SR75 Suzuki and Ramette return to AX World Tour

SR75 Suzuki welcomed back three-time champion Thomas ‘TR6’ Ramette for the 2025 Arenacross World Tour, which consists of two rounds in the UK at Birmingham and Manchester followed by the tour finale in Abu Dhabi. Ramette was chosen as one of the invited international racers on the tour and has been putting in the work to come out firing on his RM-Z450.

 

For 2025 the SR75 Suzuki bikes were dressed in new ‘RETRO OG’ and ‘RETRO RED’ colour schemes from GP GRAFIX. Ramette arrived from Paris on Friday evening and thanks to an issue with the late arrival of his bags, it turned into an all night effort from the team to get the bikes ready for Qualifying on Saturday morning. 

 

Qualifying consists of two groups of professional riders and two timed qualifying sessions with the order of group one and two reversed for the second sessions. Ramette was straight on it riding with a class and style that was just a little different, going first in both of his qualifying sessions to set up a great night.

 

The field is filled with great riders on this tour and there are no easy rides. That said in heat one Ramette started strong from the inside squeezing Cedric Souberas out and taking the holeshot. The next few minutes were sublime as Thomas showed his speed, class and style as he put together smooth fast calculated laps to take a dominate victory to start the night off in style.

 

In heat two it was another fantastic start and holeshot from Ramette - using the perfect power from the RM-Z450 to hold off the rest of the pack. The laps that followed were once again testament to Thomas’ professional nature and focus to dominate once again and move around the track trying different lines in preparation for going into the main event.

First gate choice for the main as the only unbeaten racer of the night set Thomas up for a great start as he blasted out of the gate again and just got tangled for a fraction allowing Zaragoza to sneak alongside in the first rhythm section. Ramette went for the inside line to make an early pass for the lead but the leader defended with a ‘cross’ jump causing Ramette to hit a tough block and almost go down. Thomas pushed to get the pass done as his speed almost took him into the back of the leader as they slowed in different areas entering corners. It looked like it was only a matter of time before Ramette could make the pass stick but this is racing and unfortunately Ramette just had to brake a little harder than usual on the finish line jump landing to avoid getting into the back of the leader. Thomas went down hard, got up, checked himself and got back on to try to rescue a result. Ramette fought through the field from last to get to the finish line with an amazing sixth place finish.

 

Thomas Ramette said of round one, “What can I say, this weekend has been a big experience. I know I’m feeling good and I know my guys make for me a perfect bike every time for Arenacross. I felt great on the track and tonight I felt I could take the victory. My times, my heat races and for the first couple of laps in the main I felt amazing and I know when I have the speed to have fun, to entertain the fans and to win. It is unfortunate to take this crash and it is disappointing but I gave everthing for myself and the team to make a good result and I have to be happy with my victories and feeling with my amazing bike and team. All the guys work hard for me and I give my best. Thanks to the Arenacross Fans and everyone who supports me personally and SR75 Suzuki”

 

Geoff Walker, SR75 World Team owner commented, “Wow, what a 24 hours it’s been. Fun, challenging, wild, testing, stressful and then just add in some breathtaking speed and style from our main man and it’s a perfect SR75 Suzuki kind of race weekend. Thomas was total class tonight and I have zero negatives. The man showed his class and just how good he is. He was unwilling to be beaten and if you go down while pushing for victory then you get my full backing. Thomas, our race bikes and our amazing crew all worked like a dream and it is cool to be involved in this new three race AX World Tour. I would like to say a big thank you to the AX crew for putting on a cool event and to everyone who supports and helps us to go racing in these times.”

 

Photo credits: MotoHead Mag and summit_moto