Chasing Podiums: Quad Lock Honda Continues to Close the Gap!

The Quad Lock Honda team continues to prove it belongs among the sport’s elite, with Joey Savatgy once again demonstrating that the team can race shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest names in the premier 450 class.

Now in its seventh season competing against factory-backed teams with significantly larger budgets, Honda’s leading satellite program has repeatedly shown it can challenge at the front. While a sixth-place finish may appear modest on paper, it reflects a much deeper reality, a team that has already proven it can stand on the podium is once again edging closer to that goal.

“I’m getting closer,” said Savatgy. “My heat race was solid, one of my best result in the premier class and sixth in the final doesn’t really show the battle we had to get there, racing against riders who have already won this year. Its a process and I am not going to rush it”

For the fifth consecutive round, all three Quad Lock Honda riders qualified for the main event. Shane McElrath advanced to the final via the Last Chance Qualifier for the second time this season after a heat race incident.

“I don’t want this to become the norm,” said McElrath. “I crashed in the heat and had to come through the LCQ. The team doesn’t mind the extra track time, but Yarrive, Martin and I would much rather go straight through and avoid that pressure. I’m glad I won it, but I want to stay out of the LCQ.”

With all three riders lining up in the main event for the fifth straight weekend, the focus turned to extracting the best possible results. Christian Craig faced an uphill battle after a first-turn incident.

“I went down in turn one, it’s not ideal,” said Craig. “I was playing catch-up the entire race. My heat race wasn’t great, we made a change that went the wrong direction, but we corrected it for the final and the bike felt better. I didn’t get to show where we really are, but we’re learning and moving in the right direction.”

Craig finished 13th on the night and now sits 12th in the championship standings.

“The goal is to be the best we can be, and we’re not there yet, not even close, which is actually positive,” Craig added. “We still have 12 rounds to go. Twelfth isn’t where I want to be, but with this many rounds left, it’s a solid place to build from.”

McElrath finished 14th, marking his strongest overall result of the season, though both rider and team acknowledge there is more to come.

“It’s my best finish this year, but it’s still a long way from where we were toward the end of last season,” said McElrath.

Savatgy remains confident the team is positioned to keep moving forward.

“If it takes another 12 rounds, so be it,  we’re chasing podiums,” said Savatgy. “Second in the heat was positive, the lap times were there, and in the final we moved forward. I was ninth after the first lap and worked back to sixth, finishing just one second off fifth and ten seconds from the podium. Over 22 laps, that’s only a few tenths a lap, we’re close. I’ll keep working, the team has ideas, and together we’ll keep pushing toward the podium we’re chasing.”

Team Principal Martin Davalos echoed that confidence, while reinforcing the focus on continued improvement across all three riders.

“We’re a focused team,” said Davalos. “Joey is showing what’s possible and we know he can race for podiums. Christian is a Supercross Champion, once he’s fully comfortable, the results will come. Shane isn’t where we expect him to be yet, and we need to see progress there. We’ll keep pushing forward and working on solutions to move everyone closer to where we know they can be.”