Christian Craig | New Found Appreciation

January 24, 2020

@christaincraig

For a racer as talented as Christian Craig, it’s quite surprising and unfortunate how many injuries and mishaps have hindered his career. In the summer of 2019, Christian announced the most recent hurdle in his career, that being a two-year suspension from the FIM following a failed anti-doping test from the 2018 Daytona Supercross. Fortunately, Christian denied the accusations and fought the suspension until it was ultimately released. In an interview prior to Anaheim Two, the GEICO Honda rider explained to us how the experience as a whole has sprouted a new found love and appreciation for racing. And though the recent two rounds of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross series haven’t gone exactly in Christian’s favor, it’s obvious that he is having more fun than ever on the bike. The speed and fitness, no question, are there. We just hope to see less of the unfortunate mishaps, that come with racing, swallow up the number-62 Honda.

First off, you have been on the gas lately…

I think it’s been a mix of everything; from a good offseason to having all the FIM BS done, I think that’s made me find a new love for the sport and have a new appreciation to be able to line up. A1 went good, it was a fourth-place finish but a third on paper. I put myself in a good position. And then, last weekend I was in a great position but had a mental error, clipped a tough block, and went down with about three minutes left. Luckily I’m all good, just knocked the wind out of myself pretty bad. We’re here and still having a great time, you put in all those hours during the week so I try and just have fun on Saturdays.

I know it’s in the past, but what was the plan if the FIM deal didn’t work out the way it did?

– If it didn’t work out this way, I would have had to wait til round 11 to come back. At that point, I would have had to look for a fill-in ride or something because the team couldn’t guarantee me a ride if that was the case, which I totally understood. I fought it until I couldn’t anymore and luckily it played out the way it did. Who knows what class I would have been in or what bike I would have been on if it didn’t go this way.

Did you ever get the trophy from Anaheim One?

– No, they said I would get it this week so I’m going to go look in the Pro Circuit truck and find this thing (laughs). It’s not even the participation thing, it’s just if I got third then you know what, I get the trophy. Why not? Those things are hard to come by and not a lot of people get those (laughs).

They didn’t even have the trophies on the podium, right?

– Yeah, they didn’t get the trophies till later on that night but either way, I need that thing in the rig (laughs).

You’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with the team for quite a while now, what big changes have the GEICO Honda squad experienced this year?

– Yeah, Ryan Dungey coming on board as part-owner is huge, it’s such help on race day and just in general. He brings so much knowledge to the whole team and has already changed a couple of things on our bikes for the better, so it helps a lot. Even on race day, he helps a lot at track walk and even come main event time. And then, we got a new motor guy this off-season. I was fortunate enough to help develop the new motor and just get it stronger, so that was fun and cool to contribute to. It’s been fun, we have a really good group of people here.

You recently did a little video series, what inspired that?

– I watch this vlog series called “Embedded” that the UFC does the week before a title fight, they basically follow the fighters around and document what goes on before competition. I thought that was the coolest thing and was always searching for the next episode. Two days before the week of Anaheim One I decided that I wanted to try and do something like this, so we got together with Kyle Cowling and made it work. It’s never been done in our sport, so I thought it was cool that a fan can go on YouTube and watch a series on what goes on the week before A1. I think we are actually going to do more in the future. It was a lot of work for Kyle, but it all played out in our favor.

Huge props on the video series. As an editor, it is cool to see a new type of content that amps me up…

– I just wanted it super raw, nothing crazy edited, no slo-mo. It was definitely cool to do and I actually get asked about it like every week, so we will have to do one again soon.

Staying on the video subject, your wife has been pretty busy with the vlog camera…

– Yeah, after the video series, we saw all the feedback and wanted to keep something going even when we can’t have Kyle filming. So we do a Saturday race day vlog, where she films it on her little camera and puts it up. We’ve done it in the past, but never at every race. And this year we are going to try and do one every Saturday.

After getting banged up at round two, you came home and had the flu all week. Were you able to ride at all in between St. Louis and A2?

– I rode one time. I tried to ride Tuesday and just couldn’t, so I went to the hospital and got diagnosed with some type of bug. Luckily, I was able to ride a little on Thursday, so I’m feeling normal again and just in time for Saturday.

You have one of the most entertaining riding styles to watch, what do you credit that to?

– I credit that to my dad, obviously. And then I guess from being into BMX while I was younger, which has a lot of style that was easy to transfer over onto dirt bikes. And I was always into whips and stuff, so that’s been my thing.