After holding the red plate in 2024 before going out with a shoulder injury, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo was a title favorite heading into the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. Unfortunately, his title run was almost over before it even started when he tore his ACL before the start of the season. McAdoo still lined up at the first 250SX East Division round in Tampa, Florida and took home an impressive third place, and for a minute it looked like maybe his knee wouldn’t hold him back. But then a big crash in Detroit led to a DNF, and after re-tweaking his knee in Daytona, he decided to get surgery and postpone his title hopes one more year.
Now after seven months off of the bike McAdoo is happy to be back riding. As he said in the Proof in Racing (Kawasaki's e-newsletter): “As everyone knows that rides, it was pretty tough mentally to be off of it for that long. I didn't ride for seven months, which is the longest I've ever been off the bike. It felt amazing, but at the same time, I was a bit nervous. I think many riders who are off the bike for a significant period of time have a similar feeling of questioning if they're still capable, but it came back right away, and I really enjoyed it. It's also been really nice to get back into my normal day-to-day routine that I'm used to, which is waking up to train and get better on a dirt bike every day.”
After being plagued by injuries for much of his career, McAdoo has readjusted his goals just slightly. With the main goal still being to win, but he knows in order to win one must first finish.
“My goals are very similar to what they have been the last few years," he said. "Obviously, as racers at the highest level, our goal is always to win, but there are steps to that, and I have goals along the way of that process. My first goal is to stay healthy for all the races and have a good, consistent season. That is the starting goal, and from there, if the team can provide what's needed, I think we have the recipe to win. I am focused on putting my best foot forward and being my best self every weekend and letting everything fall into place.”
McAdoo has been working diligently with his trainer to obtain these goals.
“I've been working with Nick Wey since my first year at Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki in 2020," he said. "Pretty much everything is the same for me and my program this year as it has been the last few years. Obviously, we make adjustments accordingly to what we feel could be improved upon from the year prior. We focus on areas where I struggle and also spend time improving my strengths further, similar to how the team makes changes to the bike.
“This summer, I did a fair bit more strength training because I'm trying to make myself as durable as possible. My cardio training has always been a strong suit of mine, so I looked at the time off the bike with my knee injury as an opportunity to focus more on building as much strength and muscle as possible. Once we start riding, it's pretty counterproductive to do a lot of strenuous strength training because you start to overwork yourself, and then you're not as fresh when you're riding. That was something I did, but it wasn't a major change for me. It was the circumstances we were faced with that we took advantage of the best we could.”
Even though 2025 started off rough for Cameron, it is bound to be a year he will never forget as he is about to be a father.
"It's been amazing; that was the silver lining from everything that happened this year," McAdoo said. "The way this year unfolded with my injury in January, just before the season started, felt like the most devastating thing. Sometimes it is hard for us to understand why things like that happen, so having this blessing and becoming a dad here soon has really flipped our year around in the best way possible. I never knew how much I wanted it and how excited I was going to be. As soon as I knew that I was going to be a dad, I was so excited for everything to come. We feel very blessed that we've been chosen to be parents, and it's been really fun seeing Maddie's strength and seeing how she is handling all of it. Watching her grow our child is the most spectacular thing I've ever gotten to experience.”
Could this life change be the starting point for new things to come for McAdoo? Speed has never been his problem. At no given point would anyone be surprised by a Cameron McAdoo win. However, McAdoo has not finished a season since he got third overall in the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross West Division. If Cameron can focus on finishing races and staying healthy, the wins are bound to come.
