WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 22, 2017 P55
Over the next nine laps,
Savatgy—who was gifted second
when Nichols and Alix crashed
together—reeled Smith in, and
on lap nine, with Osborne in tow,
Savatgy found his way by for the
lead. Osborne followed suit a lap
later, then began reeling Sa-
vatgy in for the lead. A few laps
later, while pressuring Savatgy,
Osborne accidentally found
neutral in a right-hand turn and
went down. He got up in third,
then began reeling Smith back
in, while Smith did likewise with
Savatgy, but both would come
up just short at the finish.
The win went to Savatgy over
Smith and Osborne.
"I struggled, all day; first
practice, second practice,"
Savatgy said. "Some of it might
have been nerves. It's been a
little while since we've raced,
but no excuses. Just have to
work on a few things when I get
home. I've just got to come out
next weekend and try to relax a
little bit. Riding super uptight and
definitely wasn't riding like my-
self. We were able to come away
with a win and I'm super-stoked.
Mitch [Payton] isn't here, so this
is for you, Mitch. Glad to get the
coast going, get some momen-
tum and start off on a good note.
Another good start and we've
just got to keep the ball rolling."
For Smith, second place was
the best of his career in his first
Joey Savatgy looked impressive
en route to victory in the 250SX
East main.
