How are you feeling with the bike so far through two rounds?
Last weekend, I am going to be honest, it wasn’t the greatest. Come into this weekend, big improvements. Just easier to ride through the whole moto. Last weekend I got to the 20-minute mark, and it wasn’t my fitness it was just my bike wearing me out. So, we made big progress. First moto it showed and then the last moto it showed too, I just got caught up, came together with Shimoda and a couple of other things but progress.

Through these two rounds is there a feeling that you’re excited about at the end of the day or is it just results that you’re trying to focus on like, “I want to get top five” or whatever?
Umm I think it's both, like feeling wise I have a lot more in me. Just from the past I know my capabilities, and how I ride when I am having fun. It's a totally different thing. I feel like I can do some pretty cool shit on a dirt bike. So if I can do that during race day, totally different. Position wise, like seeing Deegan win today, it's kind of like something you shoot for, I have raced with him my whole life so it's like, “All right, I can do it.” So that’s cool too, but I think it's a little bit of both.

Are you excited for the prospect of heading east now?
Yeah, these two California rounds, I was coming into this one thinking it was going to be a totally different track. I raced here a couple of weeks ago and the track was actually really good. So, I was excited. And then it turns out that it wasn’t.

Was it tighter or something? It just looked like it was really one lined.
Yeah, like the start and you head up the hill and then you come into the two off cambers, that was follow the leader. And when Jo fell in front of me I had nowhere to go. And yeah, the track wasn’t the best.

Chance Hymas | 18-6 for 12th overall

Racer X: All right Chance Hymas, I think 12^th overall today, but man second moto you were in the battle like the whole time.
Chance Hymas: Yeah, first moto I did not ride good at all, just kind of fell apart and finished 18^th. Which first moto was what it was. Second moto got off to a really good start, I was fifth for a little bit, got up to fourth and I was fourth for about 25 minutes and then [Haiden] Deegan and RJ [Hampshire] got passed me. I had about three laps left, and I was trying to just hammer it out. It was a grind for sure because I saw Levi [Kitchen] and [Guillem] Farres behind me so I just tried to hammer it out the best I could. Finished sixth so it's a step in the right direction that’s for sure. A lot more confidence now running up there and I know I can now so it's definitely helping my confidence.

Is there stuff that you learned from that that you can take back and say, “All right, I know the pace I can do this differently now.”
Yeah, for me it's just trying to replicate what I am doing on a practice day at the racetrack. What I did that moto is exactly what I do at the practice track. So, I just need a start. If I can get a start and I can run out front I can do what I can, I can do the same thing I can replicate what I am doing you know. So, for me it's just mentally putting myself up there that I belong up there and if I am in that three, four, five position then I can run that pace the whole moto. It's just mentally getting your brain to do that. For me it's been a struggle. But after today it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Going back to that first moto I’ve heard people say the track was one lined and tight today, how difficult was it to make passes when you are back there?
It was pretty difficult. The problem is when you are that far back there’s so many people, it's like anywhere you go there’s a dude. You’re trying to get out of roost but you’re also trying to pass people and go forward but it's hard when you start tenth or 11^th or 12^th you know. The class is stacked right now, so unless you can pick your way through the guys early it sucks because everyone starts spreading apart. So definitely starting out front is the key. It was pretty one lined, pretty square edge. They fixed a lot of it for the second moto. But I just got a little bit of tunnel vision behind some people, and I was going backwards instead of forwards. It wasn’t a good moto for me, but I was stoked to turn it around.

Lastly, heading out of California now, excited to be headed east I imagine?
Yeah, I fly back to Florida tomorrow, excited to go back home. I am excited to leave the West Coast. [Laughs]

Carson Mumford | 15-9 for 13th overall

Racer X: All right, Carson Mumford, 13^th for the day, I feel like you were just at the tail end of both of those huge battles both motos today, am I right?
Carson Mumford: Yeah, bad starts, that’s my problem. It's definitely rider error but like you said there is that first group, first to fifth, they are a little spread out, and then there are a group of guys that are just hauling the mail from like sixth to eleventh. And they are like on each other the whole time. I started outside the top 20 both motos and I got up to that group each moto. First moto I had caught the group, involved myself with it, got Levi [Kitchen] and was on [Jalek] Swoll, I think for eighth or nineth, right around there. But like you said that group is pretty stacked and there were a couple guys in front of me that were kind of slowing down and I wasn’t slowing down. So I kind of noticed like, “Okay I still have like ten-twelve minutes in me” and then I just went down. And like you said those groups they freight train you and if make any mistakes or you go down, you’re picking up your bike and you’re just hoping someone doesn’t hit you. I went back to 18^th charged back up to 15^th but it kind of took the wind out of my sails the first moto when I crashed. I went down and I had a good flow going. I don’t know if the heat kind of hit me when I was laying there, or you know it's not fun picking up your bike for sure. But yeah, 15^th the first moto, not stoked but I definitely showed, I came from really far back and involved myself in that factory dude group and made good passes on people so hopefully people notice.

Second man I don’t know my start was just atrocious. There was obviously that second turn pile up and I got kind of tangled up in it, went off the track and was just like, “Please God help me” I was just so buried. I just got in a pace that I knew I could ride the whole moto and I knew there were going to be guys at the end that if I didn’t make any big mistakes, I was going to run up on them and it kind of seems like that is how it was. A lot of good dudes that were falling off of that group and I was just picking them off one by one. Right towards the end I think it was [RJ] Hampshire, Swoll, Kitchen, and Farres were in that group right there, and I had kind of caught up to them a little bit. Swoll made a mistake, I think he tipped over in the same corner I did the first moto, so I got him. And then it was ten minutes to go, and I didn’t have another two seconds of speed in me. I was kind of just riding at that speed I was comfortable with, and I knew I wasn’t going to crash. I had made some progress on catching those guys, but they were half of a straight away ahead of me. Then with five minutes to go I think they found another gear, or they tightened up so they kind of had to hammer. But my lap times didn’t drop at all. I think my fastest lap to my slowest lap was only two seconds. So definitely a solid ride and it shows that I am in good shape. I just need to not make mistakes and just let other people make those mistakes that I was making today. And clean up my starts. If I can just put myself into a single digit start it would change the game for me for sure. But sick of eating roost and sick of not having the best first motos because it ruins my overall. Last weekend I kind of did the same thing. Was bad off the start, caught up to that main group and crashed. Had to run to my bike and do some weird stuff and ended up 11^th, so it killed my overall again. So, looking to clean up my first motos, not make any mistakes and I should be good, I should be right up there with guys that deserve to have full time rides and I think that I can prove to people that I am right there.