3 on 3: First Turn Crash Anatomy

Christian, obviously with the start, in your opinion, how did that go down and what happened from your point?
Christian Craig: From my point, we all kind of bunched up coming into the first turn. I think it was Hunter’s back wheel. He went left and I tried to grab the front brake and I hit his back wheel and went the other way. Those things happen. Crashes happen. But when you’re sitting on the ground, and I saw some oil pouring on my bike, but luckily that was another rider’s bike that was on top of mine that oil was coming from. Put my head down. I think I proved a lot of people wrong tonight, and my fitness showed. I was able to dig deep. To come from last to third, nothing to be too mad about. We’ll see. This championship is getting fun now.

In the situation in that first turn, you could either panic or find some way to stay calm. Tell me what the conversation with yourself was inside the helmet as you’re getting up, checking the bike? Those first ten seconds had to be madness.
Craig: First thing is panic, but it was just check my bike, make sure nothing was broken. Check myself over. I slapped the ground pretty good. After that, I gave it a few laps because I saw the oil on my motor. So, I wanted to make sure nothing started smoking or anything. Once I saw my bike was good, it was all right, let’s see how far I can catch up. Let’s see what I can do. I didn’t put anything in mind. I’m like, let’s see how many people I can pass. Dig deep. I think it’s all the work in the off-season that showed tonight. I persevered a lot. It’s only round three, but I’ll take this one. It’s a bad night, but I’ll take the third.

Hunter, let’s go back to the beginning of the race. You and Christian started off side by side at the gate. Did you see what happened alongside you? Or have you seen a replay? There were like six riders right there. Don’t know if you caught that out of the corner, or if it was just out of your vision.
Hunter Lawrence: Yeah, I went down the straight and just took a hard left on everyone! [Laughs] No, I didn’t. I haven’t seen the replay yet. I’m not really worrying. Obviously I’m worrying about other guys where they are, but I have my set braking points going into the turn. So, that was kind of all that went into that, really. I only found out that Craig was down when my mechanic told me I think on the third lap or something, or two laps into the race. Not really worried about what’s going on behind me. I’m just trying to race forward.

We’ve heard Christian’s thoughts on the first corner. We’ve seen the footage. The last two weeks there was an IOU for 28. Is it even now? Is everyone good, or is this just going to go into Anaheim?
Lawrence: I wouldn’t say it was deliberate. I haven’t watched the video back yet. That’s three weekends ago now, so it’s in the past. It’s whatever. We’re just worried about what’s going on now. I wouldn’t say we’re even. It’s like three weekends ahead. I know Dirt Shark was trying to stir up some stuff, but that’s just him being him. So, whatever.

Michael Mosiman: I do have a story. …It’s my take on the start. …Well, it’s a tough take, it’s a tough take. All right, I watched the replay guys. It was kinda my fault. But so, here’s what happened. I freakin’ got a sweet start. [Points to Lawrence] You got a sweet start; you were right next to me. [Points to Craig] You’re a great starter, every start you do is sweet. But I had the nose [ahead of everyone], and it’s like, what am I gonna do if I have a sweet start, clean track? Am I just gonna go outside? No, that’s stupid. So I go to the inside, cause I can, cause I am the first one there. [Points to Lawrence] And then you’re right next to me, and you’ve got nowhere to go. [Points to Craig] And you were on the inside of him. And then it all just bunched up. And because I was on the outside and had a good start, my only option was to close it off. I’m not just gonna like, "Ah man, all right, I’m just gonna go to the outside, I got a sweet start, [but] here ya go guys." …Anyways, I saw the replay. That’s my take. I’m not gonna take blame for the pileup. But—

Craig: But you should.

Mosiman: You think so?

Craig: Naw, I’m just kidding. [Laughs]

Lawrence: I think Michael is to blame, so everyone that is pissed with their main, just come talk to Mike. [Laughs]

Mosiman: [Laughs] I know it’s like I didn’t want to give the take, but that’s just how it had to happen. Not how it had to happen—

Press conference host Daniel Blair: —How it had to happen?

Lawrence: Case closed; Michael was the issue.

Mosiman: Frick!

Blair: Christian, do you own Michael one now?

Craig: [Laughs] IOU? Yeah. [Laughs]

Mosiman: Hey no, I did not touch you, all right! Everyone had the opportunity to back out at some point!

Watch the full post-race 250SX press conference below: