Like the tightness of an Arenacross track the point spread going into Round 5 of the 2015 AMSOIL Arenacross series this weekend in Wilkes-Barre, PA is no different as 10th place is separated by fourth-place by just 23 points but for the Top 3 it's a little different story.
Jacob Hayes took the top spot after his teammate Matt Goerke had his worst Round of the season last week finishing out of the Top 10 in both Mains for the first time all season. Goerke was nursing a lead heading into Round 4 without a Main event win. He's since dropped to second-place, 10 points ahead of Kyle Regal.
But if there's any proof of what a great weekend of racing offers it's Chris Blose who missed some racing time earlier in the season because of injury but swept Nashville and jumped back into the Top 10 for points in fourth-place.
Round 5 at the Mohegan Sun Arena schedules two nights of racing which means four Main events and 64 points on the line. With that much action a rider can run the table and runaway in the standings or really shake-up it up a bit.
On the home front, Gared Steinke is in 10th place for points and had one of his best weekends of the year last week in Nashville. Heading in to the weekend, Steinke's goal was not avoid much of the fray that's been happening in recent weeks as far as crashes. The tight Arenacross track can often determine how a rider finishes when crashes occur. A pile-up forces a rider to slow down and navigate around the mess or sometimes even hit the dirt.
Steinke managed two more Top 10 finishes and his third Top 5 of the season. He's one solid weekend away from the Top in points or one bad weekend away from dropping out entirely. As the season closes in on Round 10 points are crucial to stay in the running for the Race to the Championship which begins Round 11 inviting only the Top 10 riders in points up to that points.
"Gared rode press practice today and said the track conditions are very soft and super rutty," said Kirk Lauerman, team manager for the MotoSport.com/Lauerman MX team. "The track will be very technical due to soft dirt and all the ruts on the face of jumps. He's feeling solid, the bike is running great and we're looking forward to Friday and Saturday nights racing."
The East Lites class gets its fourth Round of the season with two mains over two nights. Daniel Blair, who also rides for the MotoSport.com/Lauerman MX team, races in the West Lites class for points but competes in the East Class. He's expected to race this weekend and continue to build momentum for when the West returns to action at the end of the month. Blair leads the West Lites in points.
"Daniel wasn't happy with how he rode last week finishing eighth," Lauerman said. "He's looking to build on that with better starts and consistent riding over 15 laps."
Dave Ginolfi leads the East Lites series with 57 points just ahead of Daniel Herrlein with 56 points. Both riders seem poised to take off in the class as Steven Roman is a distant third with 37 points.
Arenacross Round 5 starts at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Buy tickets online or at the box office, 255 Highland Park Blvd in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Arenacross Class Points
- Jacob Hayes (158)
- Matt Goerke (149)
- Kyle Regal (139)
- Chris Blose (119)
- Steven Mages (118)
- Willy Browning (114)
- Travis Sewell (110)
- Daniel Herrlein (110)
- Bobby Kiniry (109)
- Gared Steinke (96) - MotoSport rider
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Points
- Dave Ginolfi (57)
- Daniel Herrlein (56)
- Steve Roman (37)
- Darian Sanayei (35)
- Mitchell Harrison (33)
- Scott Zont (33)
- Steven Mages (29)
- Dylan Rouse (23)
- Dave Blanchet (20)
- Josh Cartwright (18)
