Gavin Faith scores his fourth AMSOIL Arenacross overall win in front of his home area fans at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Gavin Faith enjoyed a perfect night in front of his hometown fans by sweeping both Arenacross main events for his second straight overall win during AMSOIL Arenacross action at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, last Saturday night.
Faith set up his flawless evening by defeating Team Babbitt’s teammate Jacob Hayes for the win in the RMATV/MC Head-2-Head Challenge prior to the Arenacross main events, collecting an extra championship bonus point for his efforts. When the first main event got underway, TiLUBE/Tuf Racing Honda’s Jace Owen took the early lead, only to crash out of the race on the opening lap. Faith took the lead briefly, but Custom Power Sports/Slakawear Kawasaki’s Steven Mages passed him for the lead. TiLUBE/Tuf Racing Honda’s Ben Lamay ran third ahead of Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose and TZR/Woodstock KTM’s Travis Sewell.
Faith pressured Mages for the next couple laps and was able to retake the lead on lap three. Mages crashed in the whoops while trying to answer back on lap six, and he lost several spots in the process. Lamay took over second with Sewell moving into third after passing Blose early. Faith went on to win the race by 2 seconds over Lamay, with Sewell third and Blose fourth. After missing the previous round due to a crash in practice, Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Jacob Hayes crashed again on the opening lapin Omaha, but he overcame a 15th-place start to finish fifth.
Faith, whose hometown of Fort Dodge, Iowa, is just a short drive from Omaha, solicited the partisan crowd to select one of three cases that would determine the inversion for the second main event. Faith selected the case with the number eight, meaning half the field would be inverted. Despite out on the first gate pick, Faith charged to the head of the pack off the start with Hayes second and Blose third, giving Team Babbitt’s Kawasaki the top three spots. Hayes was able to keep pace with Faith out front, and he even challenged his teammate for the lead a few times, but Faith was able to pull clear in the late going and build a 2-second lead by the finish. Blose rode to a solid third-place finish, with Sewell fourth and Lamay fifth.
Faith’s back-to-back 1-1 sweep netted his class-leading fourth overall win of the season. Behind him, a four-way tie in points forced Hayes, Blose, Sewell and Lamay to rely on their results in the second main event as the tiebreaker. The end result was that Team Babbitt’s swept of the podium, with Hayes second (5-2) and Blose third (4-3). Sewell was fourth (3-4), while Lamay completed the top five (2-5).
Faith is now 17 points ahead of Sewell in the AMSOIL Arenacross standings, and Hayes is third, 20 points out of the lead, with Blose fourth, 26 points back. Just one round remains before the cutoff for the Race to the Championship, a playoff-style showdown in which this year’s AMSOIL Arenacross Champion will also become the first recipient of the Ricky Carmichael Cup. The battle to get into the Race to the Championship is still tight in the lower half of the field. Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna teammates Kyle Bitterman and Kyle Regal are currently ninth and 10th, respectively, while Cody VanBuskirk sits 11th, but just four points separate the three riders heading into the cutoff next weekend.
The Western Regional Arenacross Lites Series resumed in Omaha after a short layoff while the Eastern Regional series took center stage, and TZR/Woodstock KTM’s Scott Zont snagged the holeshot to start the 15-lap Western Regional Arenacross Lites main event. Team DirtBikeMike/KTM Sporstcenter of Little Rock’s Ben Nelko overtook Zont in the whoops on the opening lap, bringing VanBuskirk with him. Nelko was able to keep VanBuskirk at bay through the first half of the race, but VanBuskirk made his move on lap seven, slipping under Nelko in the first turn after the finish line to grab the lead. VanBuskirk pulled away from Nelko, collecting his second consecutive Western Regional Arenacross Lites win over Nelko and Zont. Shawnee Motor Company/Justified Cultures KTM’s Cheyenne Harmon finished fourth, and ActionExtremeSports/MEPMX KTM’s Jared Lesher finished fifth.
VanBuskirk’s win allowed him to close to within three points of Nelko in the Western Regional Arenacross Lites standings. Harmon moved from fifth to third, 14 points behind Nelko.
The 2016 AMSOIL Arenacross season will continue next Saturday, March 12, the final round before the Race to the Championship, in Lafayette, Louisiana’s CAJUNDOME. Racing begins at 5 p.m. PST/7 p.m. CDT/ 8 p.m. EST.
2016 AMSOL Arenacross Series
Centurylink Center
Omaha, Nebraska
Results: March 5, 2016
Arenacross Main Event 1
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw
2. Ben Lamay-Hon
3. Travis Sewell-KTM
4. Chris Blose-Kaw
5. Jacob Hayes-Kaw
6. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
7. Kyle Bitterman-Hus
8. Jared Lesher-KTM
9. Chris Canning-Yam
10. Cheyenne Harmon-KTM
Arenacross Main Event 2
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw
2. Jacob Hayes-Kaw
3. Chris Blose-Kaw
4. Travis Sewell-KTM
5. Ben Lamay-Hon
6. Jace Owen-Hon
7. Steven Mages-Kaw
8. Jared Lesher-KTM
9. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
10. Kyle Bitterman-Hus
2016 Arenacross Class Overall Results
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw/1-1
2. Jacob Hayes-Kaw/5-2
3. Chris Blose-Kaw/4-3
4. Travis Sewell-KTM/3-4
5. Ben Lamay-Hon/2-5
6. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM/6-9
7. Jared Lesher-KTM/8-8
8. Kyle Bitterman-Hus/7-10
9. Steven Mages-Kaw/14-7
10. Chris Canning-Yam/9-11
RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge Results/bonus points
1. Gavin Faith-Kaw/2 points
2. Jacob Hayes-Kaw/1 point
3. Travis Sewell-KTM/1 point
4. Jace Owen-Hon/1 point
5. Ben Lamay-Hon/1 point
6. Chris Blose-Kaw/1 point
7. Kyle Bitterman-Hus/1 point
8. Steven Mages-Kaw/1 point
2016 AMSOIL Arenacross Series Points Standings
1. Gavin Faith-276/4 main event wins
2. Travis Sewell-265/5 main event wins
3. Jacob Hayes-262/8 main event wins
4. Chris Blose-256/1 main event win
5. Ben Lamay-185
6. Jace Owen-175
7. Gared Steinke-171
8. Daniel Herrlein-148
9. Kyle Regal-130
10. Kyle Bitterman-115
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Main Event
1. Cody VanBuskirk-KTM
2. Ben Nelko-KTM
3. Scott Zont-KTM
4. Cheyenne Harmon-KTM
5. Jared Lesher-KTM
6. Mathew Weakley-Hus
7. Dillon Cloyed-Hon
8. Josh Struebig-KTM
9. Brandon Marley-KTM
10. Dylan Rouse-KTM
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Standings
1. Ben Nelko-60/2 main event wins
2. Cody VanBuskirk-57/1 main event win
3. Cheyenne Harmon-46
4. Scott Zont-42
5. Carlen Gardner-40
6. Dylan Rouse-37
7. Dave Ginolfi-36
8. Jared Lesher-31
9. Collin Jurin-25
10. Brandon Marley-25
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