Insight: Seth Hammaker

I thought I heard you were only going to miss some of supercross? Or you never were?
It was pretty much done. If it would have just been my radius and ulna, I probably could have made the end of supercross. But with the scaphoid injury, that was the biggest blow in the injury for sure. 

Obviously, it’s a different class, different bike. I get it. But you look at [Jason] Anderson jumping in, and he’s struggling. That’s fine, it’s going to happen. He wasn’t off nearly as long as you. Again, different bike, different competition and all that, but I’m just saying that for guys to jump in halfway through the series, it’s tough. But you’ve got to be pretty impressed. I think you’ve been riding pretty well, and your fitness seems good. It’s not easy to do, so good job.
Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel like even my fitness is better than it has been last year, so I’m happy about that. It’s only going to get better racing every weekend. Just keep progressing. That’s the main thing. Every weekend I want to progress.

It’s definitely been some good results. I can see you getting on the box here overall at some point. We’ve got ourselves quite a series going on right now for sure. We got to stop getting injured. You’ve got a great future ahead of you. You’re fast. Quit getting injured, dammit!
Yeah, I know. The injuries have been a tough thing for sure. Every time, you just get set back and you can’t ever build off of anything. So, it’s tough. I’ve only raced two supercrosses in the past two years, and that’s a big bummer. Just got to stay off the ground I guess and be at more races.

I know you know that and I’m kidding obviously, but it’s got to be a bit of a bummer for you to have these stops and starts. Have you looked at any common theme on why you get hurt when you crash or anything else? Is there anything that you’ve been trying to change?
Not really. I always try and look back at that stuff to see if there’s anything I could have prevented or to change moving forward, but honestly, especially my last one, it was literally a week and a half or two weeks before Houston. Everything was going so good. We were just out to practice at the Kawi practice track. Through the whoops one lap and just had a mishap. I look back on it and there’s nothing I would have done differently. It’s just stuff that happens. Before you know it, I looked down at my arm and I’m like, “Yeah, my season is over.” It’s one of those things. Mentally you’ve got to be strong. It’s hard. That stop and go stuff coming back from injury all the time. It takes a toll on you. It will pay off sometime.

Yeah, absolutely. Some guys have the biggest crashes and never get hurt. They just get up. So, I don't know if there’s anything that anybody can do, or anything that can change. Sometimes it’s just crappy luck. But you’re signed up for next year, right?
Yeah, I’m with PC for ‘24.

So, they believe in you. Kawasaki believes in you, and all of that. You’ve shown I think some speed and all that when you can stay on the track. For this year in outdoors, do you have any specific goals you want to hit, or do you just want to make it through the season, just keep riding good, and then focus on supercross for next year?
I think definitely just stay healthy and then obviously just progress every weekend. I feel like I definitely want to end up being on a podium overall, for sure. I think I’m capable of it. It would be a good confidence booster going into the off-season and supercross and the SMX stuff if I get into that, too. Mainly just build, really.