Cycle News

SUPERCROSS ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 25, 2017 GEORGIA DOME / ATLANTA, GEORGIA P60 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES My Own Race: 17 JOEY SAVATGY 4TH 250SX EAST Round-one winner Joey Savatgy (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) had a tough night in Atlanta, but salvaged as many points as possible. "We struggled a little bit today and not getting the start in the main definitely made for a tougher race than I wanted," Savatgy said. "We are just two points back with seven rounds still to go so there is a lot of racing left. My goal is to be on the podium every race so I'm looking to get back up there next weekend." 36 ADAM CIANCIARULO 7TH 250SX EAST Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Adam Cianciarulo hit the deck a couple of times in Atlanta, but was fast the entire time when he wasn't on the ground. He even won his first heat race of the year. But he had to settle for seventh. "I feel like I've been making some silly rookie mistakes, but I know that will come around when I get some more racing under my belt," Cianciarulo said. "Even with the mistakes that I made, I do think my racing is coming along after so much time away from supercross." 31 RJ HAMPSHIRE 10TH 250SX EAST "It was a tough weekend," said Geico Honda's RJ Hampshire. "I struggled with the whoops from the start of the day and never really found a flow after that. I fin- ished third in the heat race but felt like I was lost on my bike, was riding terrible. I got off to a decent start in the main, right around the top five and hung right around there till about five to go. I ended up going down on the landing of the fin- ish and landed right on the hurt shoulder. So a bad night turned even worse! Had to many small mistakes all night that cost me big. But I'm okay--looking forward to Toronto!" 26 ALEX MARTIN 2ND 250SX EAST "It was pretty cool to start off 1-2 with my teammate Jordon," Alex Martin (Troy Lee Designs Red Bull KTM) said of his race. "But he made a little mistake on the on/ off and I just kind of came around the outside and did the on/off and when we came to the inside we kind of collided there and unfortunately I sent him over. Luckily he kept it on two wheels and I was able to keep it on two wheels and make it up to second. I'm not going to lie, that was a tough pill to swallow [last round] especially in front of the hometown crowd to walk back to the pits and know that you basically took a DNF, but on Sunday I woke up and realized we have eight races left and 200 points on the table and I've just been feeling way too good during the off season on the bike and getting along with the team and honestly to get second tonight, it feels really good." 48 CHRISTIAN CRAIG DNQ 250SX EAST "My day was awesome before the night show," said Geico Honda's Christian Craig. "I was fastest in the first qualifying and second in the last one. I liked the track and was probably one of the best guys through the whoops all day. I jumped the gate in my heat, giving me a terrible start. I was making a ton of passes, an average of two riders every lap through the whoops! I slid out once, then made my way back up to fifth. On one of the last laps I was going for an- other two guys in the whoops but there was someone crashed on the right side, which left me frazzled with what to do. I kind of just lost it when I saw him down and crashed. I unfortunately got a concussion and wasn't able to ride in the LCQ or main. I'm super bummed with how these first races have gone. If you watch me in practice, you know what I'm capable of so it's hard to understand why I can't make it happen when it matters. Hoping to get clearance to ride early this week and be in Toronto." cont. on page 62

• Cover