Another race calendar year in the books and plenty transpired. New champions crowned, more fuckery gone awry by the clowns behind the FIM and WADA, plenty of questions answered and possibly even more questions unanswered when the dust settled.
After all is said and done, I gotta admit, Adam Cianciarulo’s first professional title is the exclamation point on the 2019 race year in my eyes. It’s been a long 6 years since his debut and I’m not going to go over that whole tale (I just did it following his bitter late race title-loss in Vegas Swizcorner mere months ago) but his road of tragedy and pitfalls since turning pro are exactly why this title feels so great to everyone in the know. Industry, fellow-racers, fans-alike; we all appreciate and tip our collective hat to this conclusion of Adam’s 250 career.
I love the fact that since clinching the title, Adam has spoken out regarding his late race falter in the Vegas finale. This is important to me because all the talk this entire Motocross series while he was excelling and winning was “it’s great to see him rebound from that awful SX failure”. Perhaps these comments have been simply in relation to the sense of loss but it really came across that the implication was he choked and made an error due to the pressure. It never felt that way to me and I’m glad Adam has been vocal that he too feels it had nothing to do with the pressure and it was simply a split second error that amounted to so much more in the grand scheme. He didn’t choke, it wasn’t the pressure and in that sense, while yes, the loss of the title was heavy, he wasn’t carrying that weight in the manner that many felt he was as the motocross series kicked off.
Sure he had let the title slip away but he hadn’t been mentally broken in those closing laps.
Plenty has been said about the positive effects Nick Wey has had on Adam since they joined forces and this cannot be overstated. Nick’s career was long and he was self-made from early on. Its no secret that Nick is a highly cerebral guy, much like myself; maybe it’s a Michigan thing. Over the course of Nick’s career, he may have been the most successful analytical racer ever. It’s that same analytical mind that can often work against a racer when it comes to race wins and risk aversion but in a post-race role where assessing and advising is the goal, watch the hell out.
Adam’s skill set is higher than Nick’s may have ever been so when you combine the ability, experience, drive and goals of Adam’s make-up with the analytical experience and situational awareness which were strengths of Nick’s during his career, you’ve got an incredible advantage. The honesty and free communication shared between two guys like Nick and Adam is also very important. There are no walls, no guarded interaction; only total trust and comfort which is huge for elite guys at this level where dollars and cents are often the first concern.
It seems crazy to think that Adam has already kissed this 250 career goodbye. I say already but we are 6 years in! All that adversity is the bitter kind of reality Murphy’s law was coined around but like many cliche’s in life, Adam has recited one lately that is so true, “I wouldn’t change anything I went through for anything.”
Failure breeds conviction. Failure breeds resolve. Failure breeds perseverance…
as long as you don’t quit.
Well done Adam.
