It was a little puzzling to see Joey Savatgy struggle at Glen Helen after dominating Hangtown, but he was back up front over the weekend in Thunder Valley, going 2-1 for the overall and taking back the red plate in the process. Later, in the post-race press conference, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider talked about Glen Helen, and what it’s like to bounce back to the winner’s circle in Thunder Valley.
Racer X: Great job today. Anything different from the start of the season to reach this point?
Joey Savatgy: No. Last week was unfortunate, it wasn’t the best weekend. I’m not sitting up here and make excuses—I was little under the weather, didn’t ride well, didn’t get good starts. I didn’t put myself in a position to win and that’s nobody’s fault but my own. Whether or not I’m under the weather, I need to be able to perform at all times. That’s something that I learned, and we were able to rebound here. Had good starts for the most part and had a good week back at the farm with Ricky and Jeannie [Carmichael]. Now we have the weekend off and we’ll put in some more work these next two weeks and come out swinging at High Point and try to put ourselves in a good position.
What were some of the highs and lows from today?
It was a little bit of both. Coming from eight in the first moto and passing Cooper [Webb] and passing Jeremy [Martin] and putting time between us, that’s a confidence booster. They aren’t slouches, so to be able to come from behind and put time on them, that’s good for me, a pat on the back. I’ve been putting in a lot of work, and I know everyone says that, but I’m not in California where everyone else is so people don’t see what I do. I’ve been putting a lot of work in and it feels good it’s paying off. Crashing took the wind out of my sails momentarily. It was one of those deals where I was more frustrated and angry with myself for making a mistake like that when I had that lead. I should’ve been more cautious, but I wasn’t. I learned from it, and got a good start in the second moto and put myself in a good position. In a class like this where there are as many guys as there are who can win, the Martins, the Webbs, [Zach] Osborne was up there, my teammates, you can’t get a bad start and expect to be up there with those guys. There are just too many fast guys. So we’ll keep working on the starts and like I said, the most important thing is just to put myself in a good position.
Leading sixteen laps in the second moto, the pace, is it something you mentally tell yourself, ‘This is the pace,’ or are you constantly trying to find more?
We got a good start and passed Adam up that hill and I was struggling a little bit at first with flowing. I was braking too late or rushing the turns, and once I got that down I started to put a little bit of a gap but then I heard someone catching me. I saw lap times on my pit board and I looked back and it was Alex. It was one of those deals where when you’re in the lead you feel like you’re going fast, but when someone starts putting pressure on you, you always find that little bit of extra speed. I was trying to control the race and he caught up to me. He was going fast, he was going for it. I had to pick up my pace and I ended up finding better lines. Once he caught me I knew he wasn’t going anywhere, he has good fitness like his brother. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I was up to the challenge. I’d make a few mistakes here and there and he’d catch me, then he’d make a little mistake and I’d get away. There was a lot of yo-yoing but overall it was a good day.
How pumped is Jeannie [Carmichael] going to be that your best lap time came on lap fourteen in moto two?
Not happy at all, you’d be surprised. We’ve been working a lot on motos and trying to get the fast laps in early and trying to break away. I already got a text from her and she’s not happy I got caught. Her words were, she’s used to working with Ricky and Ricky never gets caught! It’s hard to please someone who’s been in that position, but all in all it was a good weekend. I’m sure she’s happy that I rode well, but she was the first person to text me. She said, ‘We’ve got work to do,’ so it’ll be a long two weeks at the farm. But I’m up for it. Long weeks are worth it as long as you’re on the box at the end of the day.
Your average lap time was over a second better in moto two, too. Were you feeling better in moto two?
Actually no. I felt really good in moto one. My lines were really good and I was able to make some good passes. Second moto I kind of stuck with the lines I was taking in the first moto. They were working but they weren’t ideal. Once Alex caught me I could hear where he was faster but I didn’t want to get out of the line I was taking because it was working. I didn’t want to go to a new line and have it be way slower and have him catch up to me or make a pass. I was kind of stuck. Do I try to find a new line that’s better or stick with what’s been working all day? There were areas where he was better and there were areas where I was better. The areas where he was better, I didn’t want to change it up to much. It’d been working all day and it was still working.
