AMSOIL Arenacross Series in Maryland

The AMSOIL Arenacross Series moved to Maryland for round two of the 2014 season and took over the Baltimore Arena for a weekend of racing action. The hardpack soil was a massive change from what racers encountered in the opening weekend at Worcester, and the crew constructed an innovative layout on the stadium floor. Five lanes were packed onto the floor and presented riders with a much-needed change from the standard AX layout.

Mike McDade had his starts on point all weekend in Baltimore. He was first through the first turn in three of the 4 main events.

The Baltimore round brought a number of young riders into the mix, with Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger and Team Green Kawasaki’s Darian Sanayei competing in their first Arenacross races with the Ricky Carmichael Road to Supercross program, a necessity in acquiring their Monster Energy Supercross licenses. This was the first time that Plessinger had competed in the professional classes of AX, but he quickly found his place in the running order. He claimed both the AX Lites division and the first main event in the AX premier class, but could only climb to fifth in in the second main event. This allowed MotoSport.com/Spinechillers/Kawasaki’s Mike McDade to take the second main event, overall, and points lead heading into Saturday night. Monster Energy/Babbit’s/Kawasaki teammates Tyler Bowers and Zach Ames each put in top-five finishes in both main events, with Bowers finishing second overall and Ames fourth. Tuf Racing Honda’s Kyle Regal rounded out the top-five, with a pair of sixth place finishes and the overall win in the bracketed head to head motos.

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Aaron Plessinger was the next new kid on the block in AMSOIL Arenacross as he took home three main event win in two classes and the overall win on Saturday night.

Saturday night’s main event was a complete shake-up from the previous night’s action. Jacob Hayes rebounded from a subpar finish on Friday night to take the first main event in the AX class over Bowers, Ames, Plessinger, and Regal in this order. A massive first-turn pileup in the second main event collected the biggest contenders. Bowers, Ames, Hayes, and McDade were caught in the melee, which allowed Plessinger to take the main event win and his overall. Ames managed to regroup from the crash to finish fourth in the moto and second overall, which put the point standings in his control over McDade. MotoSport.com/Spinechillers/KTM’s Willy Browning was quietly consistent throughout the weekend, and despite rough practice sessions finished third overall on Saturday night and kept his place in the points standings.

Tyler Bowers hasn’t had the Saturday night’s the defending champion would hope for. A strong second overall finish Friday night in Balitmore was followed by a seventh overall (2-14) finish on Saturday. Bowers is currently fourth in the standings, and 20 points behind current leader Zach Ames.

After Plessinger took Friday night’s main event, Saturday night was anyone’s to win. Keith Tucker was determined to duplicate his success in Worcester and he held off Steven Mages and Maxx Malatia to take the victory. Hometown hero Tony Archer put in fourth and sixth place finishes during the weekend, which let the Traders Racing Kawasaki rider keep control of the Lites East Regional championship.

The AMSOIL Arenacross series moves south to Louisville, Kentucky, for the third weekend of the series. After the excitement of the first two weekends and the success of new talent in the Ricky Carmichael Road to Supercross program, what will happen is anyone’s guess.

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