Bobby Kiniry Becomes Fifth Different Overall Winner of AMSOIL Arenacross Season with Night One Victory in Wilkes-Barre - Speedway Digest

The fifth round of the 2015 season of AMSOIL Arenacross, featuring Ricky Carmichael’s Road to Supercross, kicked off on Friday with the first of two nights of action from Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. The parity that has highlighted the championship up to this point continued as ThermoTec/FMC Racing Yamaha’s Bobby Kiniry earned his first career victory in the Arenacross Class, showcasing the incredible depth of the premier class as its fifth different overall winner in seven races. In the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class, Slaka Wear KTM’s Steven Mages earned his first win of the season.

In the midst of his first full season of AMSOIL Arenacross competition, Kiniry’s success on Friday was largely attributed to his first Main Event win of the season in the first of two 15-lap battles. Kiniry grabbed the holeshot with Steven Mages and Motosport.com/Haeseker Racing KTM’s Gared Steinke in tow. Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose, who won the previous round, started in fourth and was able to move into podium position on Lap 5 by making the pass on Steinke.

While Kiniry and Mages established themselves at the front of the field, several of the championship contenders were fighting their way to the front. Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Chris Blose, started in fourth and was able to move into podium position on Lap 5 by making the pass on Steinke. He was followed by Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing’s Gavin Faith, who made his return to action after missing last weekend with an injury. This duo continued their battle, but they were ultimately both caught and passed by Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Matt Goerke, who had the hot hand in the Main Event, starting eighth and eventually moving into podium position.

Kiniry withstood some late pressure from Mages to stay out front and take the win, while Goerke rounded out the top three. Faith made a late pass on Blose to finish fourth, with the Kawasaki rider rounding out the top five. Another notable effort came from Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki’s Jacob Hayes, the championship leader. After falling to the ground on the opening lap and starting 15^th, Hayes put on a resilient charge through the field, breaking into the top 10 on Lap 5 and continuing his upward climb into seventh by the end of the race.

Kiniry, the newest Main Event winner of 2015, had the distinction of selecting the inversion of the second Main Event where he picked the number 16 for the second time this season, meaning the entire field would be inverted. As a result, the top finishers from the first Main Event would start on the second row for the final race of the evening.

As the gate dropped on the second Main Event, Watson Metals/Compound MX Honda’s Kyle Bitterman, who finished 13^th in the first Main Event, took advantage of his improved starting position to grab the early lead ahead of TZR KTM’s Josh Osby and KTM rider Dave Ginolfi. Husqvarna TiLUBE TUF Racing’s Kyle Regal and Hayes came through the first turn in great position despite the 16-rider inversion.

Regal and Hayes began their march to the front quickly, surpassing Ginolfi on Lap 3 and then Osby on Lap 4 to set their sights on Bitterman out front. Despite the pressure from his more experienced counterparts, Bitterman stood tough and fended off the challenge for half of the Main Event before Regal was able to make the pass for the lead in the whoops on Lap 8. Once out front Regal was able to open a comfortable lead. Hayes made contact with Bitterman to take over second on Lap 13, but there wasn’t enough laps left to mount a challenge on Regal out front.

While the battle for the lead was taking place, Kiniry was clawing his way forward from a 12^th-place start in what would ultimately be a winning effort for the overall. Kiniry went bar-to-bar with Blose, Mages, Goerke and more, each of who also were in contention for the win, and his persistence ultimately resulted in a sixth-place finish. Regal, Hayes and Bitterman completed the top three for the second Main Event, with Faith fourth and Ginolfi fifth, just ahead of Kiniry.

When the final points were tallied, Kiniry’s 1-6 finishes gave him a slim one-point edge on both Hayes (7-2) and Faith (4-4), who tied for second. Hayes’ second-place finish in the second Main Event gave him the tiebreaker over Faith for the position. Regal’s win helped him to a fourth-place finish (10-1) while Mages rounded out the top five (2-10).

In the RMATV/MC Head 2 Head Challenge competition earlier in the evening, Hayes edged out Blose for the win and extra championship bonus point, which paid big dividends in the overall classification.

Hayes’ runner-up effort helped him open up a 19-point lead in the Arenacross Class standings over his teammate Goerke, who finished 10^th on Friday. Regal moved to within four points of Goerke in third, 23 behind Hayes.

TZR Woodstock KTM’s Scott Zont kicked off the Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Main Event by taking control of the early lead over Hillview Motorsports Suzuki’s Steve Roman and Mages. Behind them, points leader Dave Ginolfi started fifth and looked to move forward. Mages wasted little time in taking control of the race, moving into the lead on Lap 1. As Mages made his move, so did Ginofli, picking off one rider a lap before slotting into second on Lap 3. Given how quick he moved into contention, it looked as though Ginolfi might challenge Mages for the lead. While the pair stayed about a second apart for several laps, they encountered lappers on Lap 7, which ultimately proved to work to Mages’ advantage. The Ohio native slowly began to extend his lead over Ginolfi while working his way through lapped traffic and took the win. Ginolfi finished second, while Roman battled his way to a third-place finish in front of his home state crowd.

Ginolfi added to his Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class points lead and now sits 16 points ahead of A&Y Racing Honda’s Daniel Herrlein, who was not competing in Wilkes-Barre. Roman sits third, 21 points back, while Mages moved into fourth, 27 points out of the lead. Zont rounds out the top five.

The fifth round of AMSOIL Arenacross season continues tomorrow with a second night of action from Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Action begins at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET.

Tickets for each round of AMSOIL Arenacross are on sale now!

The entire AMSOIL Arenacross season will air on FOX Sports 1, including re-airs on Fox Sports 2.

Live timing and scoring from each round of the AMSOIL Arenacross season returns for the 2014 season! To follow the intense racing action live, log onto www.Arenacross.com.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.