Page 52 - ISSUE_77

CHRISTIAN CRAIG
450 MX / 8TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> With Cole Seely’s lengthy injury and Christian Craig’s strong performances lling in on Honda HRC for both Seely and Ken Roczen during the Supercross, it was all enough to earn Craig a spot with the team for the entire outdoor season. He could not be more thrilled as he has had a lot of success riding Honda 450s outdoors, so he was looking forward to being healthy and having full support all season long. He enjoyed riding the 450 and was doing so well on it in Supercross that when his 250 West Coast Championship resumed, he remained on the 450. He capped the Supercross season with back to back fourth place nishes in the premier class and it set him up with a slew of momentum heading into the outdoor season opener here at Hangtown.
Craig looked uid and comfortable in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The Honda HRC rider quali ed with the fourth fastest lap time. His speed was quite impressive and right on par with all of the title contenders. He was con dent he could go out there and mix it up and ght for a podium position.
Known for his holeshots, Craig nailed one to kick off the season in moto number one. He rounded the rst turn rst and fended off Jason Anderson to the green ag and he logged the rst lap led of the se- ries. His battle with Anderson continued into lap two where Anderson would eventually make the pass. Craig had no time to settle back in because Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin applied their own pressure, and both passed Craig. However, Craig put up a tough ght as he fought back around the outside heading up on of the long hills that Hangtown has to offer. The three riders jockeyed for position for the remainder of lap three, but it was Craig who would slide back to fourth. He seemed to be comfortable and keeping with the lead there he would was out his front end in one of the sweepers and go down. Luckily, he was able to remount rather quickly and only drop back to ninth. He resettled back into his pace and began inching back forward. He passed Phil Nicoletti around the halfway point for eighth and then kept seventh place Blake Baggett honest for the rest of the moto. The eighth-place nish had to sting a bit after his great start, but he looked to bounce back in moto two.
Craig could not match his holeshot in the second moto and instead started way back in twelfth place. In uncharted territory, Craig struggled in the opening laps. He actually even got bumped back to thirteenth before gathering his bearings and passing three riders on lap four, Dylan Merriam, Cody Cooper, and Toshiki Tomita, to take over tenth. He kept the trend of moving forward going by passing Nicoletti for ninth on the next lap. He continued clicking off smooth, solid laps and ended up passing his teammate, Ken Roczen, for eighth about halfway. From there, it was a quiet second half of the moto and Craig would nish right there in eighth. His 8-8 would get him eighth overall. A nice start to the year for Craig but he knows he left a little bit on the table with his rst moto crash.
52 GRITMOTO • MAY 21, 2018