Jean Turner | January 18, 2016
The AMSOIL Arenacross Championship continued over the weekend, this time visiting the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland for the first double-header of the season. Once again, Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy AMSOIL Kawasaki dominated the field, with Chris Blose and Jacob Hayes taking the Baltimore Arenacross victories over the weekend.
Night one in Baltimore starred Blose, who fired the first shot of the weekend by taking the first main event win. Blose captured the holeshot and ran away with the lead. He was nearly caught by his hard-charging teammate Gavin Faith, but Faith ran out of time and had to settle for second. Blue Buffalo Yamaha’s Benny Bloss had a great ride, carding his career-first podium finish after running down Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Kyle Regal for third-place.
The luck of the draw turned up the “full inversion” card, meaning the gate picks were reversed for the second main event. This time around, Woodstock KTM’s Travis Sewell grabbed the holeshot and the early lead. Blose managed a sixth-place start from the second row, putting himself in a good position early on. From there, Blose was able to break into the top-five, and end the main event in fifth place.
Sewell held on to take the first Baltimore Arenacross main event, fending off Hayes in the late laps, while Hayes finished second ahead of Jace Owen.
Faith made a good run through the field to finish sixth, giving him a 2-6 finish, which was good enough for second overall. Blose’s 1-5 ruled the night for the big win. Owen, in his Arenacross debut, put his TiLUBE/Tuf Racing Honda on the overall podium in third with his 6-3 score, narrowly edging out Bloss (3-7).
In the Lites division, Austin Stroupe piloted his Custom Powersports Kawasaki to a wire-to-wire victory in his first-ever Arenacross event.
Night two starred another Babbitt’s Kawasaki rider – this time Jacob Hayes.
In the first main event Hayes worked his way into the lead, but a crash from Stroupe saw the red flag come out. The single-file restart sent Hayes out front followed by Blose and Sewell, who held their positions until the finish.
Kyle Regal grabbed the holeshot in the second main event, and ran off with the early lead. Hayes was back in sixth, but would not be denied. He ran down Regal, who had been battling with Gavin Faith for the lead. While it appeared that Faith was going to capture the second win in the night, he crashed in the final turn, handing the win and the overall to Hayes.
Hayes’ 1-1 victory marked the third straight overall win for Babbitt’s Kawasaki, and the first main event sweep of the season. Ben Lamay (4-3) and Chris Blose (2-5) ended in a tie for second on Sunday night, with the point going to Lamay on account of his higher second-main event score.
Following his crash in the first main event, Stroupe was unable to repeat his winning performance in the Lites division. Instead, it was A&Y Racing Honda’s Daniel Herrlein who led every lap en route to victory. Jacob Williamson battled Woodstock KTM’s Scott Zont to take second while Zont rounded out the podium. Herrlein now leads the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites standings with 44 points, followed by Lane Stately and Tyler McSwain.
In the Arenacross Class Championship, Blose now leads the way at 84 points over his Kawasaki teammates Faith and Hayes. Sewell sits in fourth while defending champion Kyle Regal is fifth after three rounds.
Baltimore Arenacross Results
Friday Night:
- Chris Blose (Kaw) (1-5)
- Gavin Faith (Kaw) (2-6)
- Jace Owen (Hon) (6-3)
- Benny Bloss (Yam) (3-7)
- Gared Steinke (Hus) (7-4)
- Kyle Regal (Hus) (4-9)
- Travis Sewell (KTM) (13-1)
- Jacob Hayes (Kaw) (16-2)
- Jacob Williamson (Kaw) (9-8)
- Daniel Herrlein (Hon) (8-10)
Saturday Night:
- Jacob Hayes (Kaw) (1-1)
- Ben Lamay (Hon) (4-3)
- Chris Blose (Kaw) (2-5)
- Kyle Regal (Hus) (7-2)
- Travis Sewell (KTM) (3-7)
- Gavin Faith (Kaw) (6-6)
- Daniel Herrlein (Hon) (12-4)
- Keith Tucker (Yam) (5-12)
- Kyle Bitterman (Hus) (10-8)
- Cody Vanbuskirk (KTM) (9-10)
Full Results: www.arenacross.com/event-results