's Kristian Whatley drove off in a brand-new Honda CRV car for being the highest finishing UK resident in the championship.
The track was more to the riders' liking as it was dry and didn't rut up, but as the night progressed the corners became slippery and caught out even some of the best riders.
All hell broke loose at the start of the first Pro heat as Whatley and Putoline Apico Honda rider, Neville Bradshaw, went up the short straight side-by-side.
Bradshaw made a slight mistake and Whatley was in the lead – but not for long.
Over the whoops Bradshaw came back at Whatley taking the newly-crowned Pro champion, Frenchman Fabien Izoird with him.
But before the lap was over Izoird lost the front end and went down as Whatley drove up the inside of the pair and snatched the lead back – and all that happened in just one lap.
On lap two, and with his team-mate Whatley out in the lead, Australian Daniel McCoy found a way past Bradshaw for second, a position he then held till the end of the race.
Bradshaw hung on to third ahead of Loic Rombaut, with a remounted Izoird fifth.
Carl Nunn got the holeshot at the start of the second Pro heat but was passed by Frenchman Thomas Ramette as Nunn got it a bit sideways going over the whoops for the first time.
Tyler Villopoto had a good start – for a change – and moved up into second place at the end of the opening lap, while Cyrille Coulon quickly moved into third, from sixth off the the start.
On lap three Ross Hill – standing in for the injured Jamie Law on a Dyer and Butler KTM – had a massive crash after the triple, went straight on over the berm and into the trackside fencing.
He was a bit slow getting up, but walked away unaided. Coulon took second place from Villopoto with two laps to remaining, while fiery Angelo Pellegrini pushed Villopoto back to fourth before the end of the race.
Heat three was all about Izoird as he led from start to finish. Whatley did all he could to stay with the Frenchman – who has more Supercross experience, for the opening laps – but failed to hold off Coulon two laps from the flag.
Bradshaw and Steven Clarke – still suffering with a wrist injury – battled over fourth place for most of the race, with Bradshaw eventually having to settle for fifth.
Ramette got the holeshot in the fourth and final heat as McCoy passed fast-starting Chris Bayliss on lap two for second, while Pellegrini charged up through the pack from fifth at the start.
By the time the riders were on their third lap Pellegrini was already in third and closing in on McCoy. The pair have history that went back to round six in Sheffield.
For the next six laps the duo played cat and mouse as Pellegrini did all he could to get past McCoy.
Then, with two laps to go, and as they entered a 360-degree turn, Pellegrini went for a gap that was only half there and dumped McCoy over the berm and effectively out of the race.
Ramette won from Pellegrini, Romain Biela and Rombaut.
Clarke and Nunn transferred to the main event via the LCQ race, with the rest of the riders who didn't make it turning their thoughts to the outdoor season.
The scene was set for the final Main event of the series and although Izoird had already taken the title, racers are racers and they all wanted the win.
The on-form Ramette got the holeshot ahead of Coulon, McCoy, Pellegrini, Whatley and Izoird, but the track was now so slippery that finding an opportunity to effect a pass was difficult – although that didn't stop them trying again and again.
The top three stayed in the same order with only Whatley able to make a pass on Pellegrini for fifth.
The finishing order was Ramette from Coulon, McCoy, Whatley, Pellegrini and Izoird.
However in the final championship standings it was Izoird, from McCoy, Coulon and Rombaut, with Whatley fifth and winning the use of a new car for a year as first UK resident rider.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS MARCH 7
GARMIN UK ARENACROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 (Final) – Wembley Arena, London (e22 Sports)
PRO FINAL: 1 Thomas Ramette (F - Buildbase Honda), 2 Cyrille Coulon (F - SR75 Molson Suzuki), 3 Daniel McCoy (AUS - MBO Sport Yamaha), 4 Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha), 5 Angelo Pellegrini (I - Dave Thorpe ORC Honda), 6 Fabien Izoird (F - Apico LPE Kawasaki), 7 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Putoline Honda), 8 Roman Biela (F - Oakleaf Kawasaki), 9 Steven Clarke (Dyer & Butler KTM), 10 Luke Arbon (AUS - Dave Thorpe ORC Honda), 11 Carl Nunn (SR75 Molson KTM), 12 Loic Rombaut (F - Apico LPE Kawasaki).
PRO LCQ: 1 Clarke, 2 Nunn, 3 Alfie Smith (MVR-D Honda), 4 Chris Bayliss (Shocktech Kawasaki), 5 Todd Kellett (SJ Hodder Honda), 6 Erki Kahro (EST - SJR Kawasaki), 7 Ross Hill (Dyer & Butler KTM), 8 Ashley Greedy (Shocktech Kawasaki), DNF Tyler Villopoto (US - Oakleaf Kawasaki).
PRO HEAT ONE: 1 Whatley, 2 McCoy, 3 Bradshaw, 4 Rombaut, 5 Izoird, 6 Smith, 7 Clarke, 8 Bayliss, 9 Kellett.
PRO HEAT TWO: 1 Ramette, 2 Coulon, 3 Pellegrini, 4 Villopoto, 5 Arbon, 6 Nunn, 7 Biela, 8 Kahro, 9 Greedy.
PRO HEAT THREE: 1 Izoird, 2 Coulon, 3 Whatley, 4 Clarke, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Villopoto, 7 Kellett, 8 Kahro, 9 Hill, 10 Nunn.
PRO HEAT FOUR: 1 Ramette, 2 Pellegrini, 3 Biela, 4 Rombaut, 5 Arbon, 6 Smith, 7 McCoy, 8 Bayliss, 9 Greedy.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Fabien Izoird 135 points (CHAMPION), 2 Daniel McCoy 117, 3 Cyrille Coulon 114, 4 Rombaut 91, 6 Bradshaw 87, 5 Whatley 87, 7 Clarke 86, 8 Pellegrini 78, 9 Banks-Browne 53, 10 Arbon 46, 11 Biela 43, 12 Anderson 32, 13 Ramette 30, 14 Law 29, 15 Bayliss 25,...
JUNIOR 65cc FINAL: 1 Todd Leadbitter (Readypower KTM), 2 Jack Lindsay (Moto Mark KTM), 3 Trystan Williams (Aled Williams KTM), 4 Finn O'Malley (Hamilton Direct KTM), 5 Adam Wells (Little Cheeky Monkeys KTM), 6 Vinnie Spooner (James Wade World Darts KTM), 7 Callum Clarke (Solent Garage KTM), 8 Callum McCall (Action Park KTM), 9 Tyler Etheridge (AES Rescue KTM), 10 Buster Hart (Bikesport KTM), 11 Myles Taylor (Banbury Marquee KTM).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Buster Hart 90 points (CHAMPION), 2 Jack Lindsay 78, 3 Trystan Williams 74, 4 O'Malley 73, 5 Wells 72, 6 Clarke 68, 7 McCall 67, 7 McCall 67, 8 Taylor 60, 9 Sevitt 54, 10 Leadbitter 53,...
SW 85cc FINAL: 1 Kurt Griffiths (Signature Homes KTM), 2 Preston Williams (MJW Kawasaki), 3 Ben Burridge (Honda), 4 Ryan Thomson (Drysdale KTM), 5 Adam Collings (Vega Solutions KTM), 6 Rossi Beard (KTM), 7 Kelton Gwyther (JG Bricklaying KTM), 8 Liam Brosnan (KTM), 9 George Simpson (Deejay Groundworks KTM), 10 Ben White (White Transport KTM), 11 Kyai Bailey (KTM), 12 Lewis Jay Hall (Team Green Kawasaki).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Ben Burridge 98 points (CHAMPION), 2 Kurt Griffiths 89, 3 Preston Williams 79, 4 Collings 79, 5 Thomson 75, 6 Hall 74, 7 Mundell 74, 7 Mundell 74, 8 Gwyther 55, 9 Brosnan 54, 10 White 48,...
BW 85cc FINAL: 1 Marcus Phelps (Intertherm KTM), 2 Aaron Booker (Oner Racing KTM), 3 Dylan Woodcock (Team Green Kawasaki), 4 Brett Pocock (KTM), 5 Harry Kimber (Hardcore KTM), 6 Charlie Caudwell (422 Racing Honda), 7 Harry Wieczorek (Honda), 8 Joshua Hartwell (KTM).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Marcus Phelps 98 points (CHAMPION), 2 Aaron Booker 96, 3 Harry Kimber 86, 4 Perfect 77, 5 Caudwell 64, 6 Vickers 54, 7 Etchells 47, 8 Fisher 42, 9 Claughan 41, 10 Wieczorek 32,...
ROOKIE FINAL: 1 Mitchell Lewis (MX World Honda), 2 Ben Harrison (Romwy Kawasaki), 3 Charlie Putnam (Passion Kawasaki), 4 Joe Clayton (Wheeldon ORC Honda), 5 Joele Hart (Bikesport KTM), 6 Nicholas Phelps (Intertherm KTM).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Todd Kellett 100 points (CHAMPION), 2 Mitchell Lewis 87, 3 Joe Clayton 83, 4 Harrison 83, 5 Thomas 66, 6 Phelps 64, 7 Benton 63, 7 Benton 63, 8 Putnam 60, 9 Richardson 57, 10 Hart 57,...
