Image: Octopi Media.

Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) notched his first moto win of the season at High Point, but it wasn’t without a last corner scare with a lapped rider that he later recalled as ‘a cool memory.’

As the final lap of what looked to be a flawless opening 450 moto to kick off round three of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship came to an end for Cianciarulo, he caught the back of a lapped rider and hit the ground just feet from the finish line.

“My mindset was just to immediately get back on the bike as quickly as I could,” Cianciarulo explained. “It’s funny I was going up the face of the triple into that left-hand turn and I saw the guy in front of me.

“He looked like he was just kind of chillin’, didn’t look like he was doing anything crazy, so I figured I was fine and I just rolled the turn behind him. it’s just a nice little finish line jump you just roll it.

“My guy just dumped the clutch in the middle of the rut and lost it so bad. I carried more speed through the turn than him and I kind of had nowhere to go, so I just made a quick decision to hop out to the right.

“I figured that I was going to clip his bike and I figured I was probably going to crash. Immediately when I made the decision I kind of braced for impact and just tried to prepare myself to get back on the bike as quickly as I could.

“But yeah, what a little fire drill there. It’s funny though, you know, now that it happened and it’s over obviously I wouldn’t want to do it again, but it’s one of those moments where it’s a cool memory. It’s kind of off the wall, doesn’t happen often.”

While he recovered quickly to seal the win, Cianciarulo admits he was bummed to end a near mistake-free moto in that fashion, but took it in stride as he reflected on it after going 1-4 for second overall on the day.

“I was a little bummed at first, because I had such a good moto,” he continued. “The whole moto was good, barely any mistakes at all, just hitting my marks solid and then the last turn like that.

“In your mind, especially with a basic section like that with a little triple step up, your mind is already kind of ‘I got this thing in the bag’ and you kind of start enjoying it there at the end and then just a little fire drill to get back up, it’s kind of funny.”

The series now takes a weekend off ahead of its return to the iconic RedBud MX for round four on 4 July, the venue where Cianciarulo bagged his first overall win in the 450 class last season.