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JOEY SAVATGY
250 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 has been a head scratcher for Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy. The perennial championship and race winner contender has failed to nish on the podium in a moto through eight rounds thus far in the series. A lot of bad luck and internal struggles have come crashing down on him in full force. He nearly had a moto victory at round three in Colorado, but his bike blew up while he was leading comfortable late in the moto. Bad starts and crashes while ghting near the front have also put a damper on the season but he still has four rounds to try and end it on a positive note. We are heading into Washougal where he managed to snag the overall victory a year ago, so he was hoping he could nd that same kind of rhythm and make it two in a row. Savatgy looked aggressive and very fast in the morning qualifying practice sessions. He was riding with a little more spunk than he has all season and it resulted in the second fastest lap time of the class. He was fastest in
the rst session and nearly fastest in the second session, but Justin Cooper edged him out at the nal moment. Nonetheless, Savatgy was red up and ready to do battle in the motos. Savatgy began moto one by ripping a big holeshot leading the other thirty-nine riders into the rst turn. He looked con dent on his machine and put a few bike lengths between himself and his teammate Austin Forkner who was holding down second. The gap stayed close however with Forkner probing his rear wheel in on him at times. Their battle began to intensify and about ten minutes into the race, Savatgy left the door open slightly on the inside and Forkner was able to squeeze through. Savatgy immediately lost a few bike lengths to his teammate and it looked like he might not be able to retaliate
but in the latter half of the moto he seemed to nd another gear. Savatgy closed right back up to the rear wheel
of Forkner and the two riders endured a battle royale. Constantly going bar to bar, side by side around the track for a few laps before Savatgy made a pass work. He grabbed an extra handful of throttle before braking down the hill and just managed to beat Forkner to the spot and steal the lead. From there, Savatgy ripped some hot laps and rode home with the victory. It was his rst podium, let alone win, of the season. He was elated on the podium and said he was just trying to go back to having some fun at the races and with the whole process of the sport. It clearly worked in moto one, but they still had one more moto to go. The second moto started completely opposite of how the rst one started for Savatgy. He got a bad jump out of the gate, pinched off, and then tangled up in a rst turn crash. He started outside the top thirty but managed to climb to twenty- fth after lap one. Savatgy would have to put on a miraculous charge if he wanted a chance at the overall win and he would try to do just that. He started riding with some urgency and looked to be in a very nice ow. He was being crafty in the way he was pass- ing riders and looked very strong. He moved into tenth at the halfway point and needed seventh for the victory, but that task would prove to be quite the feat. He was nearly twenty seconds behind Mitchell Harrison who held down that seventh spot. He kept charging hard, but the riders were so spread out at that point that he would only end
up nishing in ninth. There just wasn’t enough time after starting so far back. His 1-9 moto scores mirrored Shane McElrath’s 9-1, but he would lose the tiebreaker and end up with third overall. Not the way he wanted to end the day after a great rst moto but with kind of season Savatgy has been having, I’m sure he’ll gladly walk away with a moto win and a third overall.
14 GRITMOTO • JULY 29, 2018