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ADAM CIANCIARULO
250 SX / 5TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Adam Cianciarulo entered Indianapolis coming off arguably the most emotional win of his career. After all the hardship and injuries the young rider has gone through over the past few years, he finally stepped on the top of the box for the first time since 2014. He led the race from wire to wire over teammate and championship contender Joey Savatgy. It served as a big confidence boost and what he needed to reassert himself as a legitimate contender for the championship. He struggled a bit with crashes and little mistakes at the first two rounds with a second and a first at the previous two, he was coming into Indy with some momentum.
Cianciarulo struggled a bit in practice qualifying modestly in eighth place. He tweaked his knee in a run-in with Zach Osborne but received some therapy before the night show and he was ready to give it a go.
AC ripped the holeshot in the first heat race of the night quickly taking the lead. How- ever, he would not have it for long as Jordon Smith came racing by pushing him back to second. The following lap, Geico Honda’s Christian Craig also made the pass sending him back to third position. AC did not seem to be riding with that same intensity we’ve seen in the past two races but he was able to stabilize himself and get out of the heat with a third.
Cianciarulo made the proper adjustments to his bike as well as his body as he got ready to grit out the main event. When the gate dropped, he was unsuccessful in matching
his holeshot from the heat race and he started in back in seventh place. But this time
he trended forward instead of backward. He made quick work of Dakota Alix on lap two and settle in behind Dylan Ferrandis. AC pressured the Frenchman for several laps before forcing him into a mistake and taking over the fifth-place position. Shortly after that he caught up to Alex Martin after the TLD Red Bull KTM rider crashed while running third. AC applied the pressure but lacked the spunk needed to make a pass. He would settle for fifth place. It was an average performance after two spectacular ones but
he still holds third in the points and we won’t be completely sure how much that knee tweak affected him.
44 GRITMOTO • MARCH 19, 2017