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TV needs to do a feature so we better understand the tremendous adversity he's going through in the 450 class.
to me this is just an excuse. Poor results screw it lets blame the bike. seemed just fine for 27 and all the ktm guys. Craig has always been a head case and always will be. Look when he raced east coast in 2021 against nichols. Tracks got broken down worse than a west coast track and the rest is history. now in the 450 class when the tracks are at there worst and hes struggling
Yeah, the same bike it took every other athlete over a year to get used to? Total excuse...
I mean, right now yeah. Welcome to the premier class.
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The ones that peak while in 125/250’s will never be better than 11-20 in the Night Show. It’s always been so. Get faster or get out.
It’s possible for mookie to have a set up he likes and Craig have a setup he doesn’t.
craig performs best on 1 year contracts. maybe he should bring his mental coach back
There seems to be some leap that some make and some don't. Look at Sexton, wasn't the fastest guy in the 250s but now is top tier 450. Savatgy toyed with the top - at MEC a few years back. Nichols, McElrath, Craig are struggling - but have alot of fast guys ahead of them.
Roczen, Tomac, Barcia all got up front quickly in 450s; perhaps it was the competition at that time in 250s, or lack of it in 450s at the time as they came in.
Not sure but the only recent leap to the front in SX was Sexton. Ferrandis for MX. Malcolm seems to have made the jump at A1 but got bit with the neutral crash.
Every rider in the top 15 of the 450SX class except for Savatgy and AC have at least 1 and in several cases 2 lites titles on their mantels - which doesn't include Marv. And AC and Savatgy were super close to having their titles as well and queefed in the last races preventing them from having lites titles. Most riders have 2 lites titles to their names. You also have 3 former 450 SX champions racing in the class with 2 of them being multi-year champs in 450SX. Top 10 in this field is an amazing accomplishment IMHO. The quality and depth of this field of riders is insane.
doesnt go thru the whoops like the yamaha and whoops are his thing. messing with his confidence thusly. doesn't help his teammate is a completely different build, has a completely different riding style, and probably is not a great tester. also, that team is sorta meh right now.
whats wrong with the team? looks to me like its more rider issues than team. riders and excuses make team look bad. They are racing dirt bikes not formula one cars. Get the bike close enough and the rest is up to the rider. But when you use the excuses of the bike as a crutch thats bs
He needs to bring back the orange led light on the handlebars to remind him to breathe and everything will come together.
He could do better with 250f Yamaha.
The Yz was a good fit for him. He always looked comfortable.
Not so much on the Husky so far.
To be fair, a 450 ride wasn't available to him at Star, so he took a chance on Husky.
Hopefully he finds the right settings, and we see him battle closer to the front.
I think it’s just a case of 450 class being a different animal. Very easy to put fast laps together in a field where only 2-3 are competitive with you. In the 450 class all top 15 have something for him so unless you get a good start in clean air it must be very hard to get a flow going whilst constantly battling with top tier guys.
I really hope he figures it out though, I’m a fan and would love to see him land in the top 6 towards the end of the year.
I know it’s the least scientific thing there is here, but the man looked like a god on the practice track on his YZ and that parlayed into a championship, gets on the husky and looks like a 10-15 rider on the practice track and parlayes that into 10-12 guy at the race.
Occam’s razor
thats what i think!
only Webb goes along well with the Husaberg, all the other riders seems to struggle with their bikes.
It really looks like its a disadvantage beein on an Husgasbergtm, at least right now, we ll see how the riders will improve.
Craig did look more comfortable on the Yam
True. just seems theyve lost some mojo since team got sold. Mookies improvement has beem impressive tho.
Pit Row
Exactly, because Christian Craig and Cooper Webb are cut from the same cloth…
He has never looked good on the Husky and the usual reports of his off season speed didn't exist. There are issues with the bike. I am not going to say if there was not he would be killing it.
Now maybe he is just not a top 450 guy. I wouldn't argue that point. It's not uncommon for teams to find settings that work for some riders but not others. I didn't expect him to be a top 450 guy any time soon. Did you?
I think when a good track comes up for him he will do a lot better and gain a bit of confidence from it. He needs a good hard pack track with some big long whoops . Been nearly all rutty and soft at the start of the year
That’s funny. They were talking about him being fast at the test track. Even Christian himself told matthes he was completely fine and can hit whoops as good as ever BEFORE the season started. So now why is the bike the issue? If it’s an issue, it’s on Christian not the bike or the team. AP, Webb and mookie all seem to be riding as good as ever on the Austrian bikes. Barcia too has been riding well on them.
I didn’t expect him to be a top 5 guy, but I certainly didn’t see him as a lapper. He isn’t some young kid that just moved up to the big bikes. At 31, he is either at or just past his prime. I hope he figures something out soon, as time is not in his corner at this point.
Over the past ten years he has been called up to fill in on 450s and even with almost no preparation he performed better than he has so far this year with a full off season worth of testing. In the know guys like Matthes and several regular guys here on Vital put him on their list of 2023 race winners prior to A-1. Whatever the reason, I think it is safe to say the he has been the most surprising disappointment at this point in the season.
Was he going to tell him he is slower than snail shit? Bad mouth the bike? Dis' the Bakery? C'Mon' Man!
If you watch his vlog you can see how much of a mental game he is playing with himself right now.
Saying it and doing it are 2 different things. Positive thought. Ive yet to see a vlog or race video of him looking amazing in the whoops on the Husky.
The answer is no. He is an incredibly talented rider and in watching his VLOG's you can tell he is fighting the mental battle at the moment. The crash at A1 probably took some of the wind out of his sails but once he gets comfortable he can get top 5 results as he did on the Honda 450 indoors/outdoors. Tough to see racers go through this but he will figure it out.
Yes. In regards to Craig and Nichols, they are who we THOUGHT THEY WERE.
Who are the thumbs down bandits? F yall
Post a reply to: Is Christian Craig really just a 10-12 guy?