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Johnny Marley, Arenacross Tour defending champion, at the night show opening in Batesville, MS.
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Batesville, MS: The 2009-2010 Arenacross Tour, a 9-round professional and amateur series with events in Mississippi and Tennessee, kicked off its season Saturday night, and the 20-lap “Clash for Cash” main event lived up to its name.

Defending Arenacross Tour champion Johnny Marley of Guthrie, OK won both his motos in Pro AX (the premier 450 class) but clashed with a lapped rider in the final race of the night while under pressure from 21 year-old Johnny Moore of Madison, MS. Moore won the Clash for Cash, and went 1-2 in AX Pro Lites (the premier 250 class).

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Johnny Moore leads the series after Round 1.

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The Arenacross Tour is a mix of pros and amateurs and has age groups from 50s to Vets, and quads are in the mix as well. There are 2 women’s classes, a pitbike race, and a family relay race. The night shows go fast and have something for everyone. Saturday’s race was just short of 300 entries at 299 riders. 

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Quads are part of the show in Arenacross in the south. No gun racks though. 

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Saturday’s track was built by Justin Thompson of Brigdon, Ontario, who raced AX Pro and finished second with a 2-2 score behind Marley. He went on to finish second in the Clash for Cash behind Moore by staying out of trouble. 

Even though Thompson built the track, he didn’t mind criticizing his creation. “I didn’t like it,” he said, “I had some slippery spots I didn’t like but you never know until you ride them.” 
Johnny Marley was on a roll Saturday until the last race. He won both AX Pro motos and went 1-3 in AX Lites Pro. The top riders from both are combined to make up the 20-lap Clash for Cash main event. Only the Clash for Cash counts for series points.

Marley took the holeshot in the Clash for Cash, leading Moore, Jonathan Dove and Kyle Gills. Marley had a clear track and set a fast pace, and no one got close enough to challenge him until about the halfway point, when a rider was down at the end of the whoops and lapped traffic started to complicate things. 

Moore started pouring it on and closed the gap at the mid-point. Just as Moore was getting close enough to challenge Marley, Marley went wide in the turn after the whoops after avoiding the downed rider, then made contact with Jason Perry, who was a lap down and went wide in the same turn. As they exited the turn, the two banged bars and both went down, with Marley doing an endo over a kicker right after the turn. Moore just avoided the wipeput and went on to win. Marley was scraped up but walked away, after having some words about blue-flagging with the event manager, ex-pro AX rider Robby McQuary. 

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Marley's crash in the Clash for Cash

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Thompson finished second, and third went to Cameron Stone, of Chattanooga TN.

Podium Profiles: A closer look at the top three-

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Cameron Stone.

Cameron Stone has been racing for 16 years, and he’s just 19. “I did three of these last year,” said Stone, “I’m thinking about trying the whole series. I race pretty much everywhere, all over the US. I try to do Loretta’s and other nationals like Texas. I did 450 Pro Sport and 450 Pro at Loretta’s. I got a 6th and a 7th. I had some bad luck and should have gotten third.” 

“I got a mid-pack start and passed a few people,” said Stone when he was describing his ride in the Clash for Cash. “I just tried to work my way up. A couple of people went down and I came out on third somehow. I almost hit one bike in the whoops and as soon as I turned the corner, there were 2 bikes laying there by the double. I missed them twice so I got lucky.” 

When ask about what race he would do next, Stone said, “My next race? I don’t know, whatever is next weekend.”

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Justin Thompson.

Justin Thompson lives between Canada and Florida, and he races, builds tracks and runs a motocross school. 

He was battling with Moore earlier in the night, and Moore went off the track in the same place Marley would crash later-right after the whoops. “In the main [AX Pro moto 2], Johnny Marley won, I got second,” he said. “I got by Johnny Moore on the second to last lap. I got a little aggressive. I didn’t mean to, I came in (to the turn after the whoops) a little hot. We came close, no bumping. When you are out there racing, it happens.”

“I’m doing the whole tour,” said Thompson, “I did it the year before. Actually this is my fifth year doing it. I like this arenacross series. I started building the tracks last year. I live between Canada and Florida. I run a camp, MXschools.com. I run that all summer and winter. That’s my main goal, but I also build tracks. I still love racing and it keeps me in it by doing the tracks.” 

As far as his finish in the Clash for Cash, Thompson said, “I got a blessing. I had some bad luck early in the moto. I think I was in 6th at one point. I got through to 4th, went back to 6th, and once I got back to 4th, 2 leaders went down. I saw bikes cartwheeling and didn’t realize there were 2 down and I almost jumped into them also. The track is only 15 feet wide so if there are 2 bikes on it, that takes up a lot of room.” 

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Johnny Moore.

Johnny Moore leads the series, as Clash for Cash points go toward the championship. “I started out kind of slow this afternoon,” he said, “I didn’t really feel that good. I went back and re-grouped and come out swinging tonight. Coming from the mini-Os and not practicing supercross and arenacross, I was getting kind of nervous to begin with. It worked out pretty good tonight. I was able to calm down and put it together. We came up on a lapper and the lapper went wide. It looked like Marley went wide with him and didn’t have a chance to come inside and they banged bars and went down.” 

Moore’s strategy included riding his 250 against the 450s. “I decided to ride the 250F in the 450 class,” he said, “I knew I would give up the start, but I got behind Marley in the start and I knew he would get tired about midway through the race. About halfway through I started catching him and putting a little bit of pressure on him. He made a bobble and went down.”

“I think I was making up time in the corners,” said Moore, “when he (Marley) was in the corners he couldn’t get around them (as fast) but I thought the whoops would be a big advantage for him. We were both able to get through them clean.” 

Just before the Arenacross Tour, Moore had to recover from a minor injury and did the Mini-Os. “I went to the Mini-Os,” he said, “I was off three weeks before that because I hurt my thumb at a local race. I went home and re-grouped and figured out how far I wanted to go with this and as soon as I got back on the bike I just hit it hard.”

Moore is 21, and is still improving after moving up from the B-ranks about a year ago. “I have a few more years in me and I’m going to take it as far as I can,” he said, “I’m not in school right now but I actually started some online courses in January. I am going to do supercross. I did New Orleans last year and barely missed out on the night show by a tenth of a second. We are going to get my bike set up to supercross standards go out there and give it a try.” 

Moore is off to a good start in the Arenacross Tour and defending Champion Marley has 25 points to make up. “I’m going to do this series,” said Moore, “I would love to win it and go to some supercross in the east and make the night shows. That would be my first step and the next step would be making the main event. I’m going to do a couple of outdoors in the Lites class. I won’t be able to do the whole series with the way the economy is right now, but I would like to do the east rounds and maybe Glen Helen. Marley is fast but he seemed to tire out in the end. I will be back in the gym Monday getting ready for the next round.”

Arenacross Tour “Clash for Cash” (Main Event)
1) Johnny Moore, Hon; 2) Jeff Thompson, Hon; 3) Cameron Stone, Kaw; 4) Kyle Gills, Kaw; 5) Ozzy Barbaree, Suz; 6) Jonathan Dove, Kaw; 7) Dustin Gills, Kaw.

Arenacross Tour “Clash for Cash” Qualifiers, AX Pro (450s)
1) Johnny Marley, Yam, 1-1; 2) Justin Thompson, Hon, 2-2; 3) Chris Tracey, Kaw, 1-4; 4) Johnny Moore, Hon, 3-3, 5) Jonathan Dove, Kaw, 2-5; 6) Cameron Stone, Kaw, 4-6. 

Arenacross Tour “Clash for Cash” Qualifiers, AX Lites Pro 
2) Johnny Marley, Yam, 2-1; 2) Kyle Gills, Kaw, 1-2; 3) Johnny Marley, Hon, 1-3; 4) ) Jonathan Dove, Kaw, 2-4, 5) Ozzy Barbaree, Suz, 3-5; 6) Cameron Stone, Kaw, 4-6. 

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