The Spring Creek national was a turning point for Chance Hymas. After a slow start coming off injury in SX, Hymas hasn’t shown his usual speed to start AMA Pro Motocross. But at Millville he grabbed the lead early in moto two and took off for the win. Afterward he got deep about the effects of not winning, pressure he feels, injuries in the sport, and of course, the moto win.
Racer X Online: It hasn’t been an easy season for you, but that moto win was awesome. I can’t imagine the confidence that gives you. You might be a new guy now. That could change everything. Good job.
Hymas: Definitely not trying to get too high off of it. Trying to just keep the same game plan. Just keep rebuilding myself each week and keep getting better. It’s nice to confirm that I can still do it. Obviously that’s great, but not let myself get too high off of it like I just set the world on fire. Honestly, that had been something that I knew I can do. Absolutely. It’s nice to go confirm it.
I didn’t look at lap times yet on the stats sheet. Did you find some speed? Did you find some lines? What was the key to winning it?
I was watching the 450 moto and picked up on some lines that actually Haiden [Deegan] was doing. He was just carrying a lot of momentum. Honesty for me, it’s pretty visible we’re a little down on power compared to the other bikes. So it’s really key that I don’t bury my bike and stay in the meat of the power. In that second moto I did honestly just that. I found some really good lines. I was carrying a lot of momentum. I wasn’t on the clutch. The bike was really good the second moto. I think it’s a fine line. Over-riding the bike and burying it versus really backing off and being really mellow on it. That’s kind of how it was the second moto. I just was really mellow on it and just tried to really connect the track and roll. I came off and it almost felt easy.
Not aggressive.
Exactly. That’s kind of how for me I have to ride this bike. It works the best when you’re mellow on it. Obviously, I feel like I’ve been over-riding it too much this year, and now I’m finally figuring it out and backing off. You would think I’ve been on the bike long enough. You’d think it would be that simple, but no. It’s different. The class is a lot different this year. There’s a lot of young kids, it’s a lot of sprinting now. It hasn’t been that way in the past. I feel like when Tom [Vialle] came over and kind of brought that Euro tone of riding pretty mellow at the start and then really ramp it up at the end. But even in Europe that’s kind of changed too. A lot of sprinters now. I think for me, I took too long in changing my ways. I feel like I’m kind of adapting to the faster pace now, and right from the get-go. I feel like I’ve always been good with my sprint speed, but I feel like it’s different. It’s a different way of sprinting now.
Do you feel like getting back to the Lawrence compound a little bit has helped too? You’re getting into that groove?
Yeah, I think it’s the stability. I was kind of all over the place on the west coast. I think for me now, my home life is really good. I’m really enjoying being home. I think that plays a big factor. When you’re traveling every weekend, it’s nice to be able to come home and feel like I can actually reset and restart the week and get going again. I feel like this year I’ve noticed it more than anything, especially with how much I traveled with my injuries. Being out in California, living in a suitcase. Living with my mechanic. There’s something different about being in your own home. I feel like I finally got all the right routine for me going right now, and it’s been great.
How has the shoulder been? From asking around, it’s a bigger injury than maybe the media and fans thought it was.
Yeah. I haven’t been very big on social media so I didn’t really go in depth with it. I don't want it to be one of those things where it’s like, ‘He’s using his shoulder, he has another injury.’ I will say right now physically I feel great. My shoulder feels really good. Even the start of the year, the shoulder feels great. But, the recovery process was tough. It was really tough. It was really painful. Honestly more pain than I had been in with my knees. It was pretty gnarly. And doing three knees in a row, you know what to expect with the pain, how to push it.
We idiots in the media are like, ‘He’s rebounded from a lot of injuries before. He should be fine.’
Completely different ball game. Your knee only moves up and down in one direction. Your shoulder is 360 movement in the socket. When they go in and anchor that thing down as tight as it is, you don’t realize how much you use your shoulder and how hard it is to get that movement back after surgery. It’s crazy how much pain it was to just get the thing moving. There was days, I was at Dr. G.’s office and it feels like the shoulder is going to pop out again. He’s wrenching it that hard. It was miserable. Honestly, it’s a lot of days of back-to-back-to-back therapy. You don’t feel like you’re making any progress, and that’s like weeks and weeks. It’s tough, man. I got to the point where when I got back on the bike, I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t care if I’m 20th. I am not getting hurt.’ I’m just so over it. I’ve had ten to twelve surgeries in the last four years. I’m so over being on the surgery table.
Fans will understand. It’s not just the surgery. It’s the rehab. It’s everything. It’s like you said, the days and days of rehab where you’re making inches. You’re gaining inches. You’re not gaining feet.
Exactly. It’s tough too because every time I’ve had an injury I’ve been doing really good. I just came off my first real supercross podium, and then another good performance at San Diego, won the heat race at A2, and then nothing I could do and my shoulder pops out. Same thing at High Point last year, when I did my knee. I’m just putting good results together. I’m a top guy. I’m doing good, where I should be, and then shit happens. It’s frustrating. You have that on top of, now I’ve got to get my shoulder fixed. So you have that mentality on top of the pain mentality that you have, and you want to just be done. It sucks, man.
But honestly for me, it was like five weeks of just pain and doing therapy seven days a week. I had nothing else to do. It’s not like I can go ride or anything. My job now is to get my shoulder fixed and get it healed. Mentally it’s gnarly. The physical pain from that was tough. So I think it just hindered me a little bit more than I actually thought. I didn’t really notice it when I was practicing, but when I got in race scenarios I started flinching a bit coming into first corners. I’m like, I am not having this happen again. You can’t ride scared. You can’t race scared. Especially not in the 250 class. You can’t be mellow in this class, unfortunately. The sprinting is different now. You can’t be mellow. I feel like what I’ve been used to the last couple years has been a little more mellow compared to what it is now.
I know a lot of these guys at Honda and stuff, and you haven’t been doing what you thought you could do, but I feel like these guys have been like, ‘He’s coming back from a shoulder. It’s not easy. He’s working hard.’ All of these guys don’t seem worried. They seem like they have your back at Honda here.
Yeah, I’ve been a lot more worried than all these guys. I think everyone on this crew has been around long enough. They know what it does to an athlete. Especially they know how I am when I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have high expectations. They don’t need to add more to me. I think Honda has a reputation now of being a pretty relaxed environment. Obviously, we keep it fun around here. There’s no need for these guys to sit here and push me, like, ‘You need to be winning. If you’re not winning, it’s disappointing.’ It’s not what they’re about. The development of me being a racer for them long-term is what we’re trying to build here. We’ve hit a few bumps in the road, but just rebuilding myself now is the game plan. I feel like even coming into the year, I don’t feel like they really thought I was going to be a top guy, which is not a bad thing.
They were giving you some space.
Exactly. I thought I was going to be a top guy. I’ve always bounced back from an injury no problem, and I got my ass kicked. It’s frustrating, but they saw how demoralized I was, really. I feel like they were really good before, but they were even better after that. Like, ‘You’re good. You’re fine. Let’s just keep building every weekend.’ I feel like kind of a [wimp] saying it, but you already put so much pressure on yourself as an athlete. You think about how long it took you to get to this point, and you’re not doing what you thought you would do. Your career is not panning out the way you thought it would be.
…Mom and dad are disappointed. My mechanic is disappointed.
There’s so much that goes into it. You don’t want to be the guy who lets everyone down. On top of that, you don’t want to let yourself down. There’s a lot that goes into it, for sure. Not to get all deep in there.
