Adam Cianciarulo currently sits in ninth overall in the Monster Energy Supercross 450SX class. A rider that has been plagued with injuries; he is quietly putting in a consistent year in 2023, and improving every week. We sat down with him after Seattle to see where he is at if he is content with his rides as of late, or still looking for more.
Racer X: Eighth on the night, but you were right in the mix throughout the whole main. Just take me through it.
Adam Cianciarulo: Yeah. The day was really good. I had a lot of pace. It kind of came a bit easier to me than normal, even my heaters they’re not on the edge like they used to be. They’re still super within myself, which is nice. That’s big progress. Little stuff like that, like having the pace and being up there, these guys are fast and that’s really exciting for me to have that kind of pace. The heat race I was actually the most bummed on. I just rode tight and just didn’t put a lot of good laps together. Main event felt super racy. Kind of made some moves in the first turn. That’s kind of my deal. I didn’t come into the first turn super, super good. Actually, my starts were terrible, which was kind of funny because all week I was talking about, “Oh, man, I’ve got the starts down so good.” It’s funny. It’s like a golf swing or a jump shot. Sometimes the shots are going down and sometimes they’re not. You kind of just got to ride the wave. But I felt racy in the beginning. Made a couple passes, which was nice. Obviously, I’m a good starter and it’s hard to run up front with those guys. I tried to run up front as long as I can. Made some moves, felt racy. Felt the most competitive I’ve been all year. Of course, I wasn’t able to hold that but I’m proud of my effort.
In qualifying, you were up on the board a lot. Do you go over the line and see yourself go P3 or P2 on the board and you’re like, okay, we’re feeling a little bit better today?
Like you said, this 450 class is gnarly. So, can you even take solace at the end of the night being like, I’m right there in the mix? A couple different things go my way and I’m in the top five?