| Rearing of a Champion
Like many Australian racers,
Craig Coxhell cut his teeth in the ranks of junior motocross and dirt
track events. His first outing was aboard a Honda QR50 where his
father took him to their local dirt track in Shepparton in rural
Victoria at the age of nine. He progressed through the various ranks
of junior motocross and even spent two years competing at junior
speedway events.
Coxhell took part in his first road race meeting just days after his
sixteenth birthday, competing in the 1998 Stars of Tomorrow meeting at
Phillip Island aboard an Aprilia 250.
In 1999 he competed in the Australian Championship and Victorian
Titles on the Aprilia 250 Production machine. He won the Victorian
Title and came second in the 1999 Australian Championship. He was
spotted by Dave Cullen from Team Yamaha.
Craig then signed a two-year deal with Team Yamaha. In 2000 Craig rode
the Yamah’s R1 in Australian SuperBike and stepped down to the smaller
R6 machine in FX events. He earned fourth in Australian SuperBike
Championship, and came second in the FX SuperSport.
Coxhell was also named ‘Australia Rider of the Year’ and received the
RK Samurai Trophy.
In 2001 Craig continued with Team Yamaha, competing on the R1 in both
Australian Superbike and FX Championships. He finished second in
Australian Superbike Championship behind Shawn Giles, and third in FX.
Craig also wrapped up the Victorian Titles and took the Harvie
Wiltshire Trophy to cap off what was a good year for the young
Shepparton rider.
Craig again signed with Team Yamaha for 2002 but this time the Yamaha
team only competed in the FX Tri-State Championship.
Overall Craig finished the 2002 FX season with fifth place overall.
Craig was not happy with a fifth overall in the FX Series, probably
because of the success Craig had enjoyed over the previous seasons, he
had come to expect better of himself.
“I was very disappointed with fifth overall. I would have been happier
if I came home third behind his more experienced rivals Robbie Baird
and Kevin Curtain.”
“Unfortunately nothing really came together for me in 2002. When the
bike was on the pace I was not happy with my performance and knew that
at times I should have ridden better.
“Then at the times I did really feel comfortable, we were unlucky
enough to suffer some component failures. So we didn’t really show our
full potential this year.”
Suzuki stepped in to pick up Craig for 2003 to ride alongside the
current Australian Champion Shaun Giles in the renowned Phil Tainton
run team.
Stepping right up to the challenge Craig with a new program and
determination clinched the 2003 Australian Superbike Championship in
an epic battle run right down to the wire in the final round at
Eastern Creek.
"Team Suzuki provided me with a great package and they gave me a
fantastic opportunity to compete in the 2003 Australian Superbike
Championship on the GSX-R1000 – and to Win the Championship for them
was fantastic”
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