Arenacross – The French Connection

Since the start of Arenacross in 2013, French racers have played an integral part in the growth of the championship by bringing an international flavour, sublime technical ability and they've certainly added to the drama, often being in tight fought championship battles.

Two such riders are former champions Thomas Ramette and Cedric Soubeyras, who have battled it out down the years, not only with other fellow French riders such as Fabian Izoird (2014 AX Champion), Greg Aranda (2021 AX Champion), Florent Richier, Cyrille Coulon, Charles Lefrancios, Julien Lebeau and Thomas Do to name but a few but also an international field with riders from all over the British Isles, Europe, America and even Australia.

With five of the 11 Arenacross titles to date between them, both Thomas and Cedric have seen and been involved in their fair share of the incredible action and witnessed the development and evolution of the championship. Something they are both thankful of and look forward to continuing.

"Before I came to Arenacross in 2014 I saw some pictures and videos but I was surprised with the top level of production, everything is so well organised. I think in Europe it's the best championship from that point of view" says Thomas, the only rider in Arenacross history with three titles to his name, all of which he won on a three-peat, winning back-to-back in 2015, 2016 and 2017. "It's great to now see the series expand to a world tour, because it deserves to. Everything is marketed really well and it's always such a good show, so I've very pleased and proud to be part of this series and one of its champions."

For two-time champion Cedric, or 'Soub' as we like to call him, the notion is the same. There's no doubt how highly the 2019 and 2020 champ rates Arenacross as he excited explains; "We're rockstars when we race Arenacross, not like when we race in France. I've even said to the French Supercross organisers that they need to take a flight and come and see Arenacross and see how good it is and also how they have the small kids racing. We don't do that in France, but I think we should because other countries in Europe like the U.K are catching us up. The Arenacross formula is working. Every time I come to Arenacross the standard goes up every single time, the show, the media, everything. Now it's the World Tour which I'm really excited about because if it grows like Arenacross has in the U.K over the last ten years then it's going to be so good. I wish the best to Arenacross because this series deserves to be one of the biggest in the world, for sure."

Although they agree on the value and professionalism of Arenacross, they haven't always seen eye to eye. No more so than during a titanic championship battle in 2016 and arguably the most dramatic finale in the 11 year history of Arenacross. Coming into the final round at Wembley Arena Soub held the red plate (which signifies the championship leader) by a narrow margin over Thomas knowing he just had to finish directly behind Ramette. The two of them soon found themselves at the front of the pack with Cedric in the lead. Thomas then made a classic, firm but fair block pass on Soubeyras to give himself a fighting chance. At that point all Cedric had to do was follow Ramette home to win his first Arenacross championship but as the records show, that didn't happen. Soub made a few small mistakes and fell back into line of sight of Thomas' teammate Cyrille Coulon. Then in a couple of minutes of incredible sporting drama, all hell broke loose as Coulon launched into the side of Soubeyras taking both riders down hard. With Thomas now fully aware of what had happened he concentrated on keeping it on two wheels and bringing it home but that even that was not without incident and drama. Angry and disappointed an emotional Soubeyras knew the only chance he had of winning the title was to stop Thomas winning and as Ramette came round to lap him Cedric tried to halt the inevitability of Thomas' second championship on the spin. The pair collided in the biggest bowl turn on the track but yet again it was Soub who came off worse, flying into a spin and being thrown from his bike. Totally disgruntled and devastated, he just left his bike there on the track, threw his goggles off and walked out of the arena, obviously not wanting to wait around to see Ramette be crowned champion.

Since then there's been a lot of water under the bridge and now, in the cold light of day both racers look back on it with a more pragmatic point of view.

"We had a bad relationship that year" says Thomas looking back. "I wouldn't say we were close friends, but we were getting along before the season started, but then he took me out at Belfast, like he did the night before with Adam Chatfield, and then after that incident our relationship wasn't so good. We went into Wembley with Cedric leading the championship and he knew he just had to finish behind me to win it. I think I started in front of him and then he passed me, but then I passed him back and just tried to stay calm and concentrate on my race to try to win. Then I heard the crowd go crazy and I knew something had happened. As I came off the bowl turn and back up the start straight, I could see Cedric and my teammate Cyrille (Coulon) both stood on the track off their bikes so I knew they had collided. It was nothing to do with me or team tactics. You'll have to ask Cyrille and Cedric on what happened and why, I was just looking forward and trying to win the race to win the championship and that's what I did."

For Soub, the bitter disappointment of that night became a strength that drove him on and he looks back on it with no regrets. "I still sometime watch video from 2016, my first year doing Arenacross and it was crazy times racing with Fabian and Thomas. You know what? From 2016 through to 2018, 2019, until Fabian stopped we would hardly talk, now we text almost every day and often talk. We've all know each other a long time now and we're getting old now! Falling out happens in racing because we all want to win.

"It's still hard to say, but three times in a row I lost the championship going into the last round with the red plate and at the end of each of those I couldn't believe it. When I finally won the Arenacross championship, the word redemption is not big enough. The feeling was relief and a weight lifted from my heart. I have no regrets on those championships I didn't win, even though I came so close. You have to accept it's racing and just try and move forward and put yourself in a position to win and stay out of trouble.

"In 2020 or 2019, I can't remember which, Greg (Aranda) got held up just for a moment by Ash Greedy and that was probably enough for me to win the title. So, there's always those situations where you can say maybe if, maybe that, but that's racing. I think Cyrille's move was dirty but that's not to say Thomas didn't deserve his title because he did and rode a great championship that year, like he did the year before and the year after. I was just so upset after the final round because I lost it. I should've just got in the front and stayed out of trouble; I lost it myself by making mistakes."

Whatever happens in this year's Arenacross World Tour, you can expect to see both Thomas and Cedric giving their all. It's the bare minimum to becoming a champion in this series and they are as hungry for the sweet taste of victory as they've ever been.