CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
By TMX Archives on 4th Mar 15
Rampant Ramette hands out the hurt at Wembley AX showdown
The 2015 Arenacross Tour rolled into Wembley Arena last Saturday night for the eighth and final round of the series that's toured the country for the last two months, playing to sell-out crowds in some of the UK's biggest venues.
The Pro class was WFO with Thomas Ramette (SR75 Molson Suzuki) and Florent Richier (LPE Racing Kawasaki) heading into the nation's capital separated by just six points. With double points up for grabs the title chase looked set to be a fight to the death between the pair of feisty Frenchmen but, as we've seen so often in the series, the tight confines of an AX track can throw up all manner of shocks.
The first points-paying races came in the series of head-to-head one-lappers and it was Ramette who drew first blood when Richier slipped off in the final after former champ Adam Chatfield (CBR ASA Honda) had beaten Cyrille Coulon (SR75 Molson Kawasaki) in the run-off for third. The win stretched Ramette's lead out to eight points with just the Main Event left to run.
Ramette and Richier both enjoyed a smooth passage to the final, Ramette going 1-3 in his heat races and Richier 2-1. But Richier's evening was just about to get turned upside down. Literally. As the gate dropped on the Pro class and the 12 riders charged into the first turn he went down and, unable to continue, that was the championship pretty much decided.
Italian Angelo Pellegrini grabbed his second win of the series but Ramette was happy to sit behind him all the way to the flag to secure the 2015 AX title. Loic Rombaut (LPE Racing Kawasaki) came home third from Coulon who helped make it a double celebration for the SR75 Molson outfit which added the team title to the individual crown.
For SR75 Molson main man Geoff Walker, a long-term contributor to TMX's sister title DBR, winning the two big prizes is a fitting reward for the effort he's put into the AX series since the get-go. Understandably, he was delighted with the outcome...
"I am feeling incredibly proud,” said the big Irishman, "and emotionally overwhelmed with the support and messages I have had from the people who truly know what I am all about and how much this means to me personally as well as my family, crew, sponsors and of course my amazing riders.
"Everything revolves around the concept of team and what this means to me.
"We operate with incredible pro riders in Cyrille and Thomas who offer only positives to every aspect of what we work to achieve with what I can get together as a package to go racing.
"In this entire series our spirit was never touched as what matters to me in this team and life in general is strength and the ability to get on with it no matter what. Having good people around makes an unstoppable force as a team irrespective of the results as with everyone involved giving 100 percent for 100 percent of the time – nothing more is possible whether we win or lose.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, MARCH 5, 2015 (ISSUE 1961)
