Checkerz
Contact, close racing, and boiling tempers are a guarantee in AMA Arenacross presented by Kicker Audio. The riders returned from Christmas break to Loveland, CO for Round 4 clearly still buzzing from the egg-nog and champagne because there were more Arenacross handshakes and number 1 salutes given to count (aka passes with contact and middle fingers). Here is what stood out!
Red Riders Fly High in Colorado
Three Honda mounted racers tied for the king of the night if you combine both main events in Loveland. It is no surprise to see Kyle Peters in that mix and Kyle Bitterman has gotten better each round of the series so far. The surprise shouldn’t be one, but Izaih Clark finally is starting to get healthy and return to the form we saw last season. He went 3-2 on the night in Colorado.
Peters had an uncharacteristic fourth in Main Event #2 after winning Main #1. It wasn’t a crash or bad luck, he just couldn’t close the gap and make the passes on the Lasting Impressions/Storm Lake Honda teammates of Bitterman and Clark.
Meanwhile, Main Event #2 winner Ryan Breece might as well have been working at the 711 because he was checking out.
Breece is Back (and in the back)
When we left Madison it was uncertain if Ryan Breece would show up on the starting gate in Loveland, CO or at the Supercross opener in Anaheim. It was great news for Arenacross fans when the journeyman racer extended his stay with the IAMACOMEBACK/Rock River/CheckmateMX Yamaha team to battle in Loveland. Breece was NEARLY perfect all night.
Qualifying: 1st
Heat Race: 1st
1v1+1: 1st
Main Event #1: 12th
Main Event #2: 1st
A 12th in Main Event #1 was the result of a flat rear tire while comfortably leading. Breece has climbed to second in the series standings, but he is 21 points behind red plate holder, Phoenix Honda’s Kyle Peters.
Surprise Winners Bring the Heat
The AMA Arenacross Championship features a format with four heat races taking the top two out of each. While you’d expect the regular suspects of Peters, Breece, Bitterman, and Clark to snag those wins; only one of them would (Breece).
The other heat winners:
Bryton Carroll – What an awesome addition to the Arenacross series Carroll has been. Blazing speed, a ton of style, personality for days, and ZERO hesitation when it comes to banging bars. Loose is fast and Carroll loves to get jiggy!
Aaron Siminoe – Rocking the number 3 plate from last year, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Aaron Siminoe cruised to a heat race victory. However, it has been a season of hard knocks through the first three rounds for the Team Green pilot. A heat win and 6-6 finishes were a positive step in the right direction for to start 2024 off right for the Privateer Paddock rider.
Mason Kerr – An absolute bulldog on the track and a giant teddy bear off of it. The easy going Iowa kid busted out the Storm Lake Honda 450 for the elevation and reached new heights with his first career heat race win in Colorado. When the whoops get big and gnarly, expect Kerr to take advantage all season long.
Believe in the Hype Men
One of the best parts of the AMA Arenacross Series is that seemingly every racer is a character. The early battle for “Entertainer of the Year” is raging between Crockett “The Rocket” Myers and RM Army’s “Captain” Cody Groves. While the playbook is similar, “Massive amounts of hype,” the two are very different characters.
Myers represents the youth as a teenage rookie who downed a case of Pixie Sticks and washed it down with his year supply in Monster. He was so hyped he vomited on himself en-route to an LCQ win and then offered to toss his soiled jersey to the crowd. Myers logged 10-10 finishes in the main events. If he figures out the big whoops he will be much further up in the results.
Groves on the other hand said it best in his podium interview after his LCQ win: “I’ve been down at the Shoals MX with Steward Baylor and we’ve been pounding the laps and the beverages everyday.” Work hard and play harder seems to be the name of the game for Captain Groves. Whatever he is doing, it’s working as he was fifth best at Round 4 logging 7-5 Main Event finishes. Cody has been a great addition to AMA Arenacross.
Honorable Mentions
Blake Gardner went back to the #8 and finished 8-8 in the Main Events. His transfer spot was controversial after Chandler Baker and Tyler Mollett jumped on a Red Cross flag and were penalized.
Welcome back to Devin Harriman. An opening round crash sidelined Harriman and we’ve yet to see the results that match his talent and speed thus far this season.
Preston Taylor finally put it in the Main Events. Number 5 from a season ago hasn’t had the results that are expected from the speedy Yankton Motorsports Kawasaki journeyman. He told me after Madison that he needs to quit being “too nice” which has never been a problem for Taylor. The new dad put some diaper money in the piggybank with 9-11 finishes.
Next Up
Friday night Round 5 of the AMA Arenacross Series presented by Kicker blitzes into Grand Island, NE. Pro racing is Friday night and the Pro-Am and Amateurs take to the Arena on Saturday. All Amateur classes have practice and heat races during the day while select Amaeur Classes join the AMA Pro-Ams Saturday evening in front of the crowd for their Main Events. Two nights of exciting Arenacross action!
If you can’t make it, watch the Pros battle for the Championship on Friday night LIVE on ArenacrossAllAccess.com
Results
| #4 |  | IZAIH CLARKFORT DODGE, IA | Heat 4:2ndMain 1:3rdMain 2:2nd |
| #2 |  | KYLE BITTERMANPELZER, SC | Heat 3:2ndMain 1:2ndMain 2:3rd |
| #1 |  | KYLE PETERSGREENSBORO, NC | Heat 2:2ndMain 1:1stMain 2:4th |
| #483 |  | BRYTON CARROLLVINELAND, NJ | Heat 2:1stMain 1:4thMain 2:7th |
| #315 |  | CODY GROVESGOLDSBORO, MD | Heat 2:3rdLCQ 1:1stMain 1:7thMain 2:5th |
| #3 |  | AARON SIMINOERENO, NV | Heat 3:1stMain 1:6thMain 2:6th |
| #200 |  | RYAN BREECEATHOL, ID | Heat 1:1stMain 1:12thMain 2:1st |
| #597 |  | MASON KERRALTOONA, IA | Heat 4:1stMain 1:5thMain 2:9th |
| #8 |  | BLAKE GARDNERCANYON COUNTRY, CA | Heat 1:3rdLCQ 1:4thMain 1:8thMain 2:8th |
| #411 |  | CROCKETT MYERSNAVASOTA, TX | Heat 4:4thLCQ 2:1stMain 1:10thMain 2:10th |
| #5 |  | PRESTON TAYLORHASTINGS, NE | Heat 3:5thLCQ 2:4thMain 1:9thMain 2:11th |
| #16 |  | DEVIN HARRIMANLONGVIEW, WA | Heat 1:2ndMain 1:11thMain 2:12th |
Main image: AMA Arenacross
