Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy went 4-1 at the High Point National on Saturday to claim his third overall of the season in the 250 class. With both Alex and Jeremy Martin suffering mechanicals in the first and second moto, Savatgy now holds a twenty-point lead over Cooper Webb in the class. Savatgy’s been here before (he was up 15 points after Glen Helen), so he knows holding the red plate doesn’t mean much if you can’t close the title. In the post-race press conference, he spoke about the deep class, his points lead and more.
Racer X: Looks like the start of moto one, things could have been a lot better. Did you feel that?
Joey Savatgy: I think I’ve stressed in previous races that there are a lot of guys that can win and go fast and you’re not doing yourself any favors if you’re not putting yourself in a good position. Ultimately at the end of the day it’s my fault for not executing and not getting off the gate. Dumb mistake on my part. You live and you learn and you always get better. That’s what makes you better. You make mistakes and you learn from it. You become a better person and smarter racer from learning from your mistakes. So it was a little frustrating but to salvage fourth is always good. That was not the best moto for me. I didn’t ride very well and line selection wasn’t that great. But I knew I had the speed. I felt fast all day. For moto two we regrouped, got a good start and battled with my teammate for a little bit, which was cool. From there just tried to minimize the mistakes. The track was gnarly out there today, a lot of ruts, a lot of holes. The track was constantly changing. Ruts changing, getting deeper, dirt falling into places. So a lot of upper body strength this weekend, pushing away from the bike because there’s a lot of holes. But like I said, all in all it was good. We got off to a good start, rode our own race, got into the lead and tried to bring her home to the checker without making any dumb mistakes.
In moto two, Alex Martin, every time they crossed the mechanic area it was 1.8, 1.2. But visually it looked like the center of the raceway was where you lost some time. Did you feel like that was your slowest section of the track?
Absolutely. It took me until maybe four to go. I picked up on a line that he was taking back there that was a lot better than what I was taking. Every time we’d get to this certain part of the track he’d close up almost right next to me. It took me a while to figure out where he was going. I’m trying to stick to my line that I’ve been taking and that I know, but in the same breath trying to scan and figure out where he’s going. And actually, a close call, I endoed and almost crashed and got squirrelly and actually ended up seeing the line that lap when I almost crashed. From there it was actually quite a relief because I wasn’t so stressed about where he was going. I picked up on it. It was definitely a better line. So once I figured that out it made it a little bit easier for me. But it’s never easy if you’re at the end of the moto and you got a Martin behind you.
A blessing in disguise that endo, in a sense.
In a sense, yes, a blessing in disguise. Endoed, almost crashed to finding the better line. Not the way I want to do it but I guess if you’re going to do it that’s the way to do it.
Did you know either of the Martin brothers had gone out in the respective motos [with bike problems]? Were you aware?
I did the first moto only because he [Alex] was leaving a smoke trail and I was behind him. But second moto I didn’t know. I knew that it was Adam [Cianciarulo] in the lead, Jeremy [Martin] was in second and I was in third. I made the pass on Jeremy and then I was able to make the pass on Adam. From there I think I looked back with maybe… I don’t even know. I looked back and I saw it was 26 again. I said, Well, here we go. It seems like that guy and I are always battling at the end of the moto. So like I’ve said before, I think between the two Martin brothers their fitness is no joke and you can’t question it. We ran it all the way down to the wire. Definitely wasn’t a walk in the park, by any means. We had to put it on the line and had to execute. It was good.
Has Alex surprised you this year with his speed and how consistent he’s been?
I think so. I guess more speed than fitness. I’ve always known that he’s been in a pretty good shape. I know he’s been training with his brother and been around his brother. They have that body type that’s bulldog. So I don’t think his fitness has ever been a question but I think the speed he’s improved a lot. So hats off to him. He’s riding really well. It’s unfortunate he had that problem the first moto but as we’ve learned in this sport it’s how it goes and you’ve got to roll with the punches. You’ve got to maximize points every moto.
"I would say it’s easier to predict what Jeremy’s going to do. Just growing up with him racing amateurs, knowing how he made his passes when he was an amateur."
With how tight things have been and now you’re leading with 20 points. Has that sunk in yet? Did you even know you have 20 points?
No, I didn’t. That’s good. But like I’ve stressed before, having the red plate is cool but if we don’t hold on to it and we don’t have it at the end of the series then… I mean, yeah, sweet, we had the red plate but we didn’t hold onto it. It’s good to have a points lead. It gives you a little bit of a cushion. But I think we’ve learned. I had a fifteen point lead after the first round and pulled a… I don’t even know. Brain farted and didn’t execute and we lost that fifteen points in one weekend. So I don’t think any points lead is safe, especially with the class that we have and the amount of people that are there. So all in all it’s good. Just got to try to keep the ball rolling.
Results were under review for quite a while there. From your point of view can you tell us what happened?
Apparently it was under review [for a potential violation of a wheels on the ground flag]. I’m not sure what they were reviewing but it seems to me that they tend to want to review what I do a lot. I had the same problem in Vegas and the same outcome. Nothing happened. So if that’s what they go to do to try to take a win away from me then that’s what they got to do. But even if the results did change I knew at the end of the day I did my job. Showed up and did the best that I could. If they wanted to take that away from me then they were going to, but there was nothing really to review. Say what you want, but at the end of the day we got the job done and walking away with the points lead again. Going to go back to the farm and work hard and try and execute again next weekend.
In Colorado you said you got a text right afterward from Jeannie [Carmichael] saying, “We got some work to do.” Got any texts this week or not?
Yeah, for the first moto. It was actually worse because Ricky [Carmichael] was here. It was good to rebound. As bad as the first moto went and the bad start that we had we made due with what we could and made lemonade out of lemons. So all in all it was good. It’s hard to complain when you get the overall. Obviously the first moto could have been a lot better but in the same breath it could have gone a lot worse. Definitely still think there’s a lot of areas that I can improve on. It sounds stupid because we’re up here and we did good but I think, like I said before, this sport is always evolving. Got to go back, watch some film and figure out where we can be better and practice that during the week and come out next weekend.
With battling the Martins consistently week in and week out, does this sort of give you an idea where they might go knowing their riding style? Can you sort of foreshadow as far as what they might do? Or is it every track’s different?
I would say it’s easier to predict what Jeremy’s going to do. Just growing up with him racing amateurs, knowing how he made his passes when he was an amateur. It’s very similar now that we’re pro. It’s easier to get a read on him. Alex is new to being up front. Not that I’m used to it, because this is more new for me as well, but Alex is new so it’s hard to get a read on him as to what he’s going to do. He has his places that he’s very good. Once again, I had my places where I was better and he was better in others so there was a lot of yo-yoing. I’m trying to figure him out.
You were saying that pretty much you have to be perfect with this class and you even figured it out in the first moto—you made that one mistake all the way back and forth. Does that weigh on you? Like every moto you kind of have to be perfect or you can go back to fifth or sixth pretty easily?
That’s what we’re paid for, man. We say this every year but I think now more than ever there are a lot of guys that can win. Getting a bad start doesn’t help you by any means, not that you could get a bad start in previous years but I think we saw last year and the year before we’ve seen Jeremy get bad starts and work his way to the front. So it’s definitely possible, but it’s a little pressure. You’ve got to make sure you’re perfect and as perfect as you can be and execute when you need to execute. We didn’t do that the first moto but definitely adds a little bit of pressure, like you said. With as many guys as there are one mistake, you’re fifth, like the first moto when I lost the front and crashed. Then guys get around you, then you got to try to get around them. At that point the leaders are gone and unless you’re Superman you’re not catching them because you’re not that much faster than the guys. So it’s interesting.
How difficult was the track? It seemed to get really deep and rutty. You guys were actually second today, which is different.
Yeah, we weren’t first moto so I think the track was rougher than what we’ve raced on this year. It was a weird rough, though. A lot of holes, big bumps. Not necessarily high speed braking bumps and stuff like that but just the bumps got so big you were better off jumping them and constantly moving. The dirt was very soft. Every time you came into a section where there were bumps the bumps were constantly shifting shape. So one time you’d hit it and it’d be square on, and the next time it would have a weird angle to it and bike would be dancing all over. But it is what it is, I guess.
