Christian Craig suffered a dislocated hip and a dislocated and broken elbow in a practice crash for the Monster Energy Supercross Round 12 in Glendale, Arizona while Stilez Robertson suffered a leg injury; the timeline for both riders uncertain with surgery required for both injuries.
“Rough day in AZ,” Craig posted on Instagram. “Ended up going down early in first practice. Dislocated hip and dislocated elbow. Was able to get them both put back in at hospital. My elbow is also broke so will be getting surgery on that once the swelling goes down. Appreciate everyone that has reached out - including lots of the guys I race every weekend. And thanks to everyone who was at the hospital with me while @_paigecraig hopped on a flight as well as the mobile medical team for taking care of me. Unfortunately, this is part of the sport and I’ll heal up to be ready ASAP.”
Craig won the 250 West championship last year by 10 points over Hunter Lawrence and instead of staying in that division for another year to defend his title, Craig moved up to the 450 class. He currently eight in championship points.
In his first season on a 450, Craig has shown consistency and steady improvement. His first three rounds each ended in results of 11th or 13th, his next four rounds landed between seventh and 10th and his last three attempts ahead of Glendale were sixth through ninth, giving him a seven-race, top-10 streak. That ranked him ninth on the NBC Sports SuperMotocross Power Rankings.
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In the 250 Class, Robertson also sustained an injury in Glendale. He crashed on the first lap of Race 1, resulting in a red flag so the Alpine Stars Medical crew could attend to his injured leg.
“Not the night I was expecting,” Robertson reported on Instagram. “I qualified P7 but felt really good on the bike and was excited for the night show. Got some wheel spin on the 3 in and came up a little short and got off balanced and ended up crashing but was fine… then the next thing I know I’m getting pile driven by like four bikes. As soon as that happen[ed] I felt my ankle/leg get really hot so I went to get up and get off the track and my ankle just straight gave out and I fell down.
” [...] Headed to Colorado in the morning to get surgery scheduled and hopefully knock that out and get on the road to recovery. Sorry to let everyone down. It’s been hard on me, but I know at the end of the day it’ll all be worth it.”
Other 2023 Injury News
Dylan Ferrandis, concussion | May return before the end of 2023
Marvin Musquin, wrist
Colt Nichols, head
Malcolm Stewart, knee
Cameron McAdoo, shoulder
Jalek Swoll, arm
Jo Shimoda, collarbone
Seth Hammaker, arm and wrist
Austin Forkner, knee | Injury isn’t the hardest part
