Glendale, Arizona (February 6, 2016) – Just outside of Phoenix, GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig completed his remarkable rise from retirement to the top step of the podium in Monster Energy Supercross, claiming his first career victory on Saturday night. After three straight weeks of duels with defending 250SX West Champion Cooper Webb, Craig emerged on top of another scintillating battle that had the crowd on its feet the whole way.
“Tonight was something special for sure,” said Craig. “I was struggling with the track, too. Got a good start. [Jimmy] Decotis, my teammate, got the holeshot, I think that’s almost every holeshot this year for the team, pumped for him, but I made the pass through the whoops, that was my strong point. Then I was like ‘Alright, here we go again, I see the number one [Webb] coming.’ Same thing again, he caught me, lap ten, he tried to run it in on me in one of the corners before the whoops, and I saw his front end push right under me. [After he crashed] I was like, ‘Okay, five more laps, just ride it in.’ Crossing that finish line was like a dream come true, for sure. A feeling I’ll never forget.
“Riding around after that win, doing a parade lap, I just had my eyes closed,” Craig continued. “I am just so thankful for being here and racing again. I’m thankful for the opportunity with the GEICO Honda team. I had a strong off season with a great group of people around me, and all of that hard work that we all put in made this happen.”
The second coming of Craig’s career has been the feel-good story of the 2016 supercross season, as the California native retired from the sport in 2013, only to find himself rejuvenated by the time off. He has trained and worked harder than ever in his return to competition.
“Last year at this time I was working construction,” Craig explained. “To be here today, I didn’t see that happening. When I came back last year outdoors, I finally started to believe in myself, then this year around round three I knew I could win. I just needed to get the jitters out at the first few races.”
With the victory, Craig made up five points on series’ leader Joey Savatgy, and now sits just eleven points back in the standings.
Earlier in the evening, it looked like team rider Jordon Smith was headed for a breakthrough as well, as he led his qualifying heat race down to the final lap. Then disaster struck.
“Day started out pretty good, I think it was my best qualifying of the year with sixth, and all the times were pretty close so I felt good about that,” said Smith, who has been wrestling with a shoulder injury of late. “Got a good start in the heat race and made a few passes, found myself in the lead. That was the best I’d felt all year, and then on the last lap I had a really unfortunate crash in the whoops. They were really big and tough this week. That put me out for the rest of the night. It’s a bummer but we’ll be back.”
Jimmy Decotis also got to do some leading by nailing the holeshot in the main event, but was feeling ill and couldn’t hold up to the lead pace.
“In the main I got the holeshot and rode the first couple of laps great, then it went downhill,” Decotis said. “I’ve been sick for the past three weeks and can’t seem to kick it. Ended up finishing ninth which I’m not happy about. Hoping I can get this sickness out of my system and get on the podium soon.”
The team heads to PetCo Park in San Diego, California for round six of the season on February 13th. The team’s 450SX rider, Justin Bogle, is expected to make his return to racing after recovering from a broken foot.
GEICO Honda Supercross Results: Glendale, Arizona
250SX
1. Christian Craig
9. Jimmy Decotis
