In his sophomore season, Chance Hymas scored his first professional dirt bike victory and became established as one of the riders to beat riding for the powerhouse Honda HRC team, but a series of accidents in the outdoor series momentarily stalled his momentum.
Unless they are challenging for victory consistently, riders are rarely happy with their performance. During the 2025 Supercross Media Sessions, Hymas admitted to last year producing mixed emotions, but the record tells an entirely different story.
Hymas began the season modestly with a handful of top-10 finishes in his first seven Supercross races. His average finish was 10th in those rounds, and considering how well this same 250 organization performed with Jett and Hunter Lawrence, one might have expected better results. Those expectations were unfair, however; Hymas,18, was still accustoming himself to both the series and the bike.
Hymas scored his first top-five in Philadelphia in his eighth start. That would be the high water mark of his stadium performance, although one cannot discount his seventh-place finish in the season finale in Salt Lake City because of the increased competition in the East/West Showdown.
The best was yet to come.
Hymas immediately found his rhythm in the Pro Motocross series, finishing fourth in the season opener at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, and added another top-five at Hangtown the following week. He stood on the podium in his next two races and finished fourth again in Round 5 on the sands of The Wick 338 in Southwick, Massachusetts.
There is a truism in motorsports that a racer has to lose a race before winning one. Hymas’ near-miss came at Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado, when he finished second to the eventual champion Haiden Deegan and scored his first pro moto at Thunder Valley. In that round, Hymas finished fourth in Race 1 before scoring the moto victory. In the RedBud Nationals, Hymas finished fourth again in the first moto, fueling his competitive anger.
“I was pretty mad after the first moto with the way I was riding, and I knew I had to put the anger somewhere ... I put it in the second moto,” Hymas said at the time. “I executed my start perfectly, had a bike length on everybody, and I said, ‘alright, we need to put the gap in right now and ride like I usually do.’
“I didn’t even know I had the overall until I came in, and everyone was super-stoked. I was like, ‘alright, a moto win!’ ... I came over, and they [said] ‘You got the overall,’ ” Hymas continued. “Man: 4-1. The last time [I did that], I barely got second.”
RedBud turned out to be a pyrrhic victory. The following week, he washed out in Turn 1 at Spring Creek in the second moto and collected several riders. Hymas injured his leg in the crash and failed to finish the moto, which contributed to a 15th-place finish. Sporting a limp the following week at Washougal, he finished outside the top five for only the second time in 2024.
More hardship in the Unadilla (N.Y.) Nationals denied Hymas the opportunity to challenge for the championship, but he shook that off and finished the season strong with a fourth in Budds Creek, Maryland, and a second in the season finale in Crawfordsville, Indiana. His strong showing in the outdoor season secured an invitation to join the U.S. Motocross of Nations team when Deegan decided to have wrist surgery.
Another incident in Charlotte in Round 1 of the SuperMotocross World Championship forced Hymas to abandon his hopes of riding in the MXoN, but the growth experienced by the teenage rider from Pocatello, Idaho, could not be denied. With his success in Pro Motocross, expectations are once more high for his season debut in Supercross.
One thing seems certain: Hymas will improve on his 9.1 average finish in the stadium series.
2024 Statistics
Feature starts: 20
Average feature finish: 8.30
Wins: 1
Podiums: 4
Top-fives: 9
Top-10s: 16
Best finish: Won (RedBud MX)
SMX Standings/payout: 19th/$6,000
2024 News
Cooper Webb replaces Chance Hymas for Team USA in MXoN
Hymas out of the 2024 SMX playoffs, still evaluating MXoN
MXoN takes chance on sophomore Hymas for 250 ride
Hymas injures leg in Spring Creek Moto 2 crash
Self-directed anger fuels Hymas’ first Pro Motocross win
Hymas scores first moto win
Dream Deferred: Hymas gets a chance to try on Honda’s big shoes
450 Countdown
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11. Malcolm Stewart
12. Dylan Ferrandis
13. Christian Craig
14. Shane McElrath
15. Dean Wilson
250 Countdown
11. Garrett Marchbanks
12. Max Anstie
13. Julien Beaumer
14. Coty Schock
15. Ryder DiFrancesco
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