Troy Dog
It’s been quite the year for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Christian Craig. After signing a two-year deal with the team at the end of the 2022 season, Craig has spent the majority of his time on the sidelines. Now he’s back and lining up to race the Pro Motocross season opener at Fox Raceway this weekend.
The original injury happened at Glendale last season, where he dislocated his hip as well, which was the main concern at the time. Who knew that the hip would be the easy fix as he walked out of the hospital that night in Arizona after they put it back in. In all, Craig has had four surgeries to repair his elbow, which would pop in and out of socket as he would ride. Two of those surgeries failed, the third one he thought had worked, which is when he attempted to race Motocross of Nations, but even there his elbow never felt right.
Then came the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship and Craig knew that his injury still wasn’t right, so he had to go get it checked out again, leading to a fourth surgery in the beginning of March.
Craig had the chance to get back on the bike at the end of April, which hasn’t led to much prep time for the Pro Motocross Championship, but he’s basically going to race himself into shape.
“I’m not going to be firing on all cylinders,” Craig told me on the Squad Pod (available now on the Vurbmoto Podcast Network). “I’m trying to just get there, get the gate drops in, and then build throughout the season.”
In all Craig has mustered up three weeks of motos heading into season, but he’s been able to practice daily with Aaron Plessinger, Malcolm Stewart, and RJ Hampshire, which has been a good gauge for him. He’s lost all the muscle in his arm and that’s going to be the toughest factor in getting back up to speed this summer. He has to rebuild it back up throughout the season.
To add to the stress of the injury, Craig’s deal is up with Husqvarna at the end of the season.
“It more bums me out that I got this opportunity and have yet to really show the team my real speed and my real self,” Craig said. “It’s more of me just wanting to do it for them and get them some results. Yeah, as of now I don’t have anything setup for next year and I do want to race. That’s my biggest thing. I feel like I have more years left in me even though I’m a little bit older now, but that fire is still lit. I will be racing a dirt bike next year it’s just let’s see how this summer plays out and go from there.”
So, for now the plan is to get some gate drops in, finish some motos, and get that elbow strong. Craig thinks he will be able to ramp up his speed midway through the season and be up there towards the front at the end.
The good news for all of you Christian Craig fans is that he has no plans of slowing down or retiring anytime soon. His injuries through the years, especially this elbow injury, has rejuvenated him and kept him fresh with determination to come back strong.
“I guess if I went all those years being healthy, then I’d be pretty burned out,” Craig said. “Man, there is still a lot that I want to do and accomplish. I don’t put a time on it. I’m not going to say that I want one more year and go from there. I want to keep going and I’ll know when it’s time. I guess whenever that fire dies, we will call it, but as of now I don’t see that.”
Listen to the entire episode with Christian Craig:
Main Image: Octopi Media
