Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127607
U INTERVIEW Team Yamaha MXer Michael Craig ~ "I don't want him winning any more. I don't like seeing someone else getting all the glory - it makes me angry. You just can't let him (McGrath) get away from you off the starts; that's what he did last year." Craig is a well-rounded r ider. He is a competent racer whether it's in the stad iu ms or outdoors on the National motocross circui t, but he admits that he enjoys supercross best. . "I love it. I like the tracks a li t tl e better because they're more technical and, for me, the mo re tech nical th e better. I li ke doing things tha t p eop le think tw ice ab out d o ing, li ke jumping a b ig triple or wha tever . I also love t he crowds." For the first time in his career, Craig will devote an entire season in the AMA National Cha mpionship championships, they hang on to them. But to Mike Craig, age has little significance. "If you look at all of the top riders right now, they're all up there (in age) Kiedrowski, Stanton, and even McGrath. But I really think that Guy Cooper changed things age-wise. He's shown you can win and do well when you're 30. But the bottom line is that if you're excited it doesn't matter how old you are. You can be just as excited at 25 as you can be at 17. I know I'm more hyper now than ever before!" Off the track, Mike Cra ig overflows wi th personality and is never at a loss for w ords. He is also one of the most confident riders in the pits. Ask any rider on race day how they predict they will fare in the race, and they will usually res pond conservativel y. Ask Craig th e same question and h e resp o nds enthusiastically: "I'm going to win !" or "This one's mine, or "I'm gain' for it." He's not bein g conceited or trying to be cocky, this is just how he is - he is a confident man. This attitude has pa id off for Craig in the MTE G 250cc Ultra cross Se r ies , 1# 'Ji:'.b. • ;0 ~ 36 to me, and I felt bad for him for leaving. Yeah, h e was b u m med but he was hap py for me. He knew that with me and Larry Ward on his team, he would have had a lot of top -five finishes, and that would be good for his company. He's a good guy." Craig has spent the last four seasons as a support rider for Kawasaki. Actual ly, he fit somewhere between Kawasaki's Team Gre en amateur support progra m and the company's full-on factory race team effort. He was never regarded as one the main factory -backed riders, and that bothered him. "Kawasaki always treated me well, but the other guys (Mike Kied ro wski and Mike Lakocco) got their full atte ntion. I tho ug ht, 'I wa nt the atte ntion; I don't want to be the little guy: so I really concentrated on doing well. I had to sta rt d oing good; it was win or cras h. 'I' m not going to be following anybod y arou nd an ymore: I told myself. So I start ed getting top-five finishes, but still not the attention I wanted. "So, at the end of the season, I knew both Kiedrowski and LaRocco were going to re-sign, plus Robbie Reynard had already signed, and there was only one possible spot left on the (factory) team. At that time, I heard rumors that Kawasaki was bidding for Greg Albe rtyn and Stefan Everts, and if they signed one of them there would be no room for me. I figured this would take some time before they got that all settled, so when Clark offered me a deal I thought it was best to move on. Overall, Kawasaki was very good to me." Now a member of the factory Yamaha racing team, Cra ig knows he can't sit back and just go w ith the flow. He signed a one-year contract with Yamaha and he knows that if he wants to remain on the team in the following years he must repay them with results. "Yamaha didn't hire me to be an also-ran; they hired me to win. That's it. Yeah, there's a lot riding on my shoulders in the supercross series, that's for sure. My teammate Jeff Emig, though, is just about the best outdoor motocrosser there is, but he has not yet really taken off in supercross . So Yamaha is expecting me to perform in supercross. I have to win, that's all there is to it." Now that he's a factory team rider, there's a slightly different tone in his voice. Th e re' s a hint of seriousness behind his words that he can't hide. "There's definitely more pressure on me now . This has changed my life. Before (when Craig was a support rider) I' d lik e bea tin g the factory guys, that made me look good; if I didn't, or if I finished just in the top 10, no big deal. But now being a factory rider I have to beat 'em. " Bei n g on th e factory team also means that yo u really have to devote yourself to racing; there are many people counting on you. I mean, if I get p assed because of the bike or so mething, then th e y'll fix it, but if I ge t passed because I'm tired, then that's my fault, not theirs. I don't want tha t." No one has ever denied the fact that Craig is fast, but some insid ers have referred to him as a crasher. "My biggest problem in the past is my endurance, or the lack of it:' he said. "I would get tired lat e in the race, do something stupid and crash. That's why Yamaha has me on a strict training program. My mechanic Brian Lunniss has me on a strict (trainin g) schedule, and he calls me every day making sure I don't slack off. He's always there, every day. I used to get up in the morning and if I d idn't feel li ke workin g (ou t), I wouldn't. Now, I get up an d work no matter how I feel, unless I'm really sick or something. Even if I'm flyin g somewhere, I better bring my funning shoes. Right now, I'm making every da y count - I'm going to bed whipped these days! "But this is what I want, this is what I worked for, and I'm happy. I want to win races and I'm going to do whatever it takes (to win)." Craig knows that if he's going to win then he's going to have to stop Jeremy McGrath, the defending champ. 250cc MX Series. In the past, Craig has competed mostly in the 125cc class. "I prefer the 250s. They're good at ev ery ra ce. When you're racing 125s, you have to set the jetting differently at each and every track, and sometimes you don't get it just right. They perform so d ifferently from week to week. But you don't have to worry about that with the 2505." Craig will be shooting for two titles in ' 94 - the 250cc Supercross and the 250cc outdoor National crowns, and he wan ts them both. "They're both important, but I guess the supe rcross series gets more glo ry . But my main goal is to win races - that's the biggest thing right now. If you think about winning championships, you're not going to win races. I'm going to take things race by race, but if I'm in the title hunt, I'm not shutting off." Craig will celebrate his 25th birthday in January. By today's standards, 25 is a little old to be signing factory contracts. Generally, the factory teams tend go after the young, up-and-coming kids and if they" do well and win where he has earned three championships. He finished seventh overall in the 1993 Supercross Series, despite sitting out the last three rounds due to an injury. He ended up being the top-finishing non-factory-backed rider in that series . His best result was a third place at the Dallas Supercross. Craig is a family man. He and his wife, Joanna, have two children - Jeremy, who is four, and Christian, who is two. They live in a single-story, threebedroom, 1800-square-foot house on a half acre of land in EI Cajon. Joanna is a full-time housewife. "She takes care of the kids all day. There's no way she'll let Jeremy and Christian spend the day with someone else, and that's fine with me. She's pumped (about Mike's Yamaha ride); she knows how hard I'm trying." There's no doubt about it, life is sweet for Michael Ray Craig right now. "Things couldn't be better. I have my family; I have a factory ride, good bikes, a good mechanic. If I don't win now - I don't know... "I'm expected to win." CN