Arenacross ground zero!
The Frenchies
Arenacross always delivers on entertainment, especially when it comes to racing. Year after year we witness some of the most intense motorsport racing you’ll ever see as athletes go handlebar to handlebar and often beyond with physical contact. Never has this been more highlighted than the final showdown for the 2016 championship between Frenchmen Thomas Ramette and Cedric Soubeyras.
With the championship on the line in the final race of the tour, Thomas Ramette’s teammate Cyril Coulon played his part in making sure Ramette took the title by punting his championship rival Soubeyras with the force of a wrecking ball, putting him down on the dirt and handing the title to Thomas in arguably the most dramatic final in the 10 years of Arenacross.
Fair to say tensions were running high and the atmosphere was electric in Wembley arena that night! Enough to rival any major sporting event with the majority of the crowd on their feet.
Naked Attraction
Sport always delivers drama and the unexpected and Arenacross is one of the best at doing so. As much as the racing is intense there’s always moments during the tour where there’s time to laugh and enjoy the moment for what it is.
One of the funniest moments in AX history is when the tour had its first and only streaker make their way onto the arena floor for their shot at the limelight. Thankfully, it was only a half streak, and the fella kept his jeans on, what with it being a family show and all! For many who were there, it wasn’t necessarily the streak that was memorable, but more the way he was ‘politely’ asked to leave the arena. As it had never happened before, show director Matt Bates didn’t react immediately and actually thought it was quite funny, as did the crowd, but with a show to be getting on with after a minute or so, Matt decided it was time to remove him. After a couple of half-hearted, failed attempts by the AX track crew, up step one of our staff members, Neil Hawker.
For those who were on comms with Matt, it will always be a memorable moment when Matt’s instructions come across.
Take him down Neil!
And with that, like a trained robot assassin, Neil sprung to the command and ran at him like a raging bull, taking him down with a perfectly executed tackle any Rugby international would be waxing lyrical about, much to the amusement of all the staff and crowd. It was so good, deep down, even the streaker himself must’ve appreciated the timing and technique.
*Please don’t consider being AX’s second streak! Security is now much tighter, and you will be escorted from the building.
Searle vs. Mewse
We’ve seen some awesome riders and amazing battles at Arenacross. Arguably one of the best, especially for the British motocross fans, was the battle for the championship in 2023 between Tommy Searle and Conrad Mewse. It was the first time that both riders had committed to racing the full championship and both really wanted to be the champ, but like the movie ‘Highlander’ there can only be one…and it was Tommy Searle who won the fight. He was pushed hard by Conrad, in fact a little bit too hard when the pair collided, and both crashed in a corner at Aberdeen when Mewse charged up the inside. For the rest of the tour, there was a bit of tension in the air between the two, even though they were good friends, and it just amped up the atmosphere of the whole tour on the run-in. It was the first time it was a ‘British’ championship, and the vibe in the paddock was really good, with all the riders knowing each other so well.
SOUUUUUBSSSS
When a rider as good as Cedric Soubeyras enters the Arenacross championship, you’d expect him to jump straight in and be the champion in his first attempt, but that wasn’t the case for ‘Soub’.
2016 was his first stab at it, racing for the Geartec Yamaha team but as we’ve already highlighted that didn’t go to plan with that epic finale at Wembley. He returned the following year looking for redemption on the RFX/St.Blazey Suzuki but came up short yet again. However, it was the third time a charm for Soub in 2018 when Lady Luck aligned with his obvious talent, and he took the title racing for the Fro Systems/Mark McCann team.
The Youngsters
As good as the pro riders are and awesome to watch and are effectively the headliners of Arenacross, the championship wouldn’t be what it is without the youth and amateur classes and FMX riders also giving it their all.
One of the proudest moments in AX history was the introduction of the all electric racing class in 2016 with Kuberg when electric off road bikes were in their infancy. By the time we reached 2023 and came out of the other side of the Covid pandemic electric bikes had advanced and the KTM Group had the E3 and E5 kids electric motocross bikes on the market. So Arenacross got together with them and the E5 class was introduced with their range of KTM, Gas Gas and Husqvarna bikes with young kids having their first taste of Arenacross like mini pro riders. The bikes were taken to each round where regional riders were selected to ride, leading to the final at Wembley.
Electric Avenue
Seeing the evolution of Electric bikes and the next generation of racers racing Arenacross on them has been cool, but for the championship to be part of the history made by Stark Future Racing was on another level.
It was the first time an adult electric bike had been given permission to race with fuel-powered off-road motorcycles, and in the hands of Englishman Jack Brunell, it took the title. It has to be put down as a memorable moment because of its significance. Like them or loathe them, there’s no doubt we’ll be seeing more electric-powered bikes racing in Arenacross and Motocross going forward, and for Stark Future Racing, it was a huge deal and statement of intent to win the 2024 Arenacross title. In what feels like such a short space of time in the grand scheme of things, they’ve produced an incredible motorcycle that most people just didn’t think would be in the running to challenge a petrol-powered bike, especially at high-end professional racing.
We’re not meant to have favourites but…
So too will Jack Brunell! What a journey the last decade has been for the loveable Brunell.
Unlike most of the UK’s top motocross talent Jack decided to focus on indoor racing and Supercross early on in his career. With his dad Melvyn at his side, they would often travel from their home in Windsor either over or under the English Channel to try and make the grade against Europe’s elite indoor racing specialist, and little by little, that’s exactly what Jack has done.
He’d been chasing down the Arenacross title for the full ten years of it’s inception so to finally see him get it done was special, even more so due to the significance of him finally receiving full factory support from Stark Future Racing and making history for them as well as his own.
Our pocket rockets!
As much as the racing is exciting and unpredictable and gets you on the edge of your seat Arenacross wouldn’t be the same without the FMX riders. They get the party started each and every time and always deliver high energy performances to more than keep up their side of the deal. There’s been so many memorable moments from the FMX crew over the last decade. From seeing the likes of Andre Villa and Chris Birch being the first to back flip their motorcycles in the early days, Edgar Torrontares throwing out insane whips and performing his robot beatboxing through to the evolution of our best UK FMX riders like Jamie Squibb and the Bolddog team of Dan Whitby, Aaron Powley, Samson Eaton and now Josh Morris it’s brilliant to watch both FMX and all these guys evolve at Arenacross these past ten years.
Particularly Josh Morris, who is back in ??? Was “Max” the man in our AX mascot costume
YOU GUYS
Highlighted most by when a young kid called Jordan Kinsella came walking down the front row after one of the Belfast rounds and called me over to tell me how much he loved it and he’d never been to an Arenacross before and how he’d love to be out there racing one day, even though he’d never ridden a motorcycle. Three years later he was lining up behind the start gate inside the very same arena in front of 5,000 plus fans. Another memorable moment in a decade full of them.
