Back-to-back podiums for the Team Honda HRC man heading into the break.
For the second straight round, Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas landed on the podium as he put 4-3 motos together at High Point. With the result, Hymas now has second in the championship all to himself as he continues to establish his own belief that he is now a frontrunner in this title fight.
Hymas is now just one of two riders who have finished inside of the top five in every single moto this season in the 250 class along with championship leader Haiden Deegan. He has also now led more laps than anyone else this season as he pushed his total out to 55 laps led thanks to leading more laps this past weekend.
Image: Octopi Media.
While not his true rookie season anymore as he made it four rounds last year before getting hurt, Hymas has only started nine AMA Pro Motocross races in his career thus far and the ascension into this position has been nothing short of incredible.
“I still have room to improve, and I still have to earn it,” said Hymas. “I’ve got four good races going so far, but I mean it’s been a struggle for my whole career. I’m trying to get myself established and I just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”
What he’s doing is getting consistently good starts and hanging with the leaders every moto. He led much of the first moto at the second round in Hangtown which was an eye opener for some, but since then he’s found himself in that position in more motos than not.
Hymas has credited a lot of this recent turnaround in form to getting his body in the right spot due to some testing and dietary changes. Those changes have totally reformed his fitness, which is clearly lasting both motos and that coupled with his raw speed is now a recipe for success.
Image: Octopi Media.
With that sorted, the biggest hurdle was then proving he’s part of the lead group. He won his first career moto at the third round of the series in Colorado and leapt into a tie for second place in the championship in the process. But doing it once is one thing, becoming an established frontrunner is an entirely new thing to learn.
“I definitely do feel like I’m one of the guys,” said Hymas. “I’ve got myself established as second in points right now. Got to find some speed and just be a little bit smarter to get Haiden. But it’s going to be tough. He’s good and especially with Ty [Masterpool] coming up now, it’s going to be hard. I’m still trying to figure it out, trying to get smarter, trying to get faster. I mean, everyone’s doing the same thing, so it’s going to be a battle all summer. But yeah, I’m just stoked to be in the position I am.”
Thanks to never finishing worse than second in any moto thus far, Deegan has launched out to a 32-point championship advantage and appears to be the clear class of the field at the moment. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ty Masterpool took his first career overall win at High Point and became the first rider all year other than Deegan to win an overall.
Now that the first moto win is out of the way for Hymas, next up is putting it all together for a full day to claim his first overall win. If he figures to factor in this championship fight, he will have to do that sooner rather than later. But Hymas has explained that his intention is to continue growing at a steady pace and build a belief underneath him that he can do it every weekend.
“It’s just believing that I can run up front with these guys and I feel like I’m finally starting to believe that I can,” said Hymas. “The work never stops. I’m just continuing to build and build each week and I’m not giving up.”
Image: Octopi Media.
What’s next though is uncharted territory for the Idaho native. In his rookie season last year, Hymas tore his ACL immediately following the High Point National and missed the rest of the season. That means that every round moving forward from this point in the series features tracks that Hymas has never competed on as a professional.
He’ll get his first real test of that next weekend in the deep sands of Southwick. The first four rounds have been more on the hard packed side with soil which is what Hymas is familiar with having grown up in Idaho. But now that he trains in Florida full-time with the Lawrence brothers, he perhaps might already be adapted to track conditions similar to those he will see on the East Coast all summer long.
As for right now, he’s clearly established a strong base to make a push for championship success and only time will tell if that becomes a reality.
Recent
