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JOEY SAVATGY
250 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / CAVAZOS WORDS / COPELAND DESIGN / WILSON
>> The past month has not gone as planned for the veteran 250 rider. After a hard fought 250 East Coast Championship was taken from him in a last lap pass by his rival, Zach Osborne, many have wondered whether the perennial title threat could rebound outdoors. The series opener at Hangtown didn’t turn out the way that he and the team had imagined it going. Joey struggled with starts and was unable to crack the top 5 either moto finishing with a 7-7 score on the day. That would be a good opener for anyone but Savatgy believes he belongs on the podium. The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider would try and bounce back at the 2nd round of the season at a track that he has turned numerous laps on, Glen Helen. The start of the race went almost perfectly for Joey, as he got a great jump on the start and came out of the first corner in 2nd place just behind Jeremy Martin. These two riders showed why they are considered favorites in the class and pulled a substantial gap on the rest of the field by the mid race point. Joey never fell off pace with Martin but he was unable to make a charge to close the early gap that Martin created early in the moto. The track was treacherous, as expected and he looked much more comfortable than last weekend. Savatgy would finish exactly where he started the race, 2nd. The ball was in Joey’s court for the second moto and he made an error on the start and got shuffled to mid pack by the end of the first few corners. That wouldn’t hold him back though, as he put on an impressive charge through the field, eventually catching on to the tail of his teammate, Austin Forkner. The two were locked into a heated battle when suddenly the same problem that struck Forkner in moto 1 reared its ugly head and the bike failure struck Savatgy. He was unable to complete another lap of the moto and would drop to 29th before the checkered flag waved. After a big improvement in moto 1, that’s not the way he wanted to finish the day. He will have an up hill battle for the remaining rounds if he wants to climb back into title contention.
72 GRITMOTO • MAY 28, 2017