Page 212 - GRIT THREE DONE

The third round of the 2016 AMSOIL Arenacross season kicked off on Friday with the first of two nights of action for the championship’s inaugural visit to the PPL Center. Entering as the points leader for the first time this year, Team Bab- bitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasa- ki’s Chris Blose became the first repeat overall winner of 2016 following an exceptionally consistent night, extend- ing the Team Babbitt’s winning streak to four races. In the Eastern Regional Ar- enacross Lites Class Main Event, Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawa- saki’s Jacob Williamson led all 15 laps to earn his first career win and become the fourth different Main Event winner in as many nights for the Lites division.
Woodstock/TZR KTM’s Travis Sewell continued
his hot start to the 2016 season by grabbing the holeshot for the first 15-lap Arenacross Class Main Event with Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna Fac- tory Racing presented by FMC and OTSFF rider Gared Steinke and TiLUBE/Tuf Racing Honda’s Ben Lamay in tow. Just behind the lead trio out of the first turn was Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kyle Regal, Blose and Team Babbitt’s/Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Gavin Faith. Regal and Blose quickly worked their way around Lamay and began to make a push on Steinke for second.
The front of the field remained unchanged for the first handful of laps until Regal and Blose both made their way by Steinke on Lap 5 to move into second and third, respectively. Faith would soon follow suit and move into fourth. On Lap 7 Regal went down in the whoops, which allowed Blose to assume second and Faith third, but also helped Sewell continue to extend his lead. The KTM rider was never challenged and notched his third Main Event win of the season by nearly five seconds, leading every lap. Blose finished second, just ahead of his teammate Faith, while Team Babbitt’s/ Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Jacob Hayes made a hard charge from eighth place to finish fourth. In his AMSOIL Arenacross debut, Ricky Car- michael Road to Supercross rider Austin Forkner put his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki into the top five after starting ninth. Regal got back into the race and soldiered home to a 13th-place finish.
212 GRITMOTO • JANUARY.25.16