The last few years Christian Craig has battled injuries and not being able to find a good fit with a team. It almost seemed like retirement was inevitable for the 34-year-old. However, he has found a new home with Quadlock Honda Racing and looks to be improving every time he gets on it. Over the weekend, he even took the final race win over Haiden Deegan and Ken Roczen at the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) race in Australia. Steve Matthes caught up with Craig afterwards to hear about his race and how he likes the Honda.
Racer X: All right, Christian Craig, Ride Red. Dude, crushing it, man. Good job on that last one. Passing Eli, passing Deegs. Star said you were no good, but listen, I don't wanna get into that right now. But great job, man. Really cool to see. And obviously, the whoops, you loved them.
Christian Craig: Yeah. Shout out Brad Hoffman for the meeting we had. I'll never forget that one. So, beating his guys was cherry on top. But yeah, no, it was decided that, "Man, I'm in a good spot." I'm stoked. We are we're having fun. And I know this is WSX, but I'm also beating some really good guys, some champions.
Say you don't even win tonight. You've been riding better, you've been riding well.
Yeah, I mean, it's coming it's coming around, but I was a tick off Kenny, a tick off Eli in the first two rounds, and then, yeah, man, to catch him and pass Eli, it's it was like, “Okay. Let's go.” I mean, it was fun all night. Like, all day, I felt good in practice. I was a tick off in qualifying. I still haven't been in SuperPole, I'm bummed on that. But two more chances to do that. So, we're in a good spot. It's been fun.
How about you and Joe Dog [Savatgy] after the quad there?
Yeah, I was I was pretty bummed, like pissed about it. And then he came up, he's like, “You know I didn't mean to do that, right?” Like he quaded, I tripled. I was like, “Okay.” Like it makes sense. He said like, “I tried to brake.”
You thought he wanted to clean you out?
In Vancouver last corner, he hit me pretty good for a position. So, I get he's gonna put a front wheel there, but that one hurt. I got a nice bruise on my arm from that, but, hey, at least he didn't land on me.
Speaking of last corner, second main.
Brake checked by [Ryan] Breece, yeah. And he gave me a look back and I just ran right into his back tire and went over the bars. So, that one pissed me off because I was riding good. Like after the fall.
You were pretty far back.
Way back caught and passed some guys, passed Eli, and then yeah, freaking just riding into the Breece's back tire. So, that was fun.
The Arenacross guy, dude.
Oh, he knew. He knew exactly where I was, put his back tire right in my front tire and then there I go.
Watch the Australian GP highlights:
These conditions help you because you're such a precise rider, in my thinking. You can put your front wheel where you need to, throttle positioning, technique, and then when you add in some whoops that were gnarly, these are like the perfect Christian Craig conditions.
It's nice to see whoops that aren't breaking down too crazy. A couple of guys are jumping, but it's nice. Like [AMA] supercross should look at this and be like, “Hey, it shows that it separates the guys and there's passing being made.” It's not funneling into three, three, three. Like put the 11 whoops so it separates people. Like go back to it and I know it's dangerous, but it makes it more exciting. Yeah. So, shout out, hopefully Dirt Wurx listens to this or Mike Muye, I think he's the one that that comes up with this. But 11 whoops, I think is the is the ticket.
Oh, I was gonna say you almost went down in them, you clipped the Tuff Block on the inside. You they almost got you.
And I heard the crowd. I'm like, bro, don't do this to me right now. I wheel tapped out, it got a little sideways, but we rebounded.
How good does this feel right now for you?
It does. It does. It's like I didn't expect to win, like I want a podium. Obviously, I didn't get the overall podium. But like I would take that second and third because I know Kenny's so good in these short races, Eli. Man, like to cut like I said, catching passed those guys. It was like, “All right, let's go. We still got it.”
So, you're five points up. You were deducted five points for blitzing the whoops, which I kinda get, kinda don't, but you're five up on Joey.
Yeah, yeah. So, two rounds left and so much stuff changes, like I was bummed out in the second main and I'm like, “Oh, there goes my championship” and now I'm like, “I got the red plate.” So, stuff changes every weekend, teammate battles. And obviously Jason's [Anderson] gonna be good. He's gonna be up there. So, we'll see.
How much have you been changing your bike at all or and all that?
Zero. Zero clicks, zero, a check sag, and then I move on. So, I have been running the scoop at home, thanks to Eli, just for the starts. But I took it off right before practice just because how concrete everything was.
So, you were in scoop in practice?
No, I took it off right before. I've been scoop the past two weeks at home at MTF, and it is hard packed there. So, I'm used to it now. I'm ready for it. I know a lot of the KTM, Husky guys are on it full time now, which is unfortunate. It's like that thing should be illegal in supercross. And I think that's probably why Eli was having a lot of timing issues. He was probably spinning up the faces. So, he chose to run it. Yeah, and maybe that was why he was a tick off tonight.
I never even thought of that, but you're right. He was going high and long on rhythms. But he knows how the scoop works, so I don't know.
I think it was so hard packed that he'd had no control of it, but I'm not gonna speak for him. I made the right choice. I think Joey tried it, the scoop in practice, the first one, and he said take that thing off. So yep. I I'll probably run it in Sweden when it's a little ruttier.
What'd you see from Deegs? I saw a guy really fast, but then I saw a lot of mistakes, I thought. What was it like being around him?
It was exciting. After the second main night, come back to some drama with the team and him and Joey. But hey.
I didn't know that.
I mean, I think they were back and forth, right?
Yeah. But I didn't think it was that bad where they were yelling at each other. Yeah, they were looking over at each other.
Yeah. I guess there were some words spoken, he respects me and I think he will until I'm done racing. I don't know what it is if it's because I've taken care of the kid or my wife cooks for him when he comes over. [Laughs]
Right. Right.
He respects me, and he was pumped for me. I'm pumped for him. The last main was cool for him. He got to catch and probably pass one of his one of his idols [Tomac]. So, yep. I still got him though.
Yeah, no, you still got him. All right and then last thing. What are you really gelling with on the Honda? Like obviously Husqvarna and Yamaha didn't go the way you wanted to. Yamaha is still the greatest bike, but what do you like about the Honda?
Stability. Like that was the number one thing is it doesn't do.
More stable than a Yamaha?
The Yamaha used to be stable and since I've been back on for this past year, very twitchy. Very twitchy in the front and that made me not comfortable. Still a really good bike. But this [Honda] was like, I know what it's gonna do. It doesn't G out in rhythm sections and pull me one way. And like I said, haven't touched it. So, it's been it's been fun.
Odd because well, not odd, it's such a different bike, but you had your best years on a Honda you could talk about. And that's just a totally different model, but like I don't know, maybe there's a red front fender?
Yeah. I think seeing the red front fender and then I mean I've won on the Yamaha obviously my championship so.
I meant more 450, you know.
I've always I've always gelled with the Honda, whether it's the motor or the chassis. Yeah. Ride red.
