Page 69 - MPG26

Ranked as a top ten rider in both the Mini Sr. 2 and 85cc 9-12 divisions, Chance Hymas began Mammoth with something to prove in the echoes of the track lined forest nestled against the mountain. With an impressive record thus far into the 2016 season, it’s a wonder how the KTM rider even wound up outside the top five but rankings can’t always be taken seriously.
Hailing out of Pocatello, Idaho, the youngster is no stranger to the West Coast as he has piled up over a dozen top five finishes combined between five states. Yet to truly compete on a Supermini full-time, most of the competitive results have come out of the
9-12 age range in which Chance came to Mammoth for. As a result, Hymas took the rankings and turned them upside down as the
sun shined over day one. Starting the morning with the 85cc class, Hymas was lights out clicking off all five laps in 1st and setting the quickest time by nearly a whole second. Once the gate dropped a second time for the hard charging youngsters, Chance wasn’t as lucky as the 2nd placed rider from his heat, Hunter Cross, got the start on Hymas and took the #1 spot right out from under the #832 KTM, pushing Chance back to 2nd on the day. As day one continued on, Chance’s tougher division, Mini Sr. 2 9-14, was ruthless as the top two riders took off leaving the rest of the field to search for their fast lines. Again battling with Cross, Chance began his heat in 4th but ultimately gave up the spot and dropped to 5th. In the next moto, moto two, the race got off to a similar start with Hymas crossing lap one in 5th. This time, Chance battled with the Kawasaki of Talon Hawkins but a mistake on lap three allowed Hymas to fully secure 5th place behind the 1st and 2nd place finishers of the two preceding heats.
MAMMOTH
CHANCE HYMAS
IMAGES / ANDY CAVAZOS
>>
MPG DIGITAL / JUNE 2016
69