The 2026 Arenacross Tour is ready to return to Belfast this coming weekend, in front of the ever-enthusiastic fans that are set to pack out the SSE Arena on both Friday and Saturday night to close out the series!

The Northern Irish venue is a favourite for many in the paddock, with a beautiful riverside setting, and many fantastic facilities in an arena that usually serves as the home ground for the Belfast Giants ice hockey team.

While it’s unfortunate that Jason Meara remains sidelined through illness and will miss his home event in Belfast this weekend, there’s a huge boost for local fans with James Mackrel back in action, returning from the injury that kept him out in Birmingham. With Mackrel lining up once again, there’s still no shortage of local riders across the classes ready to soak up – and thrive on – the incredible support inside the SSE Arena.

Martin Barr continues to defy the advancing years as he lines up for the Team Championship leading Armor Vision Powered by St Blazey MX squad, and while he has raced indoors on two-stroke and four-stroke machinery of various sizes, he is set to start his home race on electric power for the first time in Belfast. He has been enjoying the Stark Varg bike all winter long, and it might give him an extra benefit this weekend, as the bike is fitted with a rear brake on the left handlebar instead of in front of the right footpeg. This will help him in the right-handed first corner as others won’t be able to brake as hard with their right leg out for stability. So although it’s a different format to when he claimed a massively popular podium last year, the man from Ballyclare should be strong in all three Main Event races through the night.

Barr himself says: “I’m really looking forward to Belfast again. Getting a podium there last year, 20 years after getting my first ever indoor podium there, was fantastic, and who knows? We’ll give it another go this year, it’s not gunna be easy, there are a lot of fast guys in with us, and I’m just running around like a madman with my son riding for the first time!”

Young Martin Jr, just five years old, is racing for the first time in the E-Mini class, with a lowered bike that sometimes gets grounded in big ruts; “I’m more nervous for him than I am for myself!” says Martin Sr, and even at Birmingham the young lad was getting some brilliant encouragement from fans in the know, as well as from his Dad in full racing gear trackside.

Another local boy with high hopes for Belfast is Jet Products Yamaha rider Lewis Spratt, who competes in the new Pro-Am class that now includes teenagers like himself, who used to have their own race called AX Futures. “You definitely need to be made of harder stuff in the Pro-Am class, I feel a bit more pressure this year with this class, knowing that we need to qualify to make the night show, but it is what it is and we’re just getting on with it!”

17-year-old Lewis, a real hope for the future in Motocross, got stuck into the new level of competition in his first night on a four-stroke in Birmingham, getting better through the event as he backed up eighth position in the morning’s first race with a better fifth in race two, putting him sixth in the series coming into next weekend. “I live about an hour away from Belfast but I still class it as my home race because everywhere else we race is on the mainland of the UK, so I always look forward to having the local crowd there. I definitely notice the noise from the crowd when I make a pass or something like that, I always feel more confident because I know I’ve got the crowd behind me.”

Two even younger riders are revving up in the Supermini and Mini classes, with 11-year-old Matthew Kelly-Edwards from Glenavy fired up to get a top three finish in the Small Wheels category, hopefully for him going one better than the fourth he achieved in Birmingham, in what will be his second appearance at his local event.

Also 11 years of age, but racing in the 65cc Mini class, will be Erin Deazley. Hailing from Castelderg on the opposite side of Northern Ireland to Belfast, but still very much counting on home support in her own second appearance at the SSE. “It’s always good to be in Belfast, hopefully I can get in the top ten again, come and cheer me on!”

In the youngest age group of the night, there will be four riders hitting the track, including young Marty Barr, in the E-Mini class, with Noah Barr (no relation), Zach Elliott, and Zack McCorkell all looking to break into that top ten during a race where the crowd noise makes up for the lack of bike noise!

There’s plenty of local flavour to get fans excited for the Belfast weekend, and the new all-action schedule for the night show is sure to keep everyone on the edge of their seat for the duration. If you’re local, you seriously cannot miss it!

Local riders to watch (left to right):

• Zach Elliott #5 (AX E-Mini)
• Matthew Kelly-Edwards #100 (AX Supermini)
  
• Martin Barr Jr #50 (AX E-Mini)
  
• Lewis Spratt #21(AX Pro-Am)
• Martin Barr #50 (AX Pros)
• Lewis Spratt #21(AX Pro-Am)
• Martin Barr Jr #50 (AX E-Mini)
• Zack McCorkell #161 (AX E-Mini)
  
• Nathan Green #41 (AX Pro AM)
• Noah Barr #100 (AX E-Mini)
• Erin Deazley #191 (AX Mini)

Not pictured - James Mackrel #65(AX Pros)