The sixth and penultimate round of Arenacross UK at The Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield proved successful for Dave Thorpe Off-Road Centre rider Angelo Pellegrini, who took a well-deserved second place in the Main Event race aboard his Honda machine with Michelin’s Starcross MS3 tyres fitted front and rear.

The Sheffield round saw a change of line-up in the Michelin team with two riders deciding to sit out – Elliott Banks-Browne due to injury and Brad Anderson to concentrate on preparation to the forthcoming outdoor season. Frenchman Thomas Ramette was drafted in as a replacement on the Michelin squad, while Angelo Pellegrini and Luke Arbon continued to represent the Dave Thorpe Off-Road Centre.

All three riders performed well in the heats and made it through the Main Event, with Pellegrini also succeeding in picking up two bonus championship points in the head-to-head races. Come the main event, Pellegrini made a great start in second place behind series leader Fabien Izoird and set about matching the Frenchman's pace in the early laps. He maintained his position for the remainder of the race to take a comfortable second place.

Ramette and Arbon both got off to bad starts with Arbon being pushed wide into the tuffblocks and crashing out of the race. Ramette managed to fight his way up to eighth place by mid-race, but dropped one place by the end to finish in ninth.

Three of the four Michelin riders remain inside the top ten in the championship standings, with Pellegrini in eighth, Banks-Browne in ninth and Arbon in tenth. Anderson sits in 11th place. The final round of Arenacross UK will take place at Wembley Arena in London on Saturday 1 March.

Dave Thorpe, team manager
“Saturday was a good night for the team, all three riders made it straight into the main event. Angelo Pellegrini finally produced the form and speed, that as a team we all knew he had, to take second place in the main. We now have a week-long break before the final round of the tour and hopefully we can continue on from here.”

Angelo Pellegrini
“This was the best round of the whole tour so far. I really liked the track because it was more technical than the others. I produced good laps all day during qualifying and the heat races. Then in the main event I started second behind Izoird and tried to run at the front with him, but he didn't make any mistakes. Now we go to London for the final round of the tour and I hope to get on the podium once again.”

Thomas Ramette
“Tonight was the first time I've raced in the Arenacross Tour in the UK. I was really happy with the bike and the team, but I suffered with arm pump and I need to work on that before the last round at Wembley where I hope to repay the team’s hard work.”

Luke Arbon
“Sheffield ended really badly for me. I started to really enjoy the track during the day and the heats. I got some good starts, including a holeshot in one of the heats and transferred to the main event. Then I lined up a bit wide and hit the tuffblocks and went down and that was the race over. I'm really looking forward to the last round and hopefully finally getting onto the box in the final.”

Main Event Results
1 Fabien Izoird
2 Angelo Pellegrini
3 Loic Rombaut
4 Cyrille Coulon
5 Daniel McCoy
6 Nev Bradshaw
7 Chris Bayliss
8 Kristian Whatley
9 Thomas Ramette
10 Romain Biela
DNF Luke Arbon

Championship standings
1) Fabien Izoird 121, 2) Daniel McCoy 97, 3) Cyrille Coulon 93, 4) Loic Rombaut 84, 5) Steven Clarke 76, 6) Nev Bradshaw 75, 7) Kristian Whatley 70, 8) Angelo Pellegrini 64 (HON), 9) Elliott Banks-Browne 53 (HON), 10) Luke Arbon 44 (HON), 11) Brad Anderson (HON)