GRIT 303 — 450SX — 9th — Christian Craig

With the series moving further east, the terrain of each racetrack was destined to change.

Though Seattle was

considered an outlier for West Coast venues, it was guaranteed that soils), including Arlington, and those further in the aforementioned direction were set to become extremely rutted. Christian Craig welcomed that notion and believed that his bike setup could flourish as he sped through the Arlington racetrack on Saturday. Trenches were beginning to be grooved throughout each transition, creating balance beams amongst each gap, as he launched from takeoff to various landings. Subtle brake-taps ensued as he directed his chassis while flying through there. One lap after another, he continued to prove while he was categorized among the world's elite. His immense self-belief was sustained and portrayed as the opening segments of the heat race came to fruition. Throttle control was critical in the hard packed areas of the racing surface, though as he adequately distributed his weight across the chassis, he seemed to garner traction. which others found difficult to locate. All the while he was hovering around an approximate position of third! Though the battles seemed to escalate with intensity in the laps thereafter, and after losing a position to Dylan Ferrandis (on lap two, Craig would do his best to stay within striking distance of the French athlete. However, the pace of Malcolm Stewart (who was behind) couldn't be disregarded. Their flow's on the track were similar, but ultimately, it was Malcolm's momentum which propelled the Florida native past Craig on lap six. From there, Christian's consistency was displayed - and led to a final score of fifth-place being obtained at the finish line. For the main event, racers were set to converge from the furthest ends of the starting line. He was ready, and sped forward from the launchpad with all-out aggression. The fans were ecstatic, for this Military Appreciation event - and as Craig to an initial standing of twelfth, he would immediately partake in a myriad of battles. While contending with opponents such as Dylan Ferrandis, Chase Sexton, Vince Friese, and others, it was Craig's veteran aptitude which had him moving forward following an initial to descent (to thirteenth). It was on the eighth circuit, where things began to look-up per se, for the longtime competitor. Steadily, he would take what the track and accompanying pack of competitors, would give him. By lap twelve, he had worked his way into tenth following a mistake from Garrett Marchbanks. He knew that he could remain in the top-ten, and as Malcolm Stewart unfortunately

descended out of single-digit territory, Craig advanced. He had obtained ninth on the twenty-second circuit, and from there, he was solidified in the running order...taking a tremendous ninth-place score, as the final flag was thrown!