Shortly after placing 20th on his FC 450 in the 450SMX at the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Final in late September, word came down out of California that Christian Craig would be leaving the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna race effort. Craig had been a part of the Husqvarna factory effort in both 2023 and 2024 but would switched back to Yamaha, inking a new two-year deal with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing. The race team for which the Californian won the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Region Championship, Craig will line up and race a Yamaha YZ450F in the 2025 and 2026 SuperMotocross World Championship, as well as coach and mentor the team’s 250cc racers as a rider development coach.
“I’m so excited to be back with the Star Racing team and grateful that even after two years away, they still welcomed and believed in me,” said Craig via a release on October 1, 2024.
Now in the month of November and with the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship coming straight at everyone, Christian Craig and crew are back in Florida and making things happen.
“We’re back here in Tallahassee, Florida,” said Craig recently. “Our family has kind of bounced around the past four years. We went from California to Tallahassee and then to Orlando and back to Tallahassee, so it has been pretty busy. We’re happy where we are and excited to be back. It feels like we are back home.”
Back with Star Racing and posted-up with the organization in Florida, Craig is now totally comfortable with the reality of his old and new racing surroundings.
“Yeah, for sure I feel like I’m home,” said Craig. “I mean I don’t want to badmouth the past two years, but I guess the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, you know? I felt like I would be fine going to a different team, and I learned really quick that I had it made where I was and had a really good system going here at Star. The past two years have kind of been a washout for me with injuries and struggling with finding my groove and struggling with the bike. I kind of lost confidence in myself and my ability to race and get back to the top. I’m excited that I was given this opportunity to come back.”
And not only will Craig go to the gates on the YZ450F in 2025, he’ll also be front and center in mentoring, encouraging, and coaching the Star Racing effort’s formidable 250 effort.
“It is kind of a different role this time,” explained Craig of his multifaceted position with the organization. “I’m excited for it. It is something different. It is something that I guess hasn’t been done in our sport yet. Anybody that kind of wants to reach out and wants some help or advice, I’m there. I’m obviously a little bit older and I’ve been through a lot, whether it was injuries, results, good or bad, and I’ve seen a lot of it all. I’ve watched some of the best guys and I’ve been teammates with some of the best, so I think Bobby Regan saw that in me and thinks I can play a valuable role in helping grow the 250 team, while also letting me still race. I still feel like I have some time left in me and I definitely want to get some better results before I do hang up the boots.
“With the position that I’m now in, I feel like I can relax a little bit more. I’ll be back on a bike that I’m comfortable with and back with a program I’m comfortable with. Also, I’ll help the 250 team and kind of guide them the best that I can. I’m helping Haiden Deegan quite a bit, whether it is off the bike or on the bike. I’ll help anyone who wants to listen. I’m also trying to recover from my elbow surgeries from the past few years. I’m just building myself back up and it has been tough. I’m also dealing with a knee injury that I sustained at the last round of SMX. I haven’t got to ride the Yamaha yet. I’m pretty bummed, but hopefully here in December I will. It’s been a quick recovery. The knee has been getting stronger from physical therapy three times a week. I’ve been training as much as possible. I’ve dealt with much worse, but it is frustrating because I’m so excited to get back on the Yamaha and get going with the team. Just a little delay here, but it has been fun because I’ve still been busy and been able to do that coaching side of my job. It has been fun.”
A deadline Craig is aiming for is January 11, 2025, and the opening round of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross set for Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Still healing up and working on off-bike fitness, Craig is still not quite sure of his preseason status.
“Racing at Angel Stadium, that’s going to be tough,” pointed out Craig. “I definitely want to make it, but I’m going to probably have two or three weeks on the bike before that first round. You never say never, but I want to be 100 percent when I do come back. Who knows how I’ll feel on day one. Maybe I’ll feel better than I think, and we go racing. I just know that when I do come back, I want to be ready.”
Eighth overall in this summer’s AMA Pro Motocross Championship aboard the Husqvarna, Craig is very much looking forward to competing on the Yamaha YZ450F in the football and baseball stadiums of this nation when the curtain is lifted on 2025 supercross.
“The past two years, people forget that I have podiumed on the Yamaha 450F before," he said. "I’ve been upfront. I’ve lead laps. People quickly forget about that. I know it’s still in me. I’m excited to get back on the bike that I have posted up good results with and won a championship on. There are just all-around good vibes and everyone on the team has welcomed me back in. it’s exciting. They all still believe in me, and it is fun, for sure."
“I want to be inside the top 10,” furthered Craig on 2025. “I want to bring back that flash of speed that I used to have. I know I still have that in me. The sprint speed, whether it is winning some heat races or battling towards the front, is what I want to display. I want to give myself a chance. I feel like I haven’t had that in a while. Yeah, I definitely have some more races in me, and I just want to fight for some good positions and to give the team a good reason on why they hired me back. I’m excited to build back up and get going here. Obviously, these injuries I’ve had have slowed me up a little bit. However, I know that the last time I was on this bike, I did really well. Having that confidence helps a lot. Just being on a factory bike with some good teammates and good support, it is going to be huge. It’s up to me to bring back those good results for the team. I’ve raced most of these guys for quite a while. Like I said, I’m older in the class and I know what each guy kind of brings. I want to be back up there and battling with them. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to beat them, but just to give myself a chance and to battle, is what I’m hoping for. It’s exciting, for sure. You never know what can happen each week with these guys. I want to be in the race and be on the starting gate, for sure. I’m older now, but I have that racing mentality and the fire and until that goes away, I want to keep racing and see what I can do. If I feel like I can battle towards the front, I’m going to keep going. Right now, I’m focused and really motivated to get my results back. I need to make some progress and just build up each time I do line up to race.”
