It’s been a tumultuous run of racing for Honda HRC Progressive’s Chance Hymas, who has balanced race-winning pace with injury setbacks throughout his young career to date. Entering the 2026 SMX season, the 20-year-old is targeting a measured approach to both Supercross and Pro Motocross championships, with this Conversation feature from the SMX Media Sessions getting his thoughts on next year.

Image: Octopi Media.

Chance, how are you doing?

I’m doing good! I’ve just been riding dirt bikes, hanging out with the family. Just got back from Idaho for Thanksgiving. But yeah, honestly, not a lot is going on. Just logging laps and, you know, getting my body healthy.

Are you 100 percent?

Yes, 100 percent. 100 percent healthy. Still building on the bike and getting better there, but at least body-wise, I’m feeling really good.

I saw you at Mesquite a couple of times, and you told me you’re doing 250SX West. So are you fully healed to race then? Is that something you’re going to push yourself for?

I’ll be 100 percent for 250SX West – I think when I got hurt, my goal was to be ready for A1. So yeah, I’ve just been building towards that since this summer, since I did my knee. Yeah, I feel like I’m in a good spot right now and feeling good on the bike. Obviously, there are still a few little kinks I need to work out before A1, but we still have a little bit of time.

It looks like you will float around and not be based out of the compound as much as you were. What’s the decision with that?

Yeah, a little bit. I felt like, for me, I just wanted a little bit of a change personally. Being in Mesquite, a little bit closer to family, and being in Florida, it’s kind of hard being there without all my family. And, you know, I always grew up around my family all the time, being with my dad all the time. It’s hard for him to leave the business and be in Florida as much as he’d like to. And so being there just allows me to have the opportunity to be closer to him and work closer with him. I believe if I can be happier in general, it will be for the better. You know, I love being around my family. The older I get, the more I appreciate them. So, yeah, nothing against Florida, nothing against being there. Just personally, I had a hard few years and just need something a little different. But I’ve been in Mesquite, and it’s nice to be around some familiar faces that I’ve been around my whole life, and honestly, just feel like a fresh change, a bit of a fresh start.

How long was the period of time from when you got back on the bike to when you started actually pushing and trying to see how it felt to race with it again?

I probably didn’t do anything too hard on it until the first of November. Or I should say end of October. I didn’t start riding as quickly as I did with my last one, just because I didn’t need to. You know, there’s no need to rush it, especially since I didn’t really start my off-season training until mid-October. But I was on a bike at the end of September, early October, doing a lot of trail riding back in Idaho and having fun and, you know, remembering why I love dirt bikes. It took me a little bit to get used to my knee again, as it has been the last couple of times, just trusting it, putting it out, and whatnot. But, no, it felt really good. I spent a lot of time at Dr. G’s office doing rehab and working with Michael Byrne and Joe Cancellari off bike and on bike. So, yeah, it’s been really good.

Image: Octopi Media.

Getting back on the bike, doing some trail riding, I feel like we don’t really see that from a lot of guys anymore. It looks like you had a lot of fun riding. You were talking about getting back into it and finding the love again…

Yeah, my dad’s dealership is in Idaho. Obviously, growing up there, growing up in the mountains, it’s a beautiful place, and there are a lot of people who ride dirt bikes. When you’re in the thick of it, and you’re training for it and it’s just Groundhog Day, it feels like, I feel like you kind of lose the love for it in a sense of it’s just mainly your job. It’s weekend to weekend travelling on planes, and you’re coming back, you’re training in the gym, and out of the gym. I felt like I wanted to go back and hang out with my family, but I also needed a reminder of why I love what I do. You kind of get in that funk when I’ve had the last few years that I’ve had. I felt like, for me, it was a good reset. I really enjoyed it. I was back there riding with my dad and my brothers and enjoying it a lot. There’s a lot of good trail riding in Idaho as well. The team supported me with some parts for a stock bike up there. It was a lot of fun. But yeah, when I was ready to get back on a supercross track, I felt refreshed and felt ready to go.

Tell me if that helps your technical ability, or is that more so just for the moment?

Yeah, I mean, both, I’d say it helps for technique. And, you know, after you’re not on the bike for a while, everything starts coming at you a bit quicker. So it’s kind of nice to go out there and dodge some trees and, you know, kind of get that in your mind and kind of get refocused. But, you know, it definitely brings the love back.

How important would you say is next phase of your career is? And then we’re at Angel Stadium today, but for you, if you do end up racing the western division, just speak about that to line up at Anaheim 1.

I’d say this next phase of my career is very important. I feel like I’m at the point where it’s the decider of where I’m at for the rest of my career. But I’m really happy with where I’m at, and I’d like to stay here, so I need to go put some good results down. But it’s exciting. A goal for me is just to be at every race this year and not be injured, and get through the series without being injured. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s another challenge. It’s another year to restart. I feel like I can be a top guy and be a contender, and compete for championships. I believe in that. I believe in myself with that. The team believes in it. I feel like I’ve got a good group of people around me that support me 100 percent and believe in me. The importance is there, for sure. I need to go perform, and I believe I can go perform and be that guy.

In many ways, last year might have been one of your best seasons. You had a couple of wins. You were on a high note before the injury. Do the injuries change the way you approach things, or are they just part of what’s happening?

Yeah. Unfortunately, you’ve got to kind of like pull a tear off, and it’s just out of your mind. I mean, obviously, there are a lot of positives and negatives from last year that I can learn from, and I can’t dwell on the negatives. I feel like, for me, with the injuries that I’ve had, especially going through this last knee that I had, I feel like I’m at the point in my life where I really understand what I need and what I want and what I feel like really benefits me. I feel like just kind of taking that with a grain of salt and applying it to what I have right now in my life and my current program, I feel like it sets me up well coming into this next year. I feel like the older I get, the more mature I’m getting and learning how to process the hard times and kind of just stay a little bit neutral there and not let the emotions get too high or too low. Yeah, the injuries don’t bother me. Obviously, I feel it for sure. My knees don’t feel as good as they once did. But while riding, I feel completely normal. I don’t notice it when I’m riding, and I don’t think about it when I’m riding.

How do you manage expectations coming into supercross? Because obviously your outdoor level is really high, you got that one win last year, but is going for a championship almost too soon? Do you need another year of just supercross races under your belt?

Yeah, I feel like it’s kind of a give or take. Obviously, deep down, I believe I can be a contender. But also, at the same time, I feel like my series last year was very up and down in supercross. And it’d be nice to log some consistent results and not be third here and sixth here or fourth here and eighth here or a DNF here. I think it’s important for me to log those consistent results. But also, as I said, I believe I can be one of those guys, so it’s nice for me to have that expectation there. It’s something I could work towards and especially if I go to A1 and I’m not there, at least I can work towards something like that. You know, it’s at least always having a game plan of, you know, ‘Where do I need to be? What can I work on? What, where do we go from here?’ But I think I can go next year and compete for a title. Obviously, having more races under my belt with more consistent results would be ideal, but I think if I can get through supercross really consistently, and even if it’s not a championship, and a top-three points result would be awesome, then I can go fight for an outdoor title. If that’s the case, that would be unreal. But obviously, the expectation is high for supercross still.

Image: Octopi Media.

Can you point to one reason why supercross was so inconsistent last year? Is there one reason that you know you can fix?

I mean, there was a lot of… The situation was not ideal with only having a few days on a bike before Tampa, but…I think that kind of just led to some inconsistent results with limited time on testing, and I had to race myself into shape and not having a proper off-season and time on the bike. So I think there are a lot of factors in the last year that a lot of people don’t see that factored into it. When you look back on it, I didn’t ride a lot, or I was kind of on the couch for a while before the first round. So that obviously doesn’t help, but I think this year is a lot different with having the right amount of time of prep and having my body right.

Does it frustrate you that, compared to your outdoor success, the supercross results haven’t been quite as good to this point in your career?

Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s really frustrating. Especially…like when I was an amateur, and on the big bikes as an amateur, I was very successful and I won the Futures. You look at lap times from then [and they were] similar lap times to pros, you know, like there’s no reason why I can’t do it, and I feel like when I ride supercross, my level is there with outdoors, but unfortunately I haven’t shown it. So obviously it’s really frustrating, it’s one thing that I’ve really been working towards, it’s like I need to show up on the weekend the way I do at outdoors. Because I feel like that same level of outdoors is there for supercross, too. And, you guys only see it on the weekend at the races, but it’s during the week that I need to bring it to the weekend. But that’s my goal this year. It’s showing up when it matters most, and that’s on Saturday night.

What have you learned about yourself in dealing with the emotions of coming in as a highly talented amateur, not winning right away, then winning, then dealing with all these big injuries? How much different a person do you think you are now versus when you made your pro debut?

A lot different now, I would say. Obviously, I went pro when I was 17. I’m 20 now. There’s a lot of maturing as a young adult at that point in time. I’m doing a lot of different stuff at a really young age. Having to process that is tough. You’re still a kid, and you’re still trying to learn how to manage your emotions. I’m not going to say I was great at any of it. I’ve been young and haven’t really handled stuff the greatest, as any young person would do in a high-intensity situation like that. But I feel like, for me now, it’s just taught me how to handle those situations when they do happen correctly. You know, it’s when I did my knee at High Point, I felt like it was career-ending. It’s now my third time. Like, it’s just never going to end. You kind of get in that funk. But, you know, I feel like for me, mainly just handling my emotions and thinking stuff through and having like a good foundation to build off. I think I understand what I really need in my life, and really understand what I need in my corner for me to be successful and not just kind of guessworking, you know, kind of take the guesswork out of it and I think once you have that solid foundation that you can really rely on and trust, I feel like that brings a lot more confidence into your work life, but also your regular life and just your day-to-day stuff. You kind of get that monkey off your back and not worry about it.

Talking about emotions and handling things better, are there specific examples in the past where you’ve not handled things the right way? Does that come out in the way you work with the team? Where do those mistakes kind of show up?

I would say it’s more of a battle with myself. I would say in public situations, I’ve handled it correctly, and with the team, I’ve handled it correctly. It’s more so just not letting myself get in that funk and not being so emotional about some decisions. I feel like now I’ve learned what works best for me and when and where to push and pull and kind of give and take. I feel like when you’re young, and you know, I’ve had some of the success that I’ve had – you taste that, and then want all of it. But, sometimes the timing isn’t right, and you kind of just have to be patient, and I feel like as a younger person…the patience isn’t there. You know, you want it all immediately, and it just, unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t work like that. So…I think after going through my last knee and just kind of, it sounds cliché, but trust in the process. It’s…you really have to just be patient. And I feel like that transfers over to my work life and my personal life a lot more than you would think. I feel like you learn a lot about yourself when you have so much time to think. I mean, I was doing therapy seven days a week, and then I’d go home, and I’d sit on the couch, or I’d hop on a spin bike. You have a lot of time to think. So you kind of go down the rabbit hole of just, ‘Am I doing this right? Am I doing this right? What am I doing here?’ This, that. You kind of go through the five stages of grief there. As I said, the older I get, I feel like I’m learning how to handle this stuff correctly and the highs and lows of this sport correctly.