Main image by Kellen Brauer
Christian Craig has a lot of new things going into the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. He has switched over to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, he’s moving up to the 450SX class full time, he’s now a Fox athlete, and he’s training with the esteemed Aldon Baker. After a career year in 2022 which resulted in a long sought after 250SX West Championship, Craig is all in on finding success in the 450SX class from the first gate drop.
We caught up with him at the Rockstar Husqvarna intro to pick his brain about all the changes and what is means for his rookie premier class season.
Racer X: First of all, welcome to the 450 class, but also welcome to a brand-new team. How has that transition been, knowing that you’re going to full-time 450 racing and you’re doing it with a whole program that’s new to you?
Christian Craig: Pretty exciting, especially because I knew this was all happening during supercross, so I had to sit on this for a good six months. So, I’m happy. This is kind of what I’ve wanted. I’ve been working for it for a long time. It happened later in my career, but we’re here now. Got to make the best of it. I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot, mentally and physically. We’re kind of in the middle of boot camp. I think a lot of people are. This is kind of mid-grind. So, lots of laps being put down. Lots of training. So, we’re kind of all on that tired side right now, but it’s all for that end goal which will be A1 and that’s coming quick.
How is working with Aldon? Obviously, from the outside you hear stories, and you know some stuff about it, but getting in there and actually working with it, what do you think?
It’s been awesome. Not going to lie, it’s been hard. I worked with Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel] before obviously, and that was tough, so I feel like that was a good steppingstone. Nothing against Swanny. He got me a championship, but I’ve always wanted to try to work with Aldon and see what that was like. You look up and see all the championships he has had. He’s got all the riders he has worked with helmets in the gym. So, a lot of motivating things hanging around there. I feel like we’ve got a good crew. There’s five of us that are in there full-time and do everything together, from train, cycle, ride motos, literally we’re at each other’s throats at all times. Luckily, we all kind of get along. No butting heads. It’s been good so far. It’s been fun.
How much different is that to Star, as much as you can compare it for us? Obviously, they have their own facility, and they ride together, but as you kind of explained it to me, it sounds a little bit more intense at Baker’s. So, is that really what it is? More intensity? Everyone’s just riding together more often?
Yeah. It’s more high intensity from when you pull in to when you leave. Everything is on a time schedule and it’s just go there, boom, boom, boom, do your gym and leave. Not that that’s a bad thing, but you’ve got to be ready mentally and physically. Not every day is going to be great. You’re going to be not the fastest guy sometimes. At Star, there were six of us and a lot of them were younger kids, so it was kind of hard for me because I was one of the fastest guys there. So, I would almost groom these kids in a way, where now I’m jumping in with past champions. Copper, AP, and Malcolm. They all have championships. So, I’m riding with some bad dudes. Even RJ. He brings it every day. There’s not a set fastest guy, I would say. Every day there is someone else that’s feeling a little bit better or clicking off the times a little bit faster. We’re all pretty motivating. It’s been high intensity and high stress on the body, but I do think that’s what helps at the race, is that stress that you kind of get used to during the week and you bring that to the race, and it just feels like another normal day.
Like you were saying, you get to ride with these guys. They’re past champions. You can kind of see where you fit in with them right now. Is it almost exciting to see how you fit in with the rest of the pack based on this intensity? You get to see a little bit of it, but eventually you’re going to see all of it. So, it’s kind of exciting to plan for that, right?
Yeah. And Malcolm coming off his best year ever, third in points, podiums, that’s the main guy I try to match. He’s fast at practice, but Cooper is the tough one because he’ll kind of play games with you. Sometimes he doesn’t want to be the fastest, but he’ll go to the race and smoke us all. So, you never know with Webb. But AP has been hauling. Malcolm, I kind of base myself off of. We’re pretty similar in the whoops. I try to match his speed. So, just trying to build and get better each day.
Talking about the bike a little bit, obviously you come from the Yamaha, and it seemed to work well everywhere for you - whoops particularly but this bike has had a lot said about how it struggled in the whoops. So, what have you felt so far and how has the testing gone? Have you felt like you’ve found a pretty good spot already?
Yeah. Obviously, a lot of talk about this bike in the whoops, but I don't think Malcolm had an issue with it all year. He blitzed just fine, and I feel like he was killing the whoops every race. I do think a lot of it is rider, but again, you can say whatever you want about the bike, but I do think it’s in a good spot right now. We have Josh Hansen now helping with the team and trying parts that we never have, and just try to get the bike better. He sends that stuff to us, and we get to try it. So, it’s been good. I haven’t tested a whole bunch, just little things here and there. I do think I’m in a good spot. So, my thing is just to try to do the laps and the more comfortable I can get, the better.
The relationship with Hansen as well, how has that been? I don’t really remember too much with Star. They didn’t really have a guy that was similar to that, right? So, how is that, having someone that can test these parts like this and send your way? Is it weird almost to have that kind of backup with you?
It’s huge. At Star or any other team, you go through the parts. So, you’re saving a lot of time with us. He spends long days at the track now going through these parts and fine-tuning it. We kind of have a similar style, I would say. I feel like anything he would sign off on, I’m going to try. So, I have trust in him. Obviously, he’s been around for a long time. He’s a good dude. It’s been fun. We’ve got a whole crew here. Just learning, getting to know everybody. I got a new mechanic. I’m getting to know Nate Ramsey and just everybody here. It’s been awesome.
Looking ahead to the season, you’ve had 450 results so you kind of have a little bit of a benchmark for yourself. What is something that you’re looking forward to? Is there a goal that you have in mind with podiums that you want to achieve or a result in the end of the championship?
Yeah. I always like to sit down and write goals. Right now, I don’t like to put a number on it. There are so many bad dudes in the class that it’s hard to be like, I’m going to go out there and smoke them all and win. I think it’s going to be hard. I know it’s going to be hard. But I do think I can be up front and run with those guys. I believe there’s podiums in there for me in my future, but my main thing is just to be consistent, be at every race, do the laps, just try to put myself in a good position, do a start. Even if they run away from me, know what I’ve got to work on during the week and just try to improve and be at every race. I do think at the end of the season if I do that, then I should get what I set out to get.
Talking about the season as a whole, it’s going to be a long grind because we’re going into October with the racing. How do you mentally prepare yourself for that? You’re in boot camp right now, so you’re already in a bit of a grind. But then the grind is going to go and go and go and go. How is that to get ready for that?
Yeah. My thing is not think about it too far out. People keep saying I think it’s 31 races total and it goes into October, but I take it race by race. Can’t look too far ahead. I feel like that’s when you kind of get lost, in a way. Especially in this sport, stuff catches you off guard. So, race by race, round by round. It will all be done by the blink of an eye, so it’s just try to enjoy it while I can, also.
