INTERVIEW: CHANCE HYMAS

“It’s war, dude…”

Team Honda HRC factory racer Chance Hymas on fighting for his competitive existence in the AMA Pro Motocross 250cc class throughout the summer of 2024. Fourth overall in the 250 title brawl after all was said and done, the native of Pocatello, Idaho who won the overall at Red Bud in July and who also landed on the podium three additional times at Thunder Valley, High Point and the Ironman, displayed such excellent performance form this season that he was tapped to ride the HRC CRF250R at the rapidly approaching Motocross of Nations set for Matterley Basin, United Kingdom and Sunday, October 6, 2024.

Keen to stay in excellent fighting form for the “Olympics of Motocross,” Hymas will contest the three-round SMX SuperMotocross World Championship beginning this past weekend at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. Packing up his gear bag and getting prepared to travel to Concord, Hymas checked in from his training headquarters at the Dog Pound outside of Dade City, Florida. Hailing from Idaho and now holding station in Florida, Hymas is totally content with the reality of his surroundings.

“It’s good to be here in Florida,” offered the well-spoken Hymas. “It’s different. I enjoy it here, though. I moved here a couple of summers ago. I moved here the summer of 2022. I really enjoy it. It’s definitely different. Now that I’ve been away for a while, I miss Idaho a little bit. Honestly, though, I was ready to leave Idaho. For me it was kind of like that next step into adulthood. I enjoy it. We’ve got a good group of people here and the tracks are good. For the life we live right now with all the travel and everything, it’s awesome to be here.”

Only into the second year of his professional career and a racer with a mere 29 AMA Pro Racing gate drops to his name leading into the SMX World Championship, Hymas is still coming to terms with being a world class factory-backed racer.

“It’s good,” said Hymas of being a teenaged works rider. “It’s fun. It’s definitely a lot of stress, for sure, but it’s awesome. It’s cool that I get to call it my job. It’s definitely super-cool. I get to travel and get to go to cool places and get to experience a lot of cool things. Especially this year because this is my first full year. I missed most of last year with my knee injury. I’m getting to experience a lot of cool things. I also got picked to go to Motocross of Nations. That’ll be my first time leaving the country. All of that is kind of jammed into this year. It’s a lot to take in when you’re first kind of getting thrown into it, for sure. So far I’ve found joy in it. I enjoy the travel. You travel with your buddies. It can be miserable if you let it be miserable. I’m finding the joy in it and I’m having the most fun I can, while still being serious.

“No, it’s not easy at all,” furthered Hymas of all that comes along with being a championship challenging athlete. “We control everything and we have a lot of eyes on us. It’s definitely different in motorsports and just the way dirt bikes work. The fan base is just different when compared to other sports, you know? You either sink or swim. There is no in-between. You’re either first or you’re last. There is no in-between. Even if you’re second or third every weekend, it’s like, ‘Oh, this guy is not even winning.’ That’s the way people see it. It’s hard to go win every weekend. I’ve got one overall win and a couple of moto wins under my belt, and dude, it is tough. I feel like I’m working my butt off and people are kike, ‘Oh dude, you suck and you’ll never do anything.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, it’s my first full year.’ There is a lot of pressure that comes with it. A lot of fans make it hard because you have so many eyes on you and there is so much pressure.”

To many, including recently crowned class champion Haiden Deegan, the AMA Pro Racing 250cc classification is the most competitive, fiercely fought motocross and supercross championship the world over.

“Dude, the way the 250 class is, I think everyone somewhat respects each other riding-wise, but it is very disrespectful towards each other. Everyone is out there for themselves. It’s war, dude. It’s very intense because everyone is so close in speed and there are so many guys that are factory riders. It’s tough when you get out there. You’re not battling one guy; you’re battling 12 or 13 or 14 guys at a time. It’s crazy, you know?”

A winner at RedBud and a perennial top five contender throughout the Pro Motocross Championship, Hymas has gained speed and confidence through the ultra-competitive classification.

“This summer was a bit of an eye opener for me,” offered Hymas of lining up against the world’s best 250cc pilots. “Expectations-wise, I knew I could be up there and that’s where I expected myself to be. I expected to be up front and to be battling with those guys, but obviously expectations versus confidence is a big difference. It took me a few rounds just to gain that confidence that I am a frontrunner, you know? Once I was doing it back-to-back-to-back weekends every moto, I just became accustomed to it pretty quickly. Anything else besides running up front was a failure to me. I feel like if you’re a professional athlete and you want to be successful, you have to have high expectations. I go into every race expecting to win, and even if I don’t win, it’s not the end of the world, you know? Me, personally, I go to race to win and if I can’t win, I take the next best thing.”

Signed on by Team Honda HRC to hold down their in-house amateur program in the October 2021, Hymas has a solid foundation beneath him as he looks to both the immediate and near future.

“It’s very, very cool to be with Honda,” he pointed out. “Even when they first picked me up and made a spot for me on the team being one of the first HRC factory amateur racers, it was a very big deal. Now and looking back on it, I realize how big of a deal it was. At the time it was definitely cool. I mean I was 16 years-old when they picked me up. They made a spot for me and I finally got a pro deal. Dude, there is probably never going to be another amateur seat under the factory HRC rig again. It’s just one of those things where it was so one-off. It was such a special and unique situation. I luckily took advantage of it and took that direction. It’s pretty special now that I look back on it. I really appreciate it now. They really took a chance on me and threw this program together and groomed me into where I’m at right now. I want to kind of try and take over the 250 team and be the leader. Obviously, once Jett and Hunter Lawrence moved up to the 450 class, Honda needed someone to fill those shoes. Now it’s me and Jo Shimoda. Jo’s got a bit more experience than me, but now we’re both starting to run up front. We’ve been working at getting the 250 team back up front where it was with Jett and Hunter. It’s cool. The Honda team is like my family now. I’ve gotten to know Johnny O’Mara pretty well. I love Johnny. I think Johnny is a legend. He’s definitely an idol of mine with how hard he works and what an all-around athlete he was. The guy wasn’t afraid to go into the pain locker, you know? I really appreciate being around Johnny. Even my trainer Michael Byrne, he’s taken me under his wing. He’s gotten me to where I’m at right now fitness-wise. He took me under his wing at the end of my amateur career when I was just struggling a lot and he got me that stability. Me and him worked our butts off to get where we are at. Michael is very trusted by Honda and they trust him to take car of me and the Lawrence brothers. Our team feels like a family environment. We all want each other to do good and want each other to succeed. It’s all hands on deck, you know?”

A winner and consistent podium finisher in ’24, Hymas has felt positive about the results he and the CRF250R have posted up leading into the SuperMotocross World Championship and Motocross of Nations.

“Yeah, definitely. Happy and very proud of the work that me and the team have put in. I’ve just kind of been trusting the process to get to where I’m at right now. It’s hard when you get thrown in the deep end and try and swim. Going pro is harder than a lot of people think and there is a lot of expectation. You just try and do it every weekend. You fly out Thursday, be at the track on Friday and race Saturday. Then you fly right out on Sunday and train Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is just repeat, repeat and repeat when you do that multiple weekends back-to-back-to-back throughout the year. It takes a toll on your body. It takes a toll on your mind. Finally, for me to put all of that together and just figuring out how to manage it like a professional, has been pretty special. It was pretty cool when I won my first moto at Thunder Valley. Everybody was there at the podium and it was a pretty cool feeling. It was the same thig at RedBud when I won the overall. Everybody was there and super-stoked. Jett was giving me a hug and Byrner was over there franking out and giving me a hug. Even Johnny O’Mara was over there. It was so cool.”

Competing in the 2024 Motocross of Nations scheduled for Matterley Basin, United Kingdom will be the realisation of a dream for one Chance Hymas.

“Dude, I’m so stoked about it. It’s definitely an honour. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I always dreamed of being in that position of going to represent my country. I’ve always wanted to race on a world stage and to race for America will be awesome. I do love my country and I do think the Americans are some of the best racers in the world and I do believe that I’m one of the best 250 riders in the world right now. For the team and the AMA and Honda to believe in me and give me that much responsibility and that much trust and to believe in me that much to take on that role and go to war against the world is awesome. To me it is something that I’m going to take very, very seriously. Obviously, I want to be part of the team that brings the Chamberlian Trophy back home and back where it belongs.”