For Monster Energy Kawasaki mainstay Adam Cianciarulo, the last few seasons have been somewhat of a rollercoaster. The 26-year-old has continued to show flashes of undeniable speed, but has also been held back by ongoing injuries. After his first Pro Motocross podium of the 2023 season, MotoOnline put together these Five Questions from High Point.

Adam, it’s been somewhat of an up-and-down season for you. You had two strong rides, it’s good to see you making some progress. You’ve had some good results before at this track.

Yeah, I always seem to do pretty well here. Two weeks in a row where we’ve had tracks you have to be more focused than usual, like really locked in the whole time, and what I mean by that is, obviously we’re always focused, but on a track like this if your mind wanders for one second you can find yourself on the ground. It’s really hard to not let any outside thoughts at all come into your head the whole time. I felt great with that the whole time, I felt like I was able to get the most out of it. The second moto was definitely the fastest and closest to that pace I’ve had in the past. I kind of felt that again, and that was really nice to kind of be right there behind Kenny and put in some really good laps. Obviously, it’s kind of tough for me to hold on there, those second motos have been kind of difficult, but I was fast enough at the beginning to where I could get a good result. It’s been a great season for me so far and this is a really good like, confidence boost and morale boost. My team, my crew chief Oscar and my mechanic Justin have been great. Just been a really fun environment and we’re grinding day after day.

Did your hand go numb again? Were you hanging on okay at the end?

Yeah so it’s not, everyone says numb, it doesn’t go numb, I don’t have the same grip strength. Even when I’m driving my car on the way to the track, it’s different. I text with my left hand now, because my right hand will hurt if I’m texting too long and stuff like that. If anybody has had nerve issues, they probably can relate a little bit, because the symptoms are kind of all over the map. Sometimes I get numbness and tingling a little bit, but for the most part it’s lack of grip strength, and when I’m on the edge, and that’s kind of how I’ve made a living, riding the edge, and it’s put me on the ground a lot, because I don’t have that strength there. So now I’m having to be more patient and figure out how to go fast a different way. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. I’m not sure if it ever will be perfect again but I can do everything I can, and I’m stoked with what we’ve been doing.

The scoop tire. You stayed with it both motos, that had to be maybe a decision you’d want to take back or no?

No way man, the start, it was all about the start. There was so much mulch on the straightaway and right where that straightaway crossed the track, it was really deep. I actually hooked a right, the ruts out of the gate this week were difficult, they were really long and kinda narrow and all over the place. I went right and held it wide open into the first turn and was able to get my elbows in on a bunch of guys. I could have been tenth if it wasn’t for the scoop. It was definitely difficult riding out there with it in a few spots, like the little tabletop before the finish line, we were down to some PVC pipe right there and we were sliding up the face. Anywhere where it was blue grooved it was tough. I tend to actually ride a little better with the scoop, because I kind of get the bike A to B straighter, be on top of the knobbies and kind of cut back and not be on a lean angle so much. Tough to explain, but yeah I always feel good with that thing.

You’re making progress, we can see it. But as we start to get these guys back in the mix from injury, do you think you can use this to your advantage and keep these podiums coming?

Yeah. It’s been a tough season for injuries, of course, but I think when I’m on and I’m doing my thing, I feel that I can do this. I feel that I can be on the podium and win races, I feel like with my talent level, I’m capable of that. Yeah, not everybody is here right now, but I look forward to everybody coming back. I mean, you ask anybody, yeah it’s nice to get on the podium and get some momentum, but we’re racers and we want to race the best guys. So, like I said on the podium, just having that speed in the second moto, I haven’t had that in a really long time. It used to be normal for me and I took it for granted a lot, but it’s taken me a lot of work to even get back close to that, and there’s been a lot of really frustrating days where I’m, you know, just super pissed off. It just feels good to keep grinding, have a good attitude, keep showing up, and good things happen.

Weekend off now. What are you going to do with your time off?

I think tomorrow I’m going to go to a baseball game with my girlfriend, we’re going to go straight there, San Diego Padres game, chill, maybe have dinner in downtown San Diego. Business as usual during the week next week. It’s weird, obviously, the schedule is pretty gnarly since we’re on a plane every week, so when you get a weekend off you kind of just want to be home. I live on a golf course now, so I’ll probably try to play as much as I can and probably try to rest as well.