UK Arenacross Rd 4 - Birmingham
By Sean Lawless on 28th Jan 15
Down and seemingly out in Belfast the week before, Adam Chatfield produced a gutsy performance in Birmingham on Saturday night to win the Main Event at round four of the 2015 Arenacross Tour.
The 27-year-old CBR Racing Honda rider ran 2-1 in his heats, finished third in the head-to-head races and then battered his way to victory in the Main Event with a pretty much faultless display of precision racing.
Chatfield winning an AX Main Event is hardly a surprise – he was the Pro champion in 2013 and won round two of this year's tour on the first night of a double-header in Northern Ireland – but given the circumstances it was a remarkable performance.
In morning practice for round three at Belfast's Odyssey Arena he went down hard in the whoops and broke two ribs,punctured a lung and ended up spending two nights in hospital. So in the run up to the fourth round at the Genting Arena there wasn't even a question mark hanging over his appearance – he flat-out wasn't riding. Only he was...
"When I was in hospital I thought I didn't have a chance, I thought that the series was over,” said Adam. "But I recovered really quickly. My ribs hurt and I was in a bit of pain but I just wanted to try it. I didn't even decide to race until Friday afternoon.
"I can't believe how it turned out to be honest. It's unbelievable – it went really well, I rode really well. It's a miracle really. I've missed a round but anything can happen – I came here just to get some points but ended up winning it which I totally didn't expect.
"The championship's still alive – the level here's really high and it's really, really close but there are still a lot of races to go and I think I've got a good chance of winning. Next stop's Newcastle so I'm going to rest all week and hopefully do the same again.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX JANUARY 29 (ISSUE 1956)
