Between the Motos Christian Craig

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Christian Craig earned a seventh-place finish in the 450SX class at Saturday’s Oakland Supercross, which was the best result for him so far in 2023. Craig was noticeably comfortable in the past few weeks, and that’s on the heels of he and the team putting in some extra work on testing after Craig cancelled his flight home to Florida after Anaheim 2 to stay in California and text with the team. It’s slowly coming around for the reigning 2022 250SX West Region champion as he started mid-pack in Oakland and rode forward to finish seventh.

What does Craig himself think of it? We caught up with him after the race to find out.

Racer X: Christian Craig, P7. I feel like you rode way better today overall, but how would you rate it?
Christian Craig: Yeah, overall the day was way better. Qualifying was good. The heat race was okay. I finally got a decent start and put myself in a good spot. It wasn’t a holeshot, but it was up there. My starts have been atrocious, so to finally put myself inside the top ten off the start felt good. Some good battles with some good dudes. That pace is no joke. I’ll tell you that. It was tough, but it’s what we’ve been working for. Never thought I’d be so happy for a seventh, but after how the season started and these results, it feels good to finally click that off. It’s crazy because by the end of the night everyone was jumping every set of whoops, and I was too. I’m such a blitzer that to get seventh after jumping whoops, I’ll take it. Usually that’s my strong point and I had to jump tonight, unfortunately.

Being able to get in the mix with those guys, were there some things that you learned or anything that you’re going to take away?
For sure. I think just being comfortable with the chaos, pretty much. You got to be willing to put a front wheel up into someone and be aggressive. Adam [Cianciarulo] was aggressive with me. Just had to pick your lines and move around. The track just breaks down so much more than a 250 main. It’s crazy that by two laps to go, you’re on a totally different track and lines. It’s something that I’m still learning. For how seasoned I am, I’m still learning it. So, it’s crazy. Just got to keep building, keep improving. Got a lot of racing. Got a lot more chances to try to get up there.

We knew the track would get pretty gnarly, and I know it got gnarly, but was it as gnarly as you expected, or did it actually kind of race all right?
No, it was gnarlier than I expected. I thought the whoops would hold up a little bit better and we’d be able to blitz that second set, but that was gone. It was gnarly. This is probably the first Oakland that was this rutted, for me. It’s good to know that my bike is good in this stuff, and I excel in it. So, we’ll take it.

It’s probably a little bit of energy saving to jump after blitzing for a little while, but how was it with the whoops and the dragon’s back and another set of whoops? I’m sure it’s like holding on for three straight corners, right?
Yeah. Then you get done with the last set of whoops and you’ve got a three-on. So, you’re literally holding your breath for three sections. You have got to find your breathing spots, for sure. Pick your marks. To even go three, three, three, three, through the whoops was tough. You’re clipping stuff. You’re cross-rutting. You’ve got to be patient yet aggressive when you can.

We go to a Triple Crown next week. It seems like you feel a little bit happier with your starts where they’re at. So, do you think that’s also going to build for a Triple Crown where you can start up with those guys?
I think so. I went 9-10-10 in the first Triple Crown, so I know I can improve on that. It’s just to keep putting myself in these positions and trying to build off it. That’s the only thing I can ask for.