Anaheim 1 was Chance Hymas’ first race back after knee surgery last summer. One week after a breakout ride at Thunder Valley, where he went 1-1, he dabbed his foot while running second at High Point resulting in a torn ACL. It was his third ACL injury, again costing him time at the races. Heading into A1, no one knew what to expect from the Honda HRC Progressive rider, that is except for Hymas himself who said in the post-race press conference:
“It's really rewarding. I worked in silence, and I just did my own thing and just really took a chance on myself this year after doing my third knee [injury]. Had a lot of doubt; there was a lot of doubt around me. Then we buckled down and put a lot of work in and stuff like this. I'm kind of speechless still. It seems a little surreal. I mean six months ago I was on a surgery table getting my knee fixed. It's pretty wild and a bit surreal, but everything I worked for is for this moment and especially coming into a first round and getting a second place. Chaotic night. Could have been way worse. It's very rewarding.”
Anytime a rider can come back from injury and pick up right back where they left off, is impressive. Though some could argue Hymas might be even better than before as this is only his second podium in supercross, his first came at the mudder in Foxborough last year when he took the win.
Hymas looked good all day at Anaheim. Third in timed qualifying, and third in his heat. He was then second off of the start in the main behind Ryder DiFrancesco, had a good battle with Max Anstie who eventually got around him to take the win. Hymas then followed suit in passing DiFrancesco and rode in second for the rest of the race, avoiding the chaos behind him.
Hymas spoke on his battle with Anstie.
“Yeah, a little bit of controlled chaos, but yeah, things heated up a little bit there, but honestly it doesn't feel that crazy in the situation or at that time," Hymas said. "It definitely was a little gnarly hearing his bike right here at my head when we were going up that triple and then sand section dicing up. It was honestly just really fun. I didn't feel like I was scared of it at all. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've raced, and I loved that part of it just going back and forth. So, the battle that me and him had and then kind of towed me into getting past Ryder. I knew if I could get past Ryder and just log some decent laps, I could kind of just back it off a little bit. So that's why I was trying to get a tow on him. He was obviously clearly going faster than both of us, so trying to take advantage of the situation. But yeah, it was definitely fun.”
So, the question is can Chance keep this up, are more supercross podiums yet to come? When asked what he felt he had to work on he said:
“I feel like nothing's really came up that I've been very blatant like, ‘Oh, I need to work on this.’ Definitely need to stop hitting the hay bales [Tuff Blox]. I'm really digging the new hay bales. I’ve been in them all day but need to get away from the edges of the track a little bit. Other than that, just I feel like I need to be a little bit better in the main. Maybe just connecting the dots a little bit and in the middle, not making so many mistakes, but I felt like overall I executed everything that I believed I could have and should have. Overall, for me, I felt like it was a really solid night.”
Second place, in a stacked class, is a great start to the season and just goes to show why you should never give up on yourself. For Chance, taking a chance on himself is looking to have paid off.
