Page 72 - ISSUE51

ADAM CIANCIARULO
250 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / COPELAND DESIGN / MPG
>> The 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season has been up and down for the Kawasaki pilot. He has shown each weekend that he has the ability to battle up front with a good start and that he has the speed to end the race inside the top 5. The problem for Adam has been that he has made small errors early in the race that have forced him into situ- ations where he has to work from the back of the pack. Last weekend was a bummer also due to a mechanical problem that kept him from finishing the race. He finished the day with 5-37 scores and that was good enough for 14th overall. That’s not where the young Floridian would have liked to have finished. Coming into this weekend’s race at High Point, Cianciarulo had a chance to put in a few extra days of practice because of the break in the schedule and he spent that time in the humidity of his practice track in Florida. He looked prepared entering the race and he managed to take that momentum into a muddy practice section and qualify 2nd just behind his Pro Circuit teammate, Joey Savatgy. The first moto of the day started well, with a top 8 start and a chance to run with the leaders. After a lap of settling in, Adam really turned up his pace and went after every rider in front of him, passing multiple riders in the matter of a couple turns. AC then spent the next several laps fighting off a charge from rookie sensation, Sean Cantrell, and the two would trade positions multiple times before Adam eventually secured 4th. He would plateau in 4th and then fade back to 5th late in the race as he was under heavy pressure from French rider, Dylan Ferrandis. Adam didn’t seem too disappointed in his perfor- mance in the post-race interview and was looking forward to the second moto of the
day. The start of moto 2 went to plan, he was well inside the top 10 but a mistake would force him outside of the top 20 after the first few laps. Luckily for him the once wet, sticky track was drying out and becoming more pass friendly and Adam put his head down to charge from 28th at one point all the way to 13th before the end of the race. Considering all the ups and downs of his career and this season, Adam has learned to fight through adversity and he showed just that today. It wasn’t the weekend he was hoping for overall but on an off-weekend finishing 9th overall is acceptable. Expect the young star to work hard this week and come out swinging next weekend to show the consistency he has been lacking early this season.
72 GRITMOTO • JUNE 18, 2017