Page 22 - ISSUE-81

JOEY SAVATGY
250 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 has been an odd year for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy. He entered the 250SX West Coast championships as one of the, if not the, favorite to win the title. He started the series off with some promise with a win and a second-place nish at two of the rst three rounds but after that, he would fail to nish on the podium at ve
of the nal seven races. His starts just weren’t there and even when they were, he just seemed to be lacking that little extra ghting power to fully challenge for wins. His outdoor season has been much of the same. He has failed to nail a great start and has failed to nish on the podium in a moto so far this year. He was hoping Muddy Creek, where he won a moto two years ago, would be where he could turn it around. Savatgy began his day with a great showing in the morning qualifying practice sessions. In quite a phenom- enon, he and Jeremy Martin tied for third quickest lap time of the class. The two riders had the same time all the way down to the thousandth of a second. Savatgy’s speed was clearly there so now all that was left for him to do was get off to a good start in the motos. Savatgy began the rst moto in all too familiar territory; He was right at the tail end of the lead group. He grabbed the green ag in eighth place and got stuck in the pace of those ahead of him. The riders ahead of him were running virtually the same lap times so it was dif cult for him to move forward. He stayed stagnant there in eighth until he was able to pass a downed Alex Martin around the halfway point. That put him up to seventh and he still had most of the top six right in front of him. He continued to log strong laps and they nally paid off when he passed Jordon Smith for sixth with just a few laps to go. He would remain there until the checkered ag. The sixth-place nish was good, but he wanted to get back on the podium where he belongs. His bid to try and get back to the podium in moto two took a big hit when he rounded the rst lap buried in thirteenth place. To make matters worse, he struggled to make quick, early passes. He lurched his way to tenth by lap ve and managed to pass Sean Cantrell for ninth on lap seven. Savatgy was riding a solid pace once again but so was the rest of the eld. He continued ghting forward, pass- ing Cameron McAdoo for eighth in the second half of the moto. It appeared that would be where he would nish but a crash from RJ Hampshire on the nal lap gifted him one more spot. His 6-7 moto scores earned him sixth overall. A decent result but he is capable of more. Savatgy just needs one holeshot to hopefully kickstart his season.
22 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018