Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki racer Cameron McAdoo came into Daytona International Speedway last weekend looking to back up the victory he scored there back in March of 2021.

The 2022 edition of the 250SX main event at Daytona went well for McAdoo, who spooled up a great charge in the main event to nail down a third place finish. McAdoo’s result was hard earned and highly respectable given that he had actually suffered some damage to his knee earlier in the evening.

Q: You appeared to be limping during the 250SX podium celebration. Did you tweak something out there this evening?

CAMERON MCADOO: Yeah, it actually came from the heat race. I had a slight little mishap coming underneath the tunnel. I was going inside, double, double. My knee kind of bent super-wrong, and then I lost my pegs. After it already had tweaked backwards, my foot peg came up underneath my knee brace cup and dug into the bottom of my knee. So at first, I was super concerned after the heat race. I just had a knee injury last summer, so it was feeling a little unstable. I was pretty nervous.

I had Dr. G [Dr. H. Rey Gubernick] come over and help me out with it. He taped it up a whole bunch. It obviously swelled up a ton immediately. I think it’s pretty much just from getting smashed. Honestly, I was super unsure what it was going to be like. So that’s why on the sight lap I went out and actually rode the sight lap and hit the jumps. It’s strong. I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to affect me long-term. It’s a lot of swelling that we’re going to have to get out of it this week, but I think everything is intact still. So that’s a big relief.

Q: On the podium you mentioned that the entire day was a bit off for you. Were you just not feeling it today?

CMcA: Yeah. I don’t even know if I would want to say it was the bike. Last year I came here with pretty much the same bike as I’ve been riding all season, and that’s what we did this year again, for the most part. I was really struggling with comfort. There was a lot of different lines going on that was like each practice, an inside would be fast. We’d watch the film, and then I would go for that line, but then that time the outside was faster. So, I wasn’t really trusting my instincts, is what I would say. I was going off of what the last practice was faster, and then the track was changing. There was a couple rhythms that I wasn’t super-comfortable with in practice.

Honestly, the rhythm after the finish line, I never jumped that triple over that big one in practice once. I watched film in the last practice, and I was like, yep, in this heat race I’m going to need to jump that the first time. I have to jump it to have success tonight. So, just little stuff that I was struggling with. It was getting pretty frustrating, and then I had a fairly frustrating heat race. So, it was really important to be able to lock in and fight hard to be here talking to you guys.

Q: What did you think about the split lane and what was your mentality? Did it change lap to lap for you?

CMcA: Honestly, I was pretty surprised at how equal it was. I think going inside outside might have been… I don’t even think it would have been one 10th faster. It was maybe a tad bit, but it was all about just how you hit it. I was just trying to go opposite of whatever they were doing. I was like, I can’t follow these guys. I knew I was faster in the whoops, but if I got up next to them in the whoops on the right side of them, they were going to guard me on going inside, outside. So I knew I had to get all the way next to someone on the right to make it happen.

I was going everywhere. I think I probably did the opposite side of each of those every other lap, it seemed like. Then you come over the tunnel and you’re right next to each other. It was a good split lane. When you make one, usually it’s pretty hard for the track crew to make the split lanes super equal, and I felt like it was as equal as it could have been.

Q: As far as being a member of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki race team, you’re one of the very last riders still remaining in action! To that end, is there more pressure from the team to go out there and perform? Is it something you notice a little bit more being the only guy out there racing for the team during these supercross main events?

CMcA: It’s obviously a lot different. When our coast started, it was supposed to be three guys – three riders in the locker, three mechanics, three bikes. It’s a lot different. But at the same time, we have the same goal in mind. My goal has been to go fight for wins and fight up front and do my best. The team doesn’t put any sort of a different pressure on me. I think if anything I put the pressure on myself of winning and having some success. Whether we have a full team or not, I’m going to go do my best to show out for our team and to get the results that the whole team has worked for. It’s definitely a different vibe, but I’m just out here to do my best and to give everyone what they’ve worked for.