Pre-Race Interviews: Indianapolis
March 06, 2026
Pre-Race Interviews: Indianapolis We're back in Glendale for Round 5 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. We caught up with Kitchen, Anderson, and McAdoo for some 1:1 interviews today at press day.
Eli Tomac
How was the week after the Daytona win?
It was good to get that win because there was a lot of expectation to win, and those are tough moments to handle. So it was nice to live up to that expectation and get another win there, and then get a few points back on Hunter. That’s obviously the biggest thing right now in this title fight: staying close to Hunter. Right now it’s just about who’s going to beat who and taking it from there.
When you say expectation, is that pressure you put on yourself, or is it coming from everyone around you? Media?
It’s myself and everyone. I’m at the point where you’re expected to win at Daytona. My win average there is like one or something. I see some of those things and hear it, so it’s nice to live up to it at least.
Title-fight wise, it’s obviously super close. Is the championship constantly in your mind right now, or is it still a little early to think about preserving points?
All I can think about right now is weekend to weekend and staying in the fight, trying to get the red plate back. That’s all it really is. You can’t be too conservative. Everything’s too close right now with me and Hunter, so you’ve got to try to be the better guy.
Between you and Hunter, do you also look back in the points at guys like Webb or Roczen, or is it mainly focused on the guy right in front?
Yeah, I mean those guys are a ways back now, and I feel like me and Hunter have some good momentum. So right now I’m mostly focused on him.
When you come to a track like Indy, it kind of breaks down. Would you say it’s similar to what we see in Seattle track-wise?
Yes, if you’re going to compare two tracks that have similarities, it’s Seattle and Indianapolis. I would say this one is even a little more exaggerated overall with the traction and ruts. Seattle can get a little bit of a loose feel with ruts, but this one is really 100 percent traction with a ton of ruts.
Seattle’s soil can sometimes be a little hard-packed underneath even though it gets rutted. Is that kind of what you mean?
Yeah, sometimes Seattle will even get a little base here and there, but this place is always this concept: just ruts.
You obviously did really well in Seattle. Coming to a track like this again, do you feel confident?
Yeah, Seattle was a big test, and I’m glad it was a success because we do so much preseason testing on harder-packed tracks that have a base. It’s hard to really get this spongy type of soil. So it was a good test there, and the motorcycle should work just fine here.
With the Triple Crown format, is it intimidating knowing how gnarly the track could get by that last race?
Yeah, it is. You never know how much track maintenance they’re going to get in. But it is what it is; they picked it to be here.
Hunter Lawrence
Saw the interview with Haley last weekend in French. How did you learn?
Just from being kind of surrounded by it. My wife speaks French; she’s from Switzerland, so her parents and that kind of thing. I also spoke quite a bit of German. When we lived in Europe I was often in East Germany, and a lot of places spoke German. That was a language I picked up from being immersed in it, and it’s kind of the same with French. When you’re surrounded by French-speaking language—not necessarily in France, but in Switzerland on the left-hand side where they speak Swiss French—you start to pick it up.
French and German are so different though. You must be talented with languages.
I don’t know if talented, but I enjoy it. In Europe it’s considered normal to speak two or three languages. I came over from Australia when I was 16, and you feel very uncultured only speaking English. You travel around Europe and in places like Holland they speak amazing English, plus Dutch and maybe French or German. A lot of places over there are like that.
Do you speak French at home?
No, we speak English. My French gets worse when her parents aren’t there or when we’re not forced to speak it. I think the best way to learn a language is to go live in that area and be forced to speak it every day. Immersing yourself in it is the best way to learn.
Onto racing: last weekend you set the fastest lap late in the race. Were you really pushing for it, or did things just start clicking?
Yeah, I was pushing. The race was closing out and my mechanic had the pit board saying three laps. Then I came around the next lap and it was the white flag, so I only had one lap left. I was like, maybe I left it too late. But yeah, I was pushing at that point.
At that stage of the race did it just start clicking, like you finally had the track figured out?
Yeah, I was really in sync with it by then. I knew when the bike would tip, what the bike was doing, which bumps I had to be careful with. I just had the track really dialed in by then; probably needed to have it dialed earlier.
Moving forward, are you still taking things race by race, or is it all about the championship now?
I’m taking it race by race. I’m here to win this weekend. I need to rebound and win, so that’s the goal and we’ll reevaluate after this weekend. Obviously I want to stay in it until the end; you never know what can happen. Both Eli and I are kind of in uncharted territory because we’ve both been injured out of the Supercross series the past two years, so that’s in the back of our minds. But it’s cool racing a guy that I watched in the 450s when I was 16.
I just talked to Eli and mentality-wise he kind of said it feels like it’s between you and him in the championship. Do you feel the same way, or are you still looking back at guys like Webb and Roczen?
As of right now it’s Eli. Obviously Cooper and Kenny can still score great points and there’s still a lot of racing left, so I’m not counting anyone out. But I’m just going race by race and trying to win regardless.
Seth Hammaker
You got the big win last week. How does that compare to your other wins?
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. Every one I get feels more special each time, especially at Daytona. That’s one of those bucket list races to win, so it was super cool. Even doing the burnout after was awesome.
Any nerves doing the burnout?
No [laughs]. At that point you’re just so stoked and holding it wide open letting it eat, so it was all good.
Are you okay after that crash too? You obviously rode well afterward.
Yeah, pretty good. I only rode one day this week just to let my body recover. It was definitely a hard hit.
I think people were surprised you were totally fine after that.
Yeah, a little bit. Surprisingly I got lucky for what it was. I just tried to put it behind me, execute what I needed to do, and we got the job done.
Did you have to do any particular rehab this week?
A little bit. My shoulder and hip were a little sore, but other than that it wasn’t too bad. It was more about rest than anything.
And you rode on Tuesday or Wednesday?
Just Wednesday. I did a couple laps and some starts, but kept it pretty mellow.
You did really well last weekend, but Arlington was a little disappointing. You were right there but just off the podium. Is that fair to say?
Yeah, I’d say the same thing. It wasn’t what we were looking for. I was right there and tried to make a run on those guys, but I just didn’t feel comfortable enough to push it and ended up settling for fourth that night. The goal now is to get another win this weekend and move forward.
Was that more of a bike setup issue, or do you feel like you’ve made improvements since then?
A little bit of bike setup, but a little bit on me as well. We fixed the fork issue and I feel like we’re in a good spot now. I rode well last week, so I don’t think it should be any different here.
How do you feel about these types of conditions: super soft tracks with a lot of ruts?
I like it a lot. When it’s soft it feels like your tires are planted in the ground, so I enjoy that. I also won here last year, so that gives me confidence.
And with the Triple Crown format, racing three mains on a track like this?
Yeah, it should be good. Three races on a track like this will be interesting, but I’m looking forward to it.
