Image: Octopi Media.

The anticipated return of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Christian Craig in Pro Motocross has been delayed, having to undergo an additional surgery on his elbow after it was discovered that the initial procedure wasn’t successful.

The 31-year-old had been recovering since sustaining multiple injuries at the Glendale round of Monster Energy Supercross, however, scans at the six-week mark revealed major problems with the hardware inserted, requiring a complete reset.

Craig confirmed the news this morning in his new podcast series – Candid with Christian Craig – and revealed that a second operation took place on the Friday prior to Hangtown at the end of May. He was originally slated to return with five rounds remaining in 450MX, but that will be paused at this point.

“We are almost nine weeks post-surgery from my crash in Glendale that happened in practice, broke my elbow pretty badly, and dislocated my hip,” Craig explained. “I got that all fixed, was on the road to recovery, and everything was looking good to start riding after eight weeks.

“We went and got checked up at the six-week mark, got a CT scan and it showed that the plate and the screws have backed out, and that pretty much, everything broke off, unfortunately. That was a tough pill to swallow.”

It was expected that Craig would be able to ride in mid-June, but that’s now been pushed back further with this newfound issue, which happened despite him following medical advice throughout his recovery. His primary goal is to make it back in time for the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs in September.

“I feel like I did everything right, didn’t do anything – I didn’t go ride early, and I did what the doctor told me,” he added. “So, to get that news that the plate didn’t work and that my arm’s still broken after six weeks, it was tough because I had a date set and pretty much let everybody know that week before I found out, that I was planning on riding June 15th…

“After a year like last year, it seemed like everything was going so well. And this year, obviously, it’s been quite a bit of a struggle, results-wise. I felt like I would ride good and just didn’t show up on the weekends, so a tough go.

“We’re on week three now, trying to heal up and we are doing it proper, taking our time on this one, and plan to make these last three playoffs. That is my goal that I’m setting, and if it happens great, or if not then we get ready for next year.”