The Arenacross UK tour landed in the north of Ireland this weekend as the SSE Belfast arena, Sporting a mix of riders from all across Europe! The E-Tech, Apico, CCM Team Riders of Stuart Edmonds, Jordan Keogh, and the 10 year old Jordan Kinsella, Took to the stage and put in their months of training to the test across two nights of jam packed racing.
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First up in the Pro Lites and All Ireland cup class, we had Jordan Keogh, Who put in a super impressive first few qualifying sessions on the Friday, and really pushed his E-TEC machine to show what he’s made of! Continuing on into the night shows he followed on with a few great race starts and made it into the head to heads. Moving on the Saturday was a totally different ball game for Keogh, which left him with a damaged ankle in the mornings practice.
“My weekend started off good, I was having great fun learning the track and getting quicker with every session I did on Friday morning, The evening show was a great experience, I loved every second of it! Said Keogh. “Unfortunately I couldn’t do it all again on Saturday as I injured my ankle but with some luck I’m hoping to get my ankle sorted for round 3 and 4 next weekend in Birmingham.”
Next up in the Pro 450 we had the Apico factory racing rider of Stuart Edmonds, With Stuart competing in the super cross years previously, He had a slight advantage heading into Belfast. This all changed when heading out on the Friday morning, and having a little problem with set up issues caused Stuart to struggle with the bike heading into the night show. With that being said he pushed himself like the Edmonds we are all used to seeing and just missed out on a spot in the final. Heading into Saturday mornings qualifying with track now running anti clockwise, Stuart had a huge moment across the whoops section, But never the less pushed himself to give it his all on Saturdays night show, Battling with the likes of Irwin and Ashley Greedy.
“What a weekend it has been for me! Ive learnt so much in the two days of Arenacross and I was learning something new each time I went out.” Said Edmonds. “Friday nights show went OK for me, But I felt it took me too long to get going and it was the LCQ race where I think I rode my best. Saturday morning I had a big crash in the qualifying and it put a little dampener on the day for me with some aches and pains going into the night show, But I still pushed as hard as I could and gave it my all. The plan for me was to get those two nights out of the way and come home injury free! Now I look forward to Birmingham and trying to make both Superfinals this time round.”
Moving onto our Youth 65 Team rider of Jordan Kinsella, He defiantly stole the limelight across the weekend at Belfast! Jordan was sat in the stands watching last year, for then to start riding and actually compete this year has totally blown everyone away. His work ethic and determination at ten years old will certainly push him forward in his motocross career. On the Friday Jordan made a small mistake on the start, which resulting in stalling the bike, but still pushed hard to make a decent result back, then for him to take an 8th place on Saturday evenings night show!
Photography Credits – Morris Montgomery/Dirt Bike Ireland
Word Credit – Sophie McGinn
