Page 62 - Issue_63

CHRISTIAN CRAIG
250 SX / 10TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Christian Craig put in the work this offseason and he will not be satisfied until he is winning races. The Geico Honda rider has looked great all season but during interviews he will not shy away from voicing his disappointment in his results. It is not too often when a rider is not satisfied with a third and two fifth place finishes and just shrugs them off. Ninety-five percent of the riders he’s competing against would give anything for those results but Craig knows exactly what he is capable of and will not rest until he finds himself back on the top step of the podium. He came into Glendale this weekend with a fiery glint in his eye. He was hyped up and full of good vibes, return- ing to the stadium that saw him win his first career main event two years ago. He was hoping to have some déjà vu of that moment when the dust settled out in the desert. Craig looked smooth and was flowing well during qualifying practice on a challenging Glendale track. He was one of the few riders that was happy with how big the whoops were because he is arguably the quickest rider through them in the 250 class. He’d look to use them to his advantage come race time. Craig near- ly grabbed the holeshot in his heat race, but co-points leader Shane McElrath narrowly edged him out heading into turn two. He settled into second place and tried to mirror what McElrath was doing out front. Craig, little by little, allowed McElrath to sneak away but still managed to keep him within sight. It was a nice gauging tool to start right behind McElrath, who has been fighting for race wins at every round thus far and see where improvements needed to be made when getting ready for the main event. So ultimately Craig rode a smooth, easy heat race finishing second behind McEl- rath and geared up for what was bound to be a fantastic main event. Craig who is typically a great starter, found himself buried deep in the field after lap one of the main event. He got the green
flag in eleventh place. In unfamiliar territory, he tried getting out of there as quickly as possible. He made one pass on lap two but on the following lap, he got bumped by Justin Hill and by the time he remounted, he was in twenty-second place. Dead last. If he was in unfamiliar territory when he was in eleventh, he was somewhere out in the twilight zone way back there in last place, so he started chugging away attempting to catch back up to the rest of the field. When he got going, he was twenty-seconds behind the rider ahead of him, so he had to make up some serious ground just to pass one rider. However, he maintained his composure, at least he presented himself that way, I’m sure he was not too happy on the inside and he began plugging away. He was laying down some of the faster lap times of the race and rode hard all the way to the checkered flag. He caught up to tenth place. A stellar performance after his dire early race circumstances. But the finish was clearly not good and will hurt him severely for his chances at the title. Craig will look to bounce back with a vengeance next weekend in Oakland.
62 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 28, 2018