(March 5, 2013) – The third round of the AMSOIL Arenacross Race to the Championship took place Saturday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki presented by Maxxis was unstoppable as Tyler Bowers won both main events and the bracket races to extend his points lead. Zach Ames finished second overall to his teammate with a 3-2 main event score and sits one point away from second overall in the Race to the Championship. In the Arenacross Lites class, Tyler Villopoto finished fifth in the 18-lap main event and moved into fourth overall in the points standings.

Bowers regained the points lead in the Race to the Championship last weekend in Wichita, and was looking to make a statement on Saturday. After posting the fastest qualifying time and winning his heat race, Bowers confidently took the win in the bracket races and earned an additional championship point. When the gate dropped for the first main, he got off to a good start on his KX™250F and snuck around the inside behind the leader. Bowers pressured the leader until he was able to make a clean pass and run away with the win. In the second main event Bowers ripped the holeshot only to spin out a lap later after the finish line. Without panic, he stalked the leader until he was able to once again make a pass for the lead to take the win and sweep the night. 

“It was just the night I needed,” said Bowers. “I won the first main event and picked zero for the inversion, which was awesome. I had yet to pick that so I was excited for the second main event. I got the holeshot and started pulling away, but I think I was a little over excited and lost the rear end around the flat turn following the finish line and lost the lead. I was able get the lead back a few laps later and sweep the night. The plan is to do that again in Denver to finish the season.”

Ames was the early leader of the Race of the Championship and is still in the hunt for the title. After setting the second fastest qualifying time, he had to avoid the carnage downed riders in his heat to finish third. In the first main event Ames had second place locked up until a mistake in the whoops allowed the rider behind him to make an aggressive and physical move to take over second, bumping Ames to third. In the second main, there was no inversion which allowed all riders to keep their gate pick. Ames rounded the first corner within the top-five and quickly made passes to catch the leaders. He charged the entire race and as he came to the white flag, Ames returned the favor to the rider who hit him earlier and responded with an aggressive pass to take over second place, which ensured him second overall. Ames now sits seven points back from his teammate. 

“I had a pretty good race,” said Ames. “I got hit pretty hard in the first main event and wasn’t too happy about the pass. I made sure he understood that when I passed him in the second main event. I want to win races and if I do that, the points will come to me. It’s tight right now so that racing should be interesting in Denver.”

Villopoto has had an up and down arenacross season. Since winning the first round of the Western Regional Arenacross Lites Class Championship, injury has kept him from having that same speed. In Kansas City he looked much more like himself and was fast all day. In the main event he battled up front to finish fifth and now sits fourth overall in the points standings.

Although no one knew until this past weekend, disaster struck Team Babbitt’s the week leading in to the start of the Race to the Championship. During a regular day of training at the test track, Ames crashed right in front of Bowers, sending both riders to the ground. Bowers got the worst of it, fracturing his collarbone in the process. He was able to get into surgery and have it plated the next day. After resting for the remainder of the week Bowers went to Little Rock and although tentative, finished fifth overall and remained in the hunt for his third- consecutive championship. With a full week’s rest, Bowers rebounded in Wichita to take the overall win and followed that up with a dominating performance in Kansas City last Saturday.

After nine rounds, the AMSOIL Arenacross season takes it’s one and only weekend off before returning for the final round in Denver, Colo., March 15-16 at the Denver Coliseum. The final round will feature two nights of racing starting on Friday, and with only seven points separating the top three, the racing should be intense.

AMSOIL Arenacross – Round 9 
Sprint Center – Kansas City, Mo.
March 2, 2013

Arenacross Class Overall
1. TYLER BOWERS, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI (1-1)
2. ZACH AMES, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI (3-2)
3. Jeff Gibson, KTM (2-3)
4. Dave Ginolfi, KTM (4-5)
5. MICHAEL MCDADE, KAWASAKI (7-4)
6. Nathan Skaggs, KTM (9-6)
7. Daniel Blair, Suzuki (8-7)
8. Kelly Smith, KTM (6-11)
9. GARED STIENKE, KAWASAKI (10-8)
10. Willy Browning, KTM (5-15)

Arenacross Race to the Championship
1. TYLER BOWERS, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI, 91
2. Jeff Gibson, KTM, 85
3. ZACH AMES, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI, 84
4. MICHAEL MCDADE, KAWASAKI, 71
5. Dave Ginolfi, KTM, 58
6. Kelly Smith, KTM, 57
7. Nathan Skaggs, KTM, 56
8. Willy Browning, KTM, 53
9. Daniel Blair, Suzuki, 53
10. GARED STIENKE, KAWASAKI, 47

Arenacross Lites Western Regional Results
1. Tanner Moore, KTM
2. Kyle White, Honda 
3. Scott Zont, KTM 
4. Michael Willard, KTM 
5. TYLER VILLOPOTO, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI
6. BRANDON GLENN, KAWASAKI
7. Maxx Malatia, Honda 
8. JACOB KNABLE, KAWASAKI
9. Cheyenne Harmon, Honda 
10. Devin Reed, Honda

Arenacross Lites Western Regional Points Standings
1. Maxx Malatia, Honda, 75 
2. Michael Lang, Honda , 74
3. Kyle White, Honda, 72 
4. TYLER VILLOPOTO, BABBITT’S MONSTER ENERGY/AMSOIL KAWASAKI, 57
5. Tanner Moore, KTM, 57
6. Steven Mages, KTM, 56
7. Devin Reed, Honda, 36
8. BRANDON GLENN, KAWASAKI, 35
9. Travis Merrill, KTM 21
10. JACOB KNABLE, KAWASAKI