Photo: AMSOIL Arenacross
Just one round left and it's all tied up.
Jacob Hayes secured his second straight overall win at Round 14 of the 2015 AMSOIL Arenacross series and is now tied with Kyle Regal in points closing an eight-point gap from a week ago.
Hayes, who led the field earlier in the season, had not made much of an impact since the "Race to the Championship" format started after Round 9 and reset the points for those riders in the Top 10. Prior to last week, he was in fourth-place then swept Tacoma and now a (2-2) evening on Saturday gave him the overall in Fresno.
Hayes started Moto 1 second to Matt Goerke and that's how the two finished leaving third place up for grabs between Regal, Bobby Kiniry, Gavin Faith, Chris Blose and MotoSport rider Gared Steinke. Faith passed Kiniry for third on Lap 4 and then on Lap 6 Regal began to close in when he crashed coming out of the whoops. Regal's mistake cost him valuable points as he regrouped in 15th and managed to get to 11th before the checkers dropped. Blose finished fourth and Steinke's night ended after a blown head gasket. Newcomer Ryan Breece finished fifth.
"He was running fifth in the first Main and the bike shut down," said Kirk Lauerman, team manager for the MotoSport.com/Lauerman MX team. "The bike couldn't wait two weeks before acting up."
Steinke who lives near Fresno spent the week preparing, riding on several tracks and working on his fitness, whoops and starts. Lauerman said Steinke has always maintained the bikes very well. The mechanical issues prevented him from racing Moto 2.
"Gared, the team and all of our sponsors have worked so hard this season and to have this happen now is devastating," Lauerman said. "The only positive thing that came out of this is he wasn't hurt and he will come to Vegas with fire in his eyes."
Steinke lost some ground dropping to eighth from ninth but his goal of finishing in the Top 5 will not be realized even with a sweep in Las Vegas this weekend. The best he can do now is seventh.
In Moto 2, Regal and Kiniry were bar-to-bar on the first turn when Kiniry slipped and crashed taking out a number of riders behind them. Regal avoided the scene and built an untouched lead taking the checkers and grabbing some much needed points after his rough Moto 1 outing. Faith and Hayes also avoided the melee and after a battle for second, Hayes took out Faith and then Breece challenged for second but coudn't get the best of Hayes. Goerke managed to finish seventh after getting hung up in the first turn crash and took second overall. Breece finished third overall.
Hayes and Regal are tied at 140 and Goerke is third with 133 points. Blose who swept Round 10, the opening round for the "Race to the Championship" is in fourth, tied in points with Faith at 124.
Elsewhere, MotoSport rider and West Lites Champion Daniel Blair took second in the West Lites class Main. It was his ninth podium of the year.
The final round of Arenacross is 8 p.m. Friday at South Point Arena in Las Vegas where a Champion gets crowned. Buy tickets online.
2015 Fresno Arenacross Results
Arenacross Class Results - Overall
- Jacob Hayes (2-2)
- Matt Goerke (1-7)
- Ryan Breece (5-3)
- Cory Green (6-4)
- Kyle Regal (11-1)
- Chris Blose (4-8)
- Gavin Faith (3-10)
- Dave Ginolfi (9-5)
- Travis Sewell (7-11)
- Bobby Kiniry (8-13)
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Results
- Dave Ginolfi
- Daniel Blair - MotoSport rider
- Scott Zont
- Steven Mages
- Clay Elliott
- Jason McConnell
- RJ Wageman
- Jake Locks
- Tanner Sisson
- Josh Struebig
2015 Race to the Championship Standings
- Jacob Hayes (140)
- Kyle Regal (140)
- Matt Goerke (133)
- Chris Blose (124)
- Gavin Faith (124)
- Cory Green (123)
- Travis Sewell (109)
- Bobby Kiniry (97)
- Gared Steinke (89) - MotoSport rider
- Steven Mages (78)
Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Points
- Daniel Blair (127) - 2015 West Lites Champion
- Jake Locks (65)
- Cody VanBuskirk (51)
- Jason McConnell (49)
- Brandon Glenn (48)
- Clay Elliott (46)
- Josh Struebig (41)
- Mason Wharton (34)
- RJ Wageman (32)
- Jonah Locks (29)
