Fab’s Dan buster
By Dick Law on 31st Jan 14
Frenchman Fabien Izoird (LPE Kawasaki) tightened his grip the 2014 Arenacross series with victory in round three in front of a massive crowd at the LG Arena in Birmingham on Saturday evening.
But Izoird didn't have it all his own way in an an action-packed event as the quiet Australian, Daniel McCoy (MBO Sport Yamaha), just keeps getting better and better.
He led the main event for all but the last two laps and is now in second place in the championship table.
What a spectacle the e22 Sports crew put on for the fans with the multicoloured lights, lazers, loud music, freestyle motocross and race after race of close, no-holds-barred racing action over four hours.
Elliott Banks-Browne (Buildbase Honda) was the fastest Pro rider overall after qualifying, with McCoy second, Izoird third and McCoy's team-mate and British outdoor champion, Kristian Whatley, fourth.
But, as usual in Arenacross the top 11 were separated by less then a second.
As at the first two rounds there were four qualifying heats and each rider took part in two of them, before the top ten points scorers went through to the Main event, joined by the first two finishers in the LCQ race.
In heat one Izoird got the holeshot from Neville Bradshaw, with Cyrille Coulon third ahead of Banks-Browne fourth and – not for the want of trying – that is the order they finished in.
Local rider, Steven Clarke, got the holeshot at the start of heat two as Ashley Greedy and Tyler Villopoto went down together in turn one.
It was looking so good for Clarke until, at half distance, he got it all wrong in the whoops and went down hard on his own, handing the lead to McCoy.
Despite numerous attempts to pass, the Aussie rider managed to hold off Loic Rombaut for the win, as a disappointed Clarke finished fourth.
It was a French lock-out in heat three as LPE Kawasaki teamsters Rombaut and Izoird fought it out for the top two places. Compatriot Coulon finished third, with Angelo Pellegrini fourth and fancied runner Clarke struggling from a bad start to finish seventh.
The fourth and final heat was all about the MBO Sport Yamaha team as Whatley and McCoy went one and two, with Romain Biela third.
Bradshaw was the fastest of the MX2 machines in fourth.
Clarke just made it through to the Main by winning the hard-fought four-lap LCQ race ahead of Brad Anderson, with Jamie Law just missing out of progressing to the Main in third.
Izoird gained himself four more championship points by winning the Head-to-Head from team-mate Rombaut, with Whatley third after beating team-mate McCoy in a run-off.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX JANUARY 31
GARMIN UK ARENACROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – LG Arena, The NEC, Birmingham (e22 Sports)
PRO FINAL: 1 Fabien Izoird (F - LPE Kawasaki), 2 Daniel McCoy (AUS - MBO Sport Yamaha), 3 Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha), 4 Cyrille Coulon (F - SR75 Molson Suzuki), 5 Loic Rombaut (F - LPE Kawasaki), 6 Roman Biela (F - Oakleaf Kawasaki), 7 Angelo Pellegrini (I - Dave Thorpe ORC Honda), 8 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Putoline Honda), 9 Steven Clarke (Dyer & Butler KTM), 10 Brad Anderson (Buildbase Honda), 11 Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki), (DNF) Elliott Banks-Browne (Buildbase Honda).
PRO LCQ: 1 Clarke, 2 Anderson, 3 Jamie Law (Dyer & Butler KTM), 4 Ed Allingham (Pendrich Kawasaki), 5 Alfie Smith (MVR-D Honda), 6 Tyler Villopoto (US - Oakleaf Kawasaki), 7 Ashley Greedy (Shocktech Kawasaki), 8 James Harrison (Putoline Honda), 9 Erki Karo (EST - SJR Kawasaki), 10 Luke Arbon (AUS - Dave Thorpe ORC Honda), 11 Jason Dougan (MVR-D Honda), 12 Ryan Voase (SJR Kawasaki), 13 Carl Nunn (SR75 Molson KTM).
PRO HEAT ONE: 1 Izoird, 2 Bradshaw, 3 Coulon, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Pellegrini, 6 Biela, 7 Arbon, 8 Anderson, 9 Law, 10 Allingham, 11 Karo, 12 Voase.
PRO HEAT TWO: 1 McCoy, 2 Rombaut, 3 Whatley, 4 Clarke, 5 MacKenzie, 6 Nunn, 7 Dougan, 8 Villopoto, 9 Greedy, 10 Smith, 11 Harrison.
PRO HEAT THREE: 1 Rombaut, 2 Izoird, 3 Coulon, 4 Pellegrini, 5 Law, 6 Arbon, 7 Clarke, 8 Smith, 9 Nunn, 10 Karo, 11 Villopoto.
PRO HEAT FOUR: 1 Whatley, 2 McCoy, 3 Biela, 4 Bradshaw, 5 Banks-Browne, 6 MacKenzie, 7 Anderson, 8 Dougan, 9 Greedy, 10 Harrison, 11 Voase, 12 Allingham.
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 7) rounds: 1 Izoird 66 points, 2 McCoy 52, 3 Clarke 51, 4 Rombaut 47, 6 Coulon 42, 5 Whatley 43, 7 Bradshaw 35, 8 Banks-Browne 29, 9 Anderson 28, 10 Law 22, 11 MacKenzie 21, 12 Pellegrini 16, 13 Biela 13, 14 Arbon 12, 15 Harrison 10,...
