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CHRISTIAN CRAIG
250 SX / 6TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Coming into the 2017 season a lot of hype surrounded the #48 of Christian Craig. After returning full time to racing last year on the West Coast series, Craig looked fantastic and even secured his lone career win. Because of that, many had him pegged to be the title favorite for the East Coast this year but he has struggled mightily. Crashes and poor starts have seriously hindered him from hitting his stride. He has never really gotten into a rhythm and has failed to find any consistency. He has managed to find the podium once this season but the expectations were much greater. He was hoping Indianapolis would be the city where he would turn his sea- son around and find some better starts.
Craig looked quick in qualifying practice and especially good in the big whoop sec- tion. His length helped him glide right over the top of them as he notched the fourth fastest lap time. His speed was on par and now he would have to hope for some good starts come race time. His heat race started off pretty well as he leapt into third place early. He locked his sights on Adam Cianciarulo and made the pass on him two laps into the race. Once in second, he tried tracking down leader Jordon Smith but did not have enough time to get it done. The smooth, solid second place heat race could have been what he needed to get some positive vibes going for the main. Craig could not pull off another solid start in the main and rounded the opening lap in eighth position. He made quick work of Dakota Alix to get into seventh and linked up with Cianciarulo to try and make a push to the front. Several laps went by before Craig picked up another spot as he passed a downed Dylan Ferrandis to inherit sixth. As the race went on, Craig lost the rear end of Cianciarulo and ended up by himself in sixth. He could not find that igniter to give him that extra “umph” to get
the front of the pack. He would end up finishing there in sixth in yet another so-so performance. The frustration must be setting in for the California native but he must remain strong and will himself out the rut that he is in. He has persevered through harder things in his life so breaking free of this slump should not be too hard.
46 GRITMOTO • MARCH 19, 2017