Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy earned his first win of the season during the first-ever triple crown format on Saturday night inside Angels Stadium.
Savatgy’s two main event wins and one second place finish gave him a comfortable lead over the runner-up. The win also pushed Savatgy into a tie for the points lead after three rounds.
Team-mate Adam Cianciarulo narrowly missed the podium with his 4-5-2 score that resulted in fourth. Cianciarulo currently sits fifth in the points standings.
The new format had riders racing three separate main events, making starts critical. In each Main Event, Savatgy put his KX250F near the front of the pack. Main Event 1 was a wire-to-wire win for Savatgy, while he narrowly missed the win by only three seconds in Main Event 2. The final main event forced Savatgy be smart and wait for the right moment to pass, which came with four laps remaining. His 1-2-1 Olympic-style scoring put him five points ahead of second place, making for a consistent and impressive victory.
“Starts were pretty critical with this format and we were able to get three really good ones,” said Savatgy. “The win feels really good. It’s been a long road to get back here and we’ve put in a lot of work. I’ve been in this position before [holding the red plate] and I just need to find a flow and focus on staying consistent.”
Cianciarulo had a good start to the day, qualifying second. Even with a crash in practice he lined up ready to collect a solid finish. Like his team-mate, he got off to some great starts, including in Main Event 1. He ran with the front runners and finished fourth. In Main Event 2, Cianciarulo had to come through the pack and finished the race in fifth. The final and longest main event of the evening was Cianciarulo’s best. Even after starting outside the top five, he charged to the front and finished the 12 minutes plus one lap race only 0.2 seconds behind Savatgy.
“It was a rollercoaster day, but I’m glad I was able to put in three solid motos,” said Cianciarulo. “I finally started feeling really good in that third moto and chipped away at the lead. I was so close to getting on the podium, which is great after having a rough practice session with the crash.”
