Is Christian Craig really just a 10-12 guy?

this could also be an issue. struggle the first year knowing u have a 2 year deal. when contract season comes around do good and get another 2 ear deal. he should be on 1 year performance based deals. as should alot of riders 

Webb was not at Baker's Factory last year.....and it is the riders responsibility to set up the bike with the help of the Team.  Mookie seemed to be going plenty fast and Christian was allegedly faster than him daily in December.  Now Christian says the bike is problem, but the press release says his mentality is the issue.  Hmm.....

There is a press release that blames his head for the problems?

I watched the first episode of his vlog too and at the end Aldon is telling him "you have a very bad habit of once something doesn't go perfect it ruins your mindset"......Think that is pretty telling

“A2 started off better. I put in better times in qualifying,“ Craig said. “I'm just struggling a little bit mentally, just trying to get more comfortable. I'll keep working on that and try to improve for Houston. All-around I'll just try to take the positives from the night, know that I'm capable of more, and try to keep working toward my goals.”

I noticed that too, Ive always watched his vlogs and he seems sort of burnt out right now I wonder if the Bakers style training just isn't for him.

When you compare it to how the Star team trains at the goat farm it looks like there was so much more comradery between the guys but still pushed each other, I mean look at Craig and Nichols both got off their bikes at the starting line to congratulate their old team mate Kitchen after his win last week. Dude is in shape they brought that up in the semi after A1 as well saying thats obviously not the issue. 

I never get the Craig hate, dude has literally always been a class act it and seems to always makes time for fans. Maybe because he puts so much of behind the scenes out there good and bad. I like Webb but dude is a robot I think that kind of hurts him with the fans.

I think some people are still mad that Craig didn't drive a sprinter around privateering the 450 class last year instead of taking a factory ride and a fat championship bonus in the 250 class. 

So, if it's his head and his bike, that's 2 things he needs to fix instead of 1. Seems to me that could be more problematic.

He must have been complaining about the bike to the team and they may have said "you are out of your F***ing mind" so that's where they came up with the "head problems"  

First of all, I said "NOT MANY riders are getting better or even holding ground at this age".  I did not say that none are.  Three of the 4 you listed are 30, and the other is 29, so none are "over 30" yet. More importantly, all are younger than Craig. But back to the important thing.  Barcia is clearly past his prime. He's still fast, but he's not a real threat to Tomac, Webb, Anderson, or Sexton for race wins.  If they all have a bad race, he might pick up a win, but he's not beating them on merit anymore. 

Tomac and Anderson are still at or near their prime.  Eli is eyeing retirement.  He knows he is coming towards the end of his time at the top.  Anderson is still two years younger than Craig.  He's still fast, but we don't know that he is going to be the same in 2025.  At the top end of sport, the effects of age comes on quickly.  And Malcolm is so inconsistent, who really knows what his peak is or was, and when he hit it?

All of the guys we are talking about are very fast, and very capable riders.  Some moreso than others.  I'd put Craig in the second tier of the current pro crop: riders that I wouldn't be surprised to see take a win, but would need everything to play out perfectly for it to happen.  The problem is that there are 6 or 7 other riders like him, and on that day, only one of them will get it.   He needs the top 4 or 5 to all have a bad night, and for that to happen on the night that he's doing better than the other 2nd tier riders. 

He'll need a start.  At this point he isn't running down guys like the #1, #2, #23, #21, #94, etc, he has to start with them and ride like a mad man to hang in there.

I think he can run with and beat the 6-10 place guys, but he isn't great at coming back from a poor start.

Does anyone know what happened between Craig and Justin Hill at A2? I was watching Swap's How Was Your Weekend last night, and Hill said Craig crossed jumped him, and he better watch out, because there's some payback coming. 

WAs listening to him on Gypsy and he sounded like he is a little overwhelmed by the speed. Talking about how he is battling like crazy for 14th. I think he can be a 8-12 guy by the end of the season

Yes

he's finishing where he should be, all riders in front of him have always finished ahead of him.  Also, last year was the weakest West class I've watched.

This is the classic example of valuing the 250 class way too high. 

The top 10 in the 450 class is stacked at the moment when everyone is healthy. And i think the US 250 class has been in a relatively weak state for a couple of years now. Look at Ferrandis, dominated 250 SX and he is basically a 5th place rider in his 3rd season when everyone is healthy at the moment. Craig being 10th in a healthy 450 SX class is where i expect him to be.

Look at Nicoletti last weekend with a good start and a bad start.  Starts are so important.  

Big difference when you’re not racing teenagers anymore

Agreed about the 250 value statement but there are outliers and like you said 250 class has been weak in recent years, plessinger people seemed to forget a lot went his way to win the 250 title and it was a weak field when he did it, I think Justin Cooper will find that out in his 450 career.

Ferrandis is a funny one he was truly something on that 250f I think his lack of SX shows in the big boy class but going off his 250 career he's good enough to podium on the 450, he just needs to work it out.

To CC's comments about how he rode and how he feels just shows once again how much this sport or any sport or discipline is mental, look at all our greats all of them had strong mental, it took a long time for Eli to get his mental on point and look what he's doing now.

5/10 guy but it seems that he struggle bad with forks and shock set up. He has not the same feeling like when he was on Kayaba.Pretty obv that CC is a very sensitive rider.