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Announcer Jeff Perrett has been part of the British Arenacross Championship presented by Fix Auto UK since 2014. He’s a former pro-racer himself, so ahead of the new season we sat down with the microphone master to get his thoughts on the mouthwatering championship battle that lies ahead!

AX: Jeff, you’ve been calling Arenacross series since its inception, how excited are you for the 2024?

Jeff: Yes I have, and it doesn’t seem that long ago! Time flies when you’re having fun right? I’ve loved being part of the AX team from the very start, it’s a privilege to be out there calling it all these years and I’m thankful to Matt Bates and the team for the opportunity.

I remember the first one at the O2 and thinking it was just another commentating gig, until just before the start of the show when I looked out and saw most of the lower seating full up – it was the only time I got nervous! Just a few months before I’d been to see Pearl Jam play a gig there, then here I was about to walk out under the same spotlight with all eyes and ears on me; it was a bit surreal. I remember taking a deep breath and telling myself ‘just get through your first few sentences’; I embraced and enjoyed the experience and have ever since.

I’m genuinely excited for the 2024 series for many reasons. It’s been a tough few weeks with a family member in hospital over Christmas and the depressing weather, so I’m really looking forward to getting the 10th year of Arenacross kick started into life at Manchester, that coupled with the fact that I thought last year’s series was the best so far.

AX: With the return from Covid last year and the new British-based line-up, did the racing and the general atmosphere stand out as being something unique for the AX Tour?

Jeff: Absolutely! Matt and I had a conversation about making it a British-only series several years before, so I’m pleased he did. The buzz in the pits was better and I think that was because everyone knows each other. That’s no disrespect to any overseas riders that have raced the series, but when they do they understandably tend to stay in their own circle. Also to have predominantly British riders only I think will get the more hardcore British motocross fan and industry more involved because there’s more of a connection. Joe public wouldn’t know Greg Aranda from Tommy Searle for example, so I don’t think getting bigger names in really makes that much difference. They just want to be entertained with a good show, close racing and by having the top British riders all racing closely on the same level makes for better racing, I think. Last year saw some of the closest and most exciting racing we’ve had from front of the pack to the back because we didn’t have some international indoor specialist romping away with it out front.

As a fan of the sport, which I am first and foremost, I think Arenacross is really important in trying to improve British motocross and helps get that back on track somewhat. There’s a new, fresh audience coming out to Arenacross and seeing dirt bike racing for the first time; it’s a starting point for them to take up the sport if they’re influenced by what they see and to go to their local motocross dealer or track.

You can’t jump straight into AX. American motocross boomed in the 1970s and a major part of that was the introduction of Supercross in 1972. Now Arenacross is an ACU sanctioned championship I’d love to see Matt, the ACU and the two British ACU motocross championships work out a long-term plan to promote the sport as a combined force, a bit like what they’re now doing with SuperMotocross in America.

I think that would also help attract our best young talent to race Arenacross. I’d love to see a combined points system somehow where we have a ‘Grand National’ champion or call it ‘Champion of Champions’ and the rider with the most points across all ACU championships gets to run a blue plate with a gold number like they used to do in America… I think that would be cool.
Let’s make stars of the riders we’ve got here at home and have a better planned structure to develop youth talent. With more indoor racing these days and the new World Supercross series I know if I had a kid racing, I’d be focusing on Arenacross and indoor racing as a career path and even if they didn’t make the grade in that it would still improve their skill set for motocross.

Let’s be brutally honest here, you’re more likely to get better exposure for existing sponsors and pick up some more by racing Arenacross due to the footfall of people coming out to watch. As much as I love motocross and it will always be the pure form for me, indoor racing packages our sport better to the general public and the corporate world. Riders, bikes and everyone stay clean and in the warm, it’s easier to follow and understand what’s going on in front of you. It’s also easier to film and livestream.

AX: What’s exciting you most about 2024? Tommy vs Conrad take two? Jack Brunell on a Stark? Harri Kullas in the mix? Justin Bogle, or even the return of Ashley Greedy?

Jeff: Everything you just mentioned! Honestly, there’s not one thing in particular. As my co-commentator Matt Crowhurst and I often say, ‘it’s Arenacross and anything can and usually does happen’. It’s the nature of the beast and with all that talent out there on a tight track and amped by the atmosphere something has got to give.

AX: You get involved on the mic with the crowd and also with the Freestyle crew – how much has the Freestyle team raised its game over the years, and what’s your favourite FMX trick?

Jeff: That side of the sport has evolved so much since Carey Hart’s backflip and our guys smash it every show. As much as FMX has evolved, my favourite trick is still ‘The Whip’ but that’s from my appreciation and love of motocross and being an old duffer who used to like doing them. I have huge respect for those guys, especially when they do the ‘train’ runs. There’s no room for error there at all. If one of them gets it wrong, it’s not going to end well. F**k that for a game of soldiers! They’re braver men than I’ll ever be.

AX: Do you think the Stark team coming in will see a whole wave of electric bikes taking over the series eventually?

Jeff: In a word, yes… and I know that Matt (Bates) sees it the same. Like it or loathe it, electric will open opportunities to race in city centres, country shows and so on. Although I don’t want to see electric bikes in traditional motocross races as such, but to be fair I think that transition will take more time that people think.

I’d be okay with an all-electric Arenacross style of racing though. Short tracks, easy for the public to follow and understand, I think that will help promote dirt bike riding in general. When motocross goes all electric, I’ll be stepping out of the game I reckon. I’m knocking on now and I know I’d miss the buzz of the smells and sounds that evoke some of the best memories of my life.

AX: Finally, any predictions for the new season? Manchester winner, other winners, and overall Champion maybe?

Jeff: I had some good banter with Tommy last year because I never chose him for a win when I was asked several times throughout the championship. He pulled me up on it most times and of course went on to win. So he can thank my reverse psychology mentoring for that! As the co-host of the championship, I’m going to go ‘all Ricky Carmichael’ on this and not make a prediction and sit on the fence.

Having said that I would love to see Jack Brunell win, not because he’s on the Stark but for him. He’s worked hard at it and dedicated his racing career to Arenacross and Supercross and his dad was and still is a huge influence and inspiration to him. I know how much it would mean to him, and I’d love to see that happen.

Whatever happens I’m sure it will be another awesome series. I wish all the racers across all the classes the very best of luck and to put on a great show for the public, but most of all to have fun and enjoy the experience. That’s why we do what we do and people should never lose sight of that.

AX: Many thanks Jeff we hope you have a great tour and will see you out there!

Tickets for the 2024 British Arenacross Championship presented by Fix Auto UK are on sale now, visit www.arenacrossuk.com now.

Can’t make the show live? Don’t worry, we’re streaming every single round live on Vimeo so you needn’t miss a second of the high octane motocross action. From less than £6 per round, you can also enjoy a host of content you won’t find anywhere else! Visit https://arenacross-tv1.vhx.tv/products for more information.

One of the most exciting and intriguing additions to the British Arenacross Championship Presented by Fix Auto UK for 2024 is the new Stark Future team, running the all-new Stark Varg.

This means an electric motorcycle will race against standard internal combustion machinery, counting for points in an official national championship for the very first time in history.

With legendary two-time World Motocross Champion Sebastien Tortelli (one of the fastest racers on the planet in the 1990s) in charge, a team consisting of reigning series #3 Jack Brunell, former AMA Lites Champion Justin Bogle and young British charger Eddie Jay Wade, Stark have the manpower to make the best of the machinery and show how well the bike can perform.

The Varg (Swedish for ‘wolf’) produces around 80 bhp, a level equivalent to a well-tuned 450F motocross bike, and despite weighing slightly more, riders say it feels lighter because of how the weight is distributed. It runs without a clutch, so that twist-and-go feel is easy to ride because the engine is always in the ‘sweet spot’ and missing a gear is never a problem!

Sebastien Tortelli said: “We’re very enthusiastic about competing with combustion motorcycles, sharing our vision and the potential of electric motorcycles. We were invited last year but weren’t ready, so now after two years of development and testing the bike is good to line up. We started preparation for Arenacross in July 2023, then got Jack and Justin onboard in November. The bike is charged onsite, and one charge would be enough for the whole night’s programme, although we still charge between races just to be sure.”

So what’s it like to ride? Jack Brunell said: “The biggest thing is there’s no gear changes; the power just keeps going through the whoops, but I never used a clutch on a 450 anyway. Just using my natural throttle control, through feel and not through sound, I can race as normal and put the power on correctly for the traction available.”

Oklahoma’s Justin Bogle is making his debut in the Arenacross British Championship and loving the prospect of riding in a country where he has a strong family connection, he said: “My wife Charlise is from Essex, so we have family here! I’m super-excited to race the series; it’s completely new for me but especially to race the Stark as well – it’s something different and cool to do, for me it’s a similar change to going from two-stroke to four-stroke. I’m really pumped on working with the Stark guys, and I’m not wearing a salesman’s hat here when I say that riding it is legitimately as much fun as I’ve ever had on a dirt bike.”

Justin will be staying near the Stark factory in Barcelona for the duration of the championship, he said: “I’m an American and I love America, but to be staying in two countries that are so cool for the next couple months is going to be great.

“I’ve seen Tommy and Conrad racing on the footage from Arenacross TV, they look fast, and the series looks like it’s doing great things for the Motocross community in the UK. I don’t know too many guys there, although Neil Prince was my mechanic at World Supercross and he’s a ‘good bloke’ as they say, so it would be nice to see him and get to know the other guys too.”

Matt Bates, Arenacross promoter said: “With the experience of Jack Brunell and Justin Bogle, the aggression of Eddie Jay Wade, together with the leadership of Sebastien Tortelli overseeing the operation, Team Stark Future are a unique and tantalising proposition to watch closely for the 2024 British Arenacross Championship!”

Tickets for the 2024 British Arenacross Championship presented by Fix Auto UK are on sale now, visit www.arenacrossuk.com now.

Can’t make the show live? Don’t worry, we’re streaming every single round live on Vimeo so you needn’t miss a second of the high octane motocross action. From just £5.71 per round, you can also enjoy a host of content you won’t find anywhere else! Visit https://arenacross-tv1.vhx.tv/products for more information.

The 2024 Arenacross British Championship presented by Fix Auto UK kick starts this weekend at Manchester’s AO Arena, and the very top names in British motocross will return to action with some intriguing additions that’ll make this year’s racing as unpredictable as ever!

Without doubt the rivalry on everyone’s minds is between Dirt Store Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle and Crendon Honda Racing’s star rider Conrad Mewse. The pair were first and second in the 2023 Championship, and lead the standings for 2024 already following AX Fest at Bolesworth last September. Aside from a single night in Aberdeen last January where Conrad and Tommy came together on-track, they shared the first and second spots on the podium between themselves at the end of every night of competition.

That tangle was one of the talking points of the series and represented the clash between two men who were born ten years apart, one with the savvy racecraft and one with the blinding speed that makes this such an intriguing rivalry! Not to say that 34-year-old Searle is without a turn of pace – he is capable of hitting the front and clearing off when the mood takes him from almost every other rider on the grid – but Mewse’s M.O. was the exact opposite in 2023 with not such a great average start position usually followed by spell-binding rides through the pack with his Main Event charge from last to first in London proving this.

The contrast in styles doesn’t end there, as Mewse is the quiet Somerset guy who mostly plays things down, whilst Kent-born Searle has become known more for his YouTube Channel antics in recent years that has improved his popularity in no small measure. Both with 4 outdoor British titles to their name, the rivalry didn’t continue outdoors in 2023 as Searle got hurt early on in the season. With Tommy defending his title and ‘still wanting to be the man’, he’ll be fighting harder than ever to keep the young pretender back in AX ’24!

Their most consistent competition in 2023 came from indoor specialist Jack Brunell. After a massive crash in the very first Heat Race of the season, which saw him in hospital with bruised lungs, Jack amazingly returned to racing the very next night, and took a painful 3rd place! The 35-year-old Londoner – although his hairstyle makes him look 20 years younger – has great pace, and regularly gets a great start, but his injuries got to him all through the Tour, leaving him 3rd in every single round after that disastrous first night. Now healthy and armed with the new factory Stark Varg electric machine, he is again ready to take on the outdoor boys who have invaded his patch.

Jack will be joined on the electric machine by the intriguing Justin Bogle – the 2014 East Coast Lites AMA Supercross Champion from Okhlahoma with a gravelly voice and smooth riding style. Married to an English lady and living on this side of the Atlantic, the Stark has given Justin a new lease of life, and if it starts as well as it did at Bolesworth, the #19 could be a serious threat.
Always hot off the gate is the smooth Estonian star Harri Kullas – unable to race AX last year due to issues getting bikes in time, Harri has been racing on these shores for years and collected multiple National titles in the process. After winning the Finnish Sampere Supercross in November, his natural talent will also make him a threat, and he knows both Conrad and Tommy very well – can he spring a surprise on his new FUS Marsh Husqvarna weaponry?

Just to really spice up proceedings, after quite simply not being permitted to race in 2023 due to a history of, shall we say, colourful riding that might have put off the bulk of the entrants to the relaunched series last year, is popular Welsh charger Ashley Greedy!

Just as comfortable in deep Beach Racing sands these days, Ash developed a fearful reputation after a series of head-to-head races went viral in years gone by. With brother Josh in the Pro-Am races, Ash wanted to be back on track himself and was allowed back for the AX Fest on the basis that he be on his best behaviour. There were no complaints after Bolesworth so now he is back on the tour with the S Briggs 10 Central Honda team, alongside Matt Bayliss. Will he get through an entire seven-night series without further incident, especially as Head-to-Head races are back again?

Through multi-time British Champion and AX main event winner, Elliott Banks Browne, Vets MXDN hero Mel Pocock and future stars, Dylan Woodcock, Eddie Wade and Ben Clayton – Arenacross is set for seven nights of typically unpredictable indoor race action!

More than half a million motocross and freestyle MX fans have witnessed the spectacle of Arenacross as the series celebrates 10 years of thrilling audiences.

Since debuting at the iconic O2 Arena London on 12 January 2013, over 500,000 people have experienced the series in person at venues across the UK.

Check Out These Amazing Arenacross Facts:

1. 507,000 tickets have been sold to Arenacross fans since 2013
2. 78 action-packed Arenacross nights have been staged across the UK
3. We’ve moved over half a million tons of dirt in the process (that’s 25,000 lorry loads)!
4. We’ve staged Arenacross in nine of the UK’s biggest cities: London, Belfast, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Liverpool
5. £1.2m in prize money has been paid out to riders and teams since we’ve started
6. Adam Chatfield (UK – 2013) was the first ever Arenacross Champion
7. Tommy Searle (UK – 2023) was the first ever official Arenacross British Champion (ACU Sanctioned)
8. Thomas Ramette (France) has been the most successful rider winning three championships (2015,16 & 17) with Fabien Izoird (France – 2014), Cedric Soubeyras (France – 2018), Gregory Aranda (France – 2019) and Charles Le Francois (France – 2020) each taking a single championship before two Covid interrupted years followed by Tommy Searle dominating in 2023
9. Suzuki have been the most dominant manufacturer with five Championships followed by Kawasaki (three championships) and Honda way back in 2013 with a single championship owned by Adam Chatfield
10. The KTM Group (KTM, GASGAS and Husqvarna) have never won a Pro Main Event in the 78 nights of Arenacross
11. Jack Brunell, Adam Chatfield and Matt Bayliss are the only three Pro Racers to line up every year since Arenacross started in 2013 – and will be ready to race again in 2024
12. Adam Chatfield is the only rider to make every single Main Event since Arenacross started.
13. Joe Clayton and his brother Ben are the only two riders to have won Youth and Lites Championships and now contest in the Pro Class
14. Thomas Ramette is the all time Main Event winner (23 wins) with Cedric Soubeyras second (12 wins) with Adam Chatfield and Florent Richier tied on 7 Main event wins each
15. Jack Brunell (UK) has had more podiums finishes than any rider without making it to the top step
16. Edgar Torronteras and Dan Whitby (Freestyle MX) haven’t missed an Arenacross event in 10 years!
17. There have been 20 different nationalities, across five continents race in the Pro Class since the series began
18. Josh Hansen (USA) is the only American to win a single Main Event (2016 – Hydro Arena, Glasgow)
19. Dan Reardon is the only Australian rider to win a Main Event at his final attempt (2020 – Wembley Arena, London)
20. Arenacross crowned the first ever British Motocross Champion on an electric bike in 2023 when Austin Edwards won the e5 Class
21. 2024 will be the first time any electric dirt bike will race in the Pro Class as Stark Varg enter an all-new team
22. We’ve had some iconic show hosts including Christian Stevenson (aka DJ BBQ), BBC Olympic winter sport hosts Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood, to European Wakeboard Champ, Matt Crowhurst; all of whom have been ably-assisted by their ‘knowledge’ – the ever long standing voice of AX, Jeff Perret!

Matt Bates, Arenacross Owner said: “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in the 10 years of Arenacross and can’t thank our loyal fans, riders, their families and race teams enough. Arenacross has created some amazing moments for the sport of motorcycling and introduced thousands of new fans to dirt bikes and given opportunities to thousands of new bike owners.

“Along our journey we’ve worked hard to introduce brands such as Bolesworth, Garmin, Ford, Monster Energy, TomTom and so many more to connect with some amazing events – but above all, I can’t thank our incredible team of staff enough for making Saturday nights in the cold, wet winters, that much more fun!”

The Arenacross British Championship presented by Fix Auto UK returns from January to February 2024; tickets are on sale now and make the perfect Christmas gift… make it a Merry Arenacrossmas for the motocross fan in your life by visiting www.bolesworth.com/arenacross.

Take a step down memory lane to the first ever round of Arenacross on 12 January 2013 below!