Image: Octopi Media.

Fourth overall at Spring Creek elevated Christian Craig to P5 in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, which is in line with his 2022 450MX goals as he eyes further improvements.

Craig returned to 450MX after capturing the 250SX West title earlier this year and shot out of the gate at Fox Raceway’s opener with 3-3 moto scores.

From there, the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider has been a top-five challenger throughout a majority of the rounds to date, scoring further podiums in Southwick moto one and most recently during the second race at Spring Creek.

A 5-3 scorecard meant Craig missed the overall rostrum by two points in Millville, but crucially, was able to jump Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Ryan Dungey in their battle for P5 in the 450MX standings.

“It was a good day,” Craig explained. “I always enjoy coming here. This is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. I spent a lot of time here in the past, so I’ve got a lot of family and friends that show up here.

“I had a decent qualifying and then I had a good first moto and got off to a decent start. I got close to fourth for a while and had third in sight but settled with fifth. In the second moto, I made some good passes early on and got into third pretty quick, but the top two had pretty much checked out.

“So yeah, 5-3 for fourth overall, that moves me into fifth in points which is where I want to be. I just want to try and improve each weekend and keep it going at Washougal.”