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.”