The first-ever Action Sports Music Live event took place today at the South of England Showground in West Sussex today. The team behind the ambitious project battled inclement elements throughout build-up as torrential rain threatened to stop play. The sun gods made an appearance on the day though, and the Supercross UK Open went ahead and, according to plan.
Tommy Searle, Steven Clarke, Matt Bayliss, Jack Brunell, James Dunn, Chris Bayliss and a-returning-from-injury Jordan Booker were the select seven in the frame. They all clearly enjoyed racing on the super-tight, technically-challenging short and sharp circuit, put together by ace track-builder Alfie Smith.
Seven heats catered for the seven riders, and each rider had a chance to take the ‘prime’ inside gate slot. That position didn’t always prove to be most favourable though as demonstrated by arenacross-specialist Matt Bayliss on a couple of occasions.
Heading into the finals, and Searle and Clarke tied on points from the heats. Naturally, the truly-professional way to determine the finals gate pick was a quick game of scissors, paper, rock! Needless to say, Searle took the win.
Searle’s racing pedigree shone through in final. Whilst Bayliss took the holeshot, Kawaski-mounted Searle knew just when to make the move, which he did at the halfway point and never looked back.
Said Searle; “I really enjoyed myself today. Great banter with the other guys and good fun. It’s a really nice event and I hope it works out well for Mark (Chamberlain). I’m glad I came.”
Results
Heat 1; Bayliss (Matt), Clarke, Brunell, Booker
Heat 2; Brunell, Booker, Bayliss (Chris), Dunn
Heat3; Clarke, Searle, Dunn, Bayliss (Chris)
Heat4; Clarke, Searle, Bayliss (Matt), Booker
Heat 5; Bayliss (Matt), Brunell, Booker, Dunn
Heat 6; Searle, Brunell, Dunn, Bayliss (Chris)
Heat 7; Seale, Clarke, Bayliss (Matt)
Final B; Dunn, Bayliss (Chris), Booker (DNF)
Final A; Searle, Bayliss (Matt), Clarke, Brunell