Cycle News Staff | February 7, 2024
The AMA Arenacross Series headed to Prescott Valley, Arizona, for round eight of the 2024 season. A tight layout inside Findlay Toyota Center saw close racing as the points tightened up, too.
Ryan Breece made up ground in the championship standings by winning both feature main events, while his main rival, Kyle Peters, surprisingly finished off the box in both races.
Ryan Breece is surging in the second half of the AMA Arenacross Series. He dominated in Prescott.
Breece is gaining momentum in the latter half of the 2024 season. His perfect day started by clocking the fastest qualifying time before later winning his heat race. Breece then led every lap of the first 18-lap main event, easily taking the win by more than five seconds over second-place Kyle Bitterman. Robbie Wageman crossed third in the main one as he took advantage of the West Coast Supercross series break. Peters grabbed fourth after a poor start and struggled to come through the field.
As usual, race two flipped the grid and put the front-runners on the second start row. This allowed Arizona native Deven Raper to lead the first few laps while Breece, Wageman and Austin Politelli made their way to the front. By lap seven, Breece passed Politelli for the lead and he never looked back. Wageman managed to grab second late in the race and couldn’t close the gap to Breece out front. Politelli held on for third after leading four laps in the early stages. Peters again struggled to get through the pack, and a big mistake on lap four saw him lose the tow to the leaders.
Breece claimed the overall win by going 1-1 on the night over Wageman’s 3-2. Peters still salvaged a third overall with a pair of fourths. He continues to lead the championship points, now just 13 clear of Breece.
Robbie Wageman was second overall.
“In the main event two, I’ve obviously been struggling with the back row,” said Breece. “I’ve been watching a ton of coverage on how to weave through these guys and not be dirty, but I want to show them a wheel. It’s my time now and it was an overall good night for us. We’re on to something right now.”
“Me and Breece had a good battle on maybe lap four or five,” Wageman said. “We got into first and second and just ran with it. I think I had a better line in the whoops and was gaining on him through there. I think he was just being smart, but man, I wanted to close the gap badly.” CN
- Ryan Breece (Yam) 1-1
- Robbie Wageman (Yam) 3-2
- Kyle Peters (Hon) 4-4
- Kyle Bitterman (Hon) 2-7
- Austin Politelli Kerr (GG) 7-3
