Adam Cianciarulo will return to action in Indianapolis in Round 9 of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season after missing two weeks due to a wrist injury.
“It wasn’t one thing; it wasn’t a crash,” Cianciarulo told Motocross Action Magazine during Indianapolis Press Day. “It wasn’t anything I did specifically that said, ‘Oh man, I hurt my wrist; I can’t ride.’
“It was getting worse and then I showed up in Press Day in Dallas and couldn’t do it safely. I had to make that call, which is a really tough call to make. I’m pretty proud of myself because for me in the past, I would have tried to go out there and probably would have done something silly.”
Last December, Cianciarulo told NBC Sports he was entering 2023 with a new attitude. After missing sizeable portions of his last few SuperMotocross seasons, he contemplated retirement in no small part because of the nagging wrist injury, which makes it difficult to grip the throttle.
“It sucks to miss a couple of races, but it’s better than missing the rest of the season,” Cianciarulo said while sporting a brace on his right wrist. “I’ve been doing a lot of rehab on it. Everything you can possibly do on it. Rode on Wednesday and it felt pretty good. It’s not fantastic.”
Cianciarulo knows more than he wants about riding hurt. He began the 2022 season despite still recovering from a shoulder injury. His time on the bike was not long as he crashed in Round 3 that season in San Diego and suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the year.
One week earlier after a disappointing ride in Oakland, Cianciarulo posted on Instagram: “Sometimes your best looks like first to 12th.”
He did not credit his San Diego crash to overriding or his shoulder injury, but he apparently took the lesson learned from the crash to heart.
“I haven’t really pushed that hard this year,” Cianciarulo said. “Just trying to take is slow and let it come to me. You kind of have to learn how to race again, and race up front. That’s been my goal to not have this crazy expectation on myself.”
Cianciarulo began the season with four results of eighth through 10th. In Round 5, he slipped to 12th and was 15th in Oakland.
Cianciarulo’s return to racing will once more test his new attitude as he resets for a second time in 2023.