Source: Supplied.

Christian Craig will follow the regular concussion protocol this week in hopes of a Toronto return following a heat race crash at Atlanta’s eighth round of the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

Craig, a pre-season title favourite in the East Coast 250SX category, entered the Atlanta event looking to redeem himself following a challenging opening round performance the week prior where he logged a 12th place main event finish.

Following a strong qualifying performance in Atlanta things were looking in order for the GEICO Honda rider before a tough heat race saw the one-time main event winner out of the night’s proceedings.

“I jumped the gate in my heat, giving me a terrible start,” said Craig. “I was making a ton of passes, an average of two riders every lap through the whoops. I slid out once, then made my way back up to fifth and on one of the last laps I was going for another two guys in the whoops but there was someone crashed on the right side which left me frazzled with what to do – I kind of just lost it when I saw him down and crashed.

“I unfortunately got a concussion and wasn’t able to ride in the LCQ or main and I’m super bummed with how these first races have gone,” Craig commented. “If you watch me in practice, you know what I’m capable of so it’s hard to understand why I can’t make it happen when it matters. I’m hoping to get clearance to ride early this week and be in Toronto.”

Craig’s teammate Chase Sexton also fell victim to the challenging Atlanta whoops section, going down in practice and breaking his femur in his maiden professional appearance with the GEICO Honda outfit.