In a 250 Class without Haiden Deegan, Chance Hymas was right near the top of the list in the #whosenext sweepstakes in 250 Pro Motocross. Hymas has won races before and no doubt has the speed and potential. When the 2026 season kicked off, though, Hymas was…nowhere near the front. Following a shoulder injury in supercross, he simply wasn’t the same guy who won races in 2024 and 2025.

“I think it was a struggle for me just because, obviously, I've been a top guy the last couple years and you have that expectation,” he says. “When you're just so far off at times, it just, for me it was a lot of question marks. You start honestly kind of losing that love for it in a sense.”

Hymas was heading the wrong way. The shoulder injury he figured would be routine actually turned much more complicated, as he collected frozen shoulder at one point, and he found himself worried about getting hurt for the first time in his career. That slowed him massively at the early races. Finally at the fourth round at High Point he showed a sign of life, moving into the top five for a few laps for the first time all year. Then came a moto win a few weeks later at Millville, and now, finally, a hard-fought overall win at Budds Creek.

“I mean, I feel like I got a flash of just everything just from January, honestly," he said. “Like going through the rehab with my shoulder, just the amount of pain I was in. [I was] really questioning if I was still meant for this. Then I’m feeling pretty good, getting back to it, and then just getting my teeth kicked in the first four nationals.”

How bad did it get?

“Confidence was really low and just still trying to figure out if it [racing] was still meant for me, honestly,” he said.

“Thankful for the group of people around me,” he added. “You kind of just got to stick into it. Those days, those races are what makes champions. You’ve got to persevere and figure it out. And feel like I'm still working at it for sure.”

So when Hymas finally crossed this line this weekend for a hard-fought win, his first since Thunder Valley last year, it all came rushing back to him.

“I mean, I feel like I got a flash of just everything just from January, honestly,” he said. “I stuck with it, kind of got back to figuring out some things that I felt like worked good for me in the past and try to implement  some things from that. And you know, obviously with the 250 class evolving, I just didn't transition well. And I think going back to all those hard times, and seeing how I've kind of adapted to that. Now it’s consistent podiums. My longest podium streak right now. It's been a long time coming for sure, but it's just a reward for the amount of work we've been putting in. I mean, everyone puts a lot of hard work in. It’s really special. And for me, it's like I feel like that's the only way I can give back sometimes, you know? We all enjoy racing, you know, but also just winning is just something you can't experience. You can't just buy winning, you know?”

Hymas definitely earned this win. Levi Kitchen was all over him late in the race and needed the points desperately.

“He [Kitchen] was on me. I could feel it the whole time,” said Hymas. “We hit a lot of lappers, too. And I was like, shoot, like the track's already pretty one lined, so I knew I had to get through these guys like somewhat good. Of course, I get into a batch of like four lappers and then two of them cartwheel in front of me! Levi was on me the whole time. And honestly, it's kind of funny. I was telling my girlfriend like two years ago, moto two here, me and Levi, same thing, but just flip-flop battled the entire time the whole moto. I couldn't get him. Yeah, the pressure was definitely there. I had to ride a pretty mistake free race, honestly.”

When Hymas started feeling it at the test track during the week, and then grabbed a moto win at Millville, it was tempting to say the old Chance was back. He’s fought that notion, instead trying to focus on consistency. He’s had speed and race wins in the past, now he’s trying to avoid the lows. Wins will come, but he wants to stay healthy and stay in the fight for the long term. For one day, though, he let himself get excited.

‘When I'm clicking during the week and I'm doing fast times and I'm feeling like my old self again, I'm like 'All right let's get this thing going, let's bring it into the weekend.' It's definitely been tricky for sure. I've been obviously raving about it, but like just trying to keep a calm mentality and just try to not venture off too far from that,” he says. “But obviously today I kind of let the emotions loose after that win. It was definitely a lot of buildup for sure.”