In 1999 he competed in the Australian Championship and Victorian Titles on the 250 Production machine. He won the Victorian Title and came second to Broc Parkes in the 1999 Australian Championship. Matthew Turner and Geoff Hardcastle were the people behind Craig in the pits that year.

Craig then signed a two-year deal with Radar’s Team Yamaha. In 2000 Craig rode the Radar’s R1 in Australian SuperBike and stepped down to the smaller R6 machine in FX events. He earned fourth overall in Australian SuperBike, and came second to Chad Turnbull in FX SuperSport. Coxhell was also named ‘Australian Rider Of The Year’ and received the RK Samurai Trophy.

In 2001 Craig continued with Radar, competing on the R1 in both Australian SuperBike and FX. He finished second in Australian SuperBike, behind Shawn Giles, and third in FX behind Robbie Baird and Jamie Stauffer. Craig also wrapped up the Victorian Titles and took the Harvie Wiltshire Trophy to cap off what was a good year for the Shepparton teenager.

Craig again signed with Radar for 2002 but this time the Yamaha team only competed in the FX Tri-State Series.

2002 started off on a reasonable note with strong race results in the opening three races of round one before a machine failure while dicing for the lead with Kevin Curtain in the final race.

The 2002 FX series then moved on to Craig’s home track at Winton. Here he finished on a high note with a second place in the final race.

Then the series moved back to Eastern Creek, here Craig’s luck took a turn for the worse. In race one an electrical fault meant Craig could only come home in 18th position. He went out on the spare bike, a 2001 machine, for race two but that machine ingested something in to the airbox which jammed a throttle slide open, Craig was left to linger at the back of the field in 18th position once again. The last two races were much better with Craig scoring 6th and 5th places.

Round four was held at Queensland Raceway, things were not looking good after a couple of problems during qualifying and some mediocre results in the first two races. But then some of Craig’s luck must have rubbed off on his competitors as a melee around the back of the circuit resulted in a few riders falling. Craig went on to take the win in the third leg before a wrong tyre choice made the final race a struggle for fifth place.

The penultimate round of the FX Series was at Sydney’s Oran Park circuit where Craig was somewhat disappointed with his performance. The results were far from bad, with a couple of 4th places and a 2nd in the day’s final race, which helped to make the round end on a brighter note. But Craig thought he should have done better, as the Yamaha was working very well that weekend.

At the exciting FX finale Craig took a fifth place behind the then three-time AMA Champion Mat Mladin in the first race.  He then came home behind Mladin again in race two for 6th place, followed by a 5th and 7th in the final races.

Overall Craig finished the 2002 FX season with fifth place overall, 18 points ahead of Josh Brookes. Now most riders would be happy with a fifth overall in the FX Series, but, probably because of the previous 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 Robbie and Kevin,”

“Unfortunately nothing really came together for me in 2002. When the bike was on the pace I was not happy with my performance, at times I should have rode 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 which made 2002 a trying season for me.”

Craig's luck was to take a turn for the better with a move to Suzuki in 2003.  On signing the contract the then 20 year old was excited about the opportunity presented.  "Team Suzuki provide a great package and they have given me a fantastic opportunity to compete in the full 2003 Australian Superbike Championship on a GSX-R1000, I'm looking forward to learning a lot from both Shawn Giles and Phil Tainton, who are both extremely talented."

And learn a lot he did. Craig hit the lead in the championship at round three of the five round 2003 season.  He was then never headed and went on to clinch the championship at the final round with a pair of wins at the highly technical Eastern Creek circuit.

Craig recorded those wins under immense pressure.  Both Shawn Giles and Kevin Curtain were in the hunt for the championship, and they breathed down their young opponents neck all weekend in their quest to lift the title.  But the youngster showed a cool head and fine control under pressure to bring home the wins, and with that the championship.

"The plan for 2003 was to use it as a year to get familiar with working with Team Suzuki, and to learn as much as possible from Phil and Shawn to get ready to really hit my stride in 2004.

"But I clicked with both Shawn Giles (team-mate and three-time Australian Superbike Champion) and Phil Tainton (Team Suzuki Manager and master tuner) right away, which enabled me to achieve those goals a lot earlier than we first thought possible.

"At Winton I took the lead in the championship and realised that if I could remain consistent, I really had a shot at lifting the title.

"Thankfully I managed to hold it all together and we won the final races of the season and with it the 2003 Championship. 

"I regard Phil (Tainton) as one of the world's best mechanics, what he does with the bikes is awesome and he made my job easy.  Having Shawn (Giles) as a team-mate also helped as we get on extremely well, his vast experience and professionalism made a big impression on me.

"But my ambition has always been to head overseas in the aim of eventually securing a competitive ride in a world championship.  So when the opportunity came up to join a professional team in British Superbike, it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up, this is my chance to prove my ability on European soil.  If everything goes well and I successfully rise to the challenge I might earn my ticket to a ride in Grand Prix or World Superbike.

"I head over to the U.K. in February.  It will be straight down to work though as the new CBR1000RR Fireblades arrive around the same time, so we will be straight in to a hectic testing schedule before the British Championship kicks off in March."

This is perhaps a gutsy move by Coxhell to leave a safe seat in Australia's most successful racing team.  But at 21, the time is perhaps ripe to take on a new challenge.  A large part of the task will not just be learning the new circuits in a foreign country, or working with a new team and a completely new machine.  He will also have to experience the trials and tribulations that come with being based a long way from home, without the strong family support base he enjoyed while racing in Australia.

But a young rider does not get this far without a strong sense of ambition along with the necessary skills and way of thinking that a rider must possess in order to be successful.  But every rider also acknowledges that a fair dose of luck is also needed in order to climb the ladder to success in Europe. 

This is the first time in quite a few years that a young Australian Champion has immediately headed overseas after winning the Superbike Championship. The last to do so was Anthony Gobert (1994), who incidentally is the only rider to win the championship at a younger age than Coxhell. While the year before that (1993) it was Troy Corser who lifted the title before immediately moving on to bigger things.

If Coxhell does prove his worth in Europe next year it will almost certainly make things easier for other Australian youngsters trying to get noticed by overseas teams after showing good form on home soil.

Coxhell's team-mate for 2004 will be fellow Australian Paul Young.  He will learn a lot from Young, the 1994 Australian 250 Production Champion has been riding in Britain for a number of years.  He also has a reputation for helping young Australians to establish themselves on British soil.  Already the Adelaide born rider and manager has been advising Craig in regards to logistics for next year.  Young's presence will be a great help to Coxhell in his maiden year away from home.

Robbie Burns, the man behind RB Motorsports, and owner of the transport company Vitrans, kicked off the team in 2001 with Callum Ramsay on a Suzuki in the British Supersport Championship.  The following year they expanded a little with Michael Laverty joining Ramsay on the team.  Dean Thomas also joined the team halfway through the season.  This year, 2003, Vitrans ran Laverty and Thomas once again in British Supersport. Laverty finished fourth in the championship and Thomas fifth.

For 2004 the Vitrans Team is expanding again and will be a three way venture between RB Motorsports, Pirelli and Paul Young Racing.  Paul will ride the CBR600RR in British Supersport while Coxhell will ride the new CBR1000RR Fireblade in British Superbike, also on Pirelli tyres.  We believe Ten Kate will have a hand in helping to prepare the machinery.

It is fair to say that everyone that has worked with Craig in recent years wishes him the best in his new challenge.  We will follow his progress closely. 

He may find things a little difficult at first, it took a couple of years for Troy Bayliss to conquer Britain.  If Coxhell can go close to emulating that performance in a similar timeframe, then he will have certainly proved his pedigree.