Monster Interview Drew Adams

For those in attendance at Michigan’s RedBud MX National last week, specifically on the Friday prior to the National, one of the best comebacks of the entire Pro Motocross Championship season took place when Monster Energy’s Drew Adams (Kawasaki/Team Green) charged from outside the top 20 off the start, passed most of the best young, up-and-coming MX racers in the world, and won the season’s opening 2024 MX Sports Pro Racing Scouting Moto Combine, presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare.

And while Adams did get some help on the last turn of the final lap in the 24-minute plus two lap moto when leader Landen Gordon (Monster Energy/Kawasaki/Team Green) went down in the final corner, Adams’ blistering lap times around the fabled RedBud course were the fastest in the field.

1st place in the opening MX Nationals Pro Combine adds another nice trophy to the Adams trophy room in Florida, sitting next to three 1st place SX Futures trophies from Monster Energy AMA Supercross this season. 

And when the soon-to-turn-pro 16-year-old Florida transplant from Tennessee heads back to his training facility, all focus will be preparing on his final Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, aka “Loretta’s,” July 29 through August 3.

MonsterEnergy.com caught up with Drew between motos and popup rainstorms down in Florida to get his take on the RedBud Combine and what his plans are, including where his head’s at, heading into Loretta’s at the end of the month.

Monster Energy: Hey, congrats on your Combine win at RedBud. With that crowd on Friday at RedBud that had to be pretty rad to pull off the win.

Drew Adams: I mean, that was a thriller in the first one, you know? That's my second year racing the Combines and the ones at RedBud are always great. dirt's just so, so different there compared to the other race tracks. It's yeah, like kind of a hard base, but it's so deep and slippery on top. Sometimes it's weird. But yeah, you know, combines are great and this was the first combine that I really performed very well in. All of my other ones have just kind of been like maybe top five or something. So yeah, this one was great.

ME: You didn’t get that great of a start. In fact, you were outside the top ten (11th) after the opening lap. From there wicked it up and were able to catch the leaders – your Monster Energy/Kawasaki Team Green teammates Krystian Janik (2nd) and Landen Gordon (1st). Discuss your comeback and what kind of moto you had to ride in order to catch the leaders from outside the top ten.

DA: Yeah, the start was definitely not the best. I think my mechanic said I was like 20th going over the holeshot line. So I should probably work on that a little bit (laughter). But at the start of the moto I passed a lot of guys on the very first lap, but then for like five or six laps I was just stuck by the same like four people. It was sucking, you know. And I was like, ‘Alright, I gotta do something about this.’ So I made some moves in the (sand) roller section before the finish line. And then once I got up to fourth, everyone was really spread out. I think I was something like near 30 seconds behind the leader at that point.

ME: Did you think you even had a chance at that point to catch Krystian and Landen?

DA: You know, I didn't know if I was gonna be able to catch them or not. But towards the end of the moto I did feel that I just had better fitness than them.

ME: You were still in 4th at this point?

DA: Yeah. I caught up to 3rd (Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Leum Oehlhof) and I got around him quick, and then put the charge on to Christian and Landon. I was 19 seconds behind them when I got in third with like four laps to go or something.

ME: So at that point you just put the bike on edge and gave ‘er the berries.

DA: Yeah, it was just all out from there, you know. Every lap mattered the most and I was like on it for the last four laps, pretty much just as fast as I could go.

ME: You caught Krystian, then what?

DA: Yeah, I passed Christian in the rollers right before the checkered flag and then Landen had that little incident. I remember the crowd going crazy when I caught Krystian, then they went really crazy when Landen fell. But I didn’t know what had happened until I hit that left hander and came up and saw him (Gordon) there. So the last ten seconds of the race was unbelievable.

ME: Though it wasn’t your first time racing RedBud, it had to be the most memorable? Talk about your experience on one of the world’s most popular (riders’ opinion as well as fans) motocross tracks.

DA: The say it’s the best dirt on earth, right? So yeah, it’s definitely one of the top tracks in the world. Even the Europeans that come over here, yeah, get a kick out of it. So I've raced RedBud like four times now. Two Combines and as an amateurs on 50s and 85s. on like a 50 and an 85. So I haven’t raced it a bunch, but I’d probably say it’s one of the best tracks. I haven’t been to all the pro (Pro Motocross Championship) tracks yet. I’m still waiting to go to Millville (Spring Creek MX). That one looks so fun to ride. But yeah, RedBud’s sick, even though wasn't as fully rough as a pro day is. But you know, we still have the amateurs and stuff racing on it all day. So I mean there's a difference between amateur rough and pro rough. But I’d definitely say that our track was still pretty beat. And beyond that we have the pro section (including the massive “Hammer of Thor” uphill double) which, after the second call sign, it had rained for like an hour and a half straight and they got the track left that like fully muddy for our moto. So like that whole pro section was just so difficult and tricky because it was like sloppy mud and you were just sliding around.

ME: And there that off-camber turn there that’s brutal when it’s wet.

DA: Yeah, it was gnarly. Were going so slow down that thing.

ME: 25 minutes plus two laps on a pro national track. How was that in relation to other motos you’ve run in your career?

DA: Honestly? I was hoping that that moto would be longer. If I had just one more lap I think I could have passed for the lead (if Gordon hadn’t crashed). 25 minutes plus two is not that big of a deal, really, When I was racing B class we’d do 20 minute motos at the Nationals. So it's really only, maybe, seven more minutes. When I train I do 30 minute motos, 35 minute motos, stuff like that. So I was pretty prepared for this.

ME: At RedBud there was a lot more to this than just pulling your bike out of a van and racing. The 2024 MX Sports Pro Racing Scouting Moto Combine, presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare, had all sorts of stuff outside the actual racing going on for you guys. Discuss that experience.

DA: It's pretty cool, really. I mean they had all sorts of stuff going on for us outside the racing. We always get to meet new people at the combines. With our little trailer setup and everybody gives pretty cool speeches. They have all the coaches and stuff that they bring in, and the Coach’s Cup, which is like a battle between all the coaches and their team. And me and me and Brock (Glover, coach) won it this year at Redbud. Then you’ve got the Air Force guys that come in. That’s pretty cool. This past weekend we had a guy (from the Air Force) who used to race (dirt bikes). So that was nice having someone that knew a bit about dirt bikes, having been there himself. 

ME: So you’ve got three Monster Energy AMA Supercross SX Futures wins to your credit, and four SX Futures podiums. How does the supercross experience compare to the Combine at the MX Nationals?

DA: I'll say it's a little bit different but it's still, you know, similar concepts. At supercross we race on Saturday, in front of all the crowd and during the night show. So you really get the full effect of the crowd there. There’s also a lot more Futures races than Combines (4 SX Futures, 2 MX Combines). But at both they’re bringing in all the best amateurs. So you're really racing the same group of guys that you probably will be racing in your pro years.

ME: Last year at Loretta’s you battled to a runner-up spot in 250 B racing. In the past you’ve come away with more hardware, including four mini bike titles (but no big bike titles yet). Talk about this year’s Loretta’s and what goals you’ve set for yourself.

DA: I’m not gonna look at Loretta’s like a big, big race. This my fifth year going to Lorettas, so it's just, you know, just another year. That said I'm very prepared for it this year. My goal is to be looking at the (AMA) Horizon award at the end of the week (for the top racer set to turn pro after Loretta’s). I did bad last year. I was actually winning the (250 B) championship all the way until the last moto. But it had rained hard and I fell like four times. And yes, I did a lot of mud riding after that (laughter).

ME: Right on, Drew. Best of luck to you at Loretta’s and the final Combine of the season at the Ironman (Aug. 24) in Indiana.

DA: Thank you. And thanks to everyone at Monster Energy for their support.