Page 36 - Issue_64

CHRISTIAN CRAIG
250 SX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ROEWER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Christian Craig knows he belongs on the podium, saying all night that it was time for him to make a statement and he was tired of waiting for the opportunity to come to him. Last weekend was a rough one for the Geico Honda rider finishing the race all the way back in tenth place. Tired of not finishing where he knows he could be, Craig put in the work on and off the track this week heading into round five of the AMA Supercross season. Qualifying sixth fastest for the day, it was clear that Craig wasn’t messing around. Lined up and ready to go, Craig was in the second gate drop of the night. Putting the power to the ground out of the gate Craig flew into the first turn right around fifth place. Making passes as fast as he could the Geico Honda rider quickly made his way into third place. Setting faster lap times in his heat race than during qualifying, Craig was looking comfortable on the ever-changing Oakland tack conditions. With an extra boost of confidence from his heat race, the Geico Honda rider was lined up for the 250-main event ready to throw down and leave it all on the track. AS the gate dropped Craig charged out of the gate really putting that Honda power to good use. Sitting
in second right behind Alex Martin, Christian Craig was off to a great start. A couple laps into the race Craig began to charge for the first-place position, working hard to pass Alex Martin every chance he got. Eventually sticking the pass through the whoop section. Now Christian Craig was leading the race, exactly where he planned on being heading into the night. Looking incredibly confident the Geico Honda rider had a decent lead ahead of the riders behind him. A little pass the halfway point, Aaron Plessinger was starting to put the pressure on the Geico Honda rider. Falling victim to the many ruts Craig cross-rutted on the face of a jump sending him flying off the track. Luckily, he hit a tough block and didn’t really go down. Making a recov- ery as quickly as he could, Craig lost his leading position falling back to fourth place. With only four minutes left in the race there wasn’t much time left for Craig to recover from his costly mistake. Unfortunately, he finished off the fifth round of the 250SX West championship in fourth place. Even with his bad finish, Craig now knows he has what it takes to lead the race.
36 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 4, 2018