Canadian Kieran Doherty Hits the Track in Manchester for Round 1 of UK Arenacross

By Billy Rainford

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Canadian Kieran Doherty is living the moto dream over in England as he competes in the 2016 Monster Energy UK Arenacross Series. – Doherty photo

Kieran Doherty, the young Arcon, Ontario, native, is calling Dartmouth, Devon, England, home these days as he lines up for the 2016 Monster Energy UK Arenacross Series. You may not be familiar with him, but he and his dad, Terry, have been going at this sport full bore for the past several years with lofty goals. Right from the start, they knew what they wanted to do and achieve, and it looks like they’re putting their plan into action.

The 17-year old just celebrated a birthday December 23rd and has been doing online podcasts to keep those interested in his experiences and progress up to date. Like I said before, he’s a natural when he speaks in these things.

Here is his latest podcast from England he did at Christmastime.

Round 1 is in the books so we grabbed Kieran Sunday afternoon to see how it all went for him. Here is how he summed it up:

Coming into 2016 was an amazing feeling. We are out in Devon, at the only indoor motocross track in England, training everyday. I’ve just finished high school early so I could come here, and I’ve been in the UK since December 5th.

I gotta say I didn’t really have any expectations set going into the first round in Manchester. My only goal was to get used to the series for the first round.

The first practice was really cool, the track I felt was designed really great, but the dirt was very different from anything commonly ridden in arenacross in the US or Canada. I would say it’s very soft, so that made it more difficult to get used to, not ever having ridden the type of dirt before. Everything on the track was good to jump, and had great flow. However, because of my inexperience racing on this dirt, putting down 10 laps in a row solid was very difficult. One thing I had to work on all day before the main was making sure I landed on the finish properly (I kept over-jumping the finish, which made it hard to get through the next corner properly, causing me to stall the bike a couple times).

However, in the main, in front of 11,000 people, it was great. I over-jumped the finish on the first lap causing me to stall it, losing time to the leaders. However, for the rest of the race, I was able to get over all the jumps properly and put some solid laps together. I also changed up my lines in the rhythm sections in the main because my line was not working during the day, so I had to jump through the right side in the main as opposed to a different line.

Overall, I ended up 5th on the night. I definitely want to be on the podium every weekend, but I came away feeling confident in my riding. This was a great first round that we can build off of. I definitely think next weekend I will be able to finish closer to the leaders, now that I know what to expect and have an idea of how to change my riding style.

You can check out my podcast, called World Tour, as I recap everything I am doing twice a week on this tour with details on racing, how I am doing, and anything else important. The link to the podcast is www.soundcloud.com/worldtourpod

I remember heading over to the UK in 2010 to watch JSR, Colton Facciotti, Brock Hoyer, and Kyle Beaton compete. These are the things you remember the rest of your life, so good for Kieran taking the chance and lining up in a foreign land. Like I told him, he and his family will talk about this experience the rest of their lives.

Good luck in the rest of your races, Kieran, and we’ll be sure to check in with you.

Results (from www.arenacrossuk.com):

Pos	No.	Name	Sponsor	Make	Points	Laps	Best Tm
1	1	Thomas Ramette	SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki	Suzuki	20	14	23.834
2	120	Cedric Soubeyras	Geartec Yamaha	Yamaha	18	14	23.843
3	155	Jack Brunell	SJR Kawasaki	Kawasaki	16	14	24.093
4	871	Fabien Izoird	LPE Kawasaki	Kawasaki	15	14	23.429
5	5	Cyrille Coulon	SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki	Suzuki	14	14	23.969
6	407	Adam Chatfield	Buildbase Honda	Honda	13	14	24.614
7	2	Florent Richier	LPE Kawasaki	Kawasaki	12	14	24.559
8	100	Josh Hansen	SJR Kawasaki	Kawasaki	11	14	24.094
9	4	Matt Bayliss	Wooldridge Demolition	Honda	10	14	24.271
10	941	Angelo Pellegrini	Buildbase Honda	Honda	9	14	24.774
11	9	Gradie Featherstone	Xbladez Husqvarna	Husqvarna	8	11	24.830

Pos	No.	Name	Sponsor	Make	Points	Laps	Best Tm
1	14	Joe Clayton			20	10	25.168
2	161	George Clarke	Sealmoto Brookmeade, LRS	Yamaha	18	10	25.382
3	981	Jordan Moxey	J.Nudds Shellfish	Kawasaki	16	9	26.511
4	33	Josh Greedy	Shocktech	Kawasaki	15	9	28.448
5	664	Kieran Doherty	Wheeldon Off Road Centre		14	7	32.071

Pos	No.	Name	Sponsor	Make	Points	Laps	Best Tm
1	14	Joe Clayton	MVRD Fuel, Wheeldon Off Road Centre	Husqvarna	20	10	24.936
2	161	George Clarke	Sealmoto Brookmeade, LRS	Yamaha	18	10	25.345
3	981	Jordan Moxey	J.Nudds Shellfish	Kawasaki	16	10	26.353
4	33	Josh Greedy	Shocktech	Kawasaki	15	10	26.878
5	664	Kieran Doherty	Wheeldon Off Road Centre	Kawasaki	14	8	32.266

Pos	No.	Name	Sponsor	Make	Points
1	120	Cedric Soubeyras	Geartec Yamaha	Yamaha	4
2	100	Josh Hansen	SJR Kawasaki	Kawasaki	3
3	1	Thomas Ramette	SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki	Suzuki	2
4	4	Matt Bayliss	Wooldridge Demolition	Honda	1

Canadian Kieran Doherty Hits the Track in Manchester for Round 1 of UK Arenacross