Slaw
Entering the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship, Nick Romano wasn’t even sure he’d have a ride.
Once one of the sport’s most highly touted amateur prospects under the Star Racing Yamaha banner, Romano found himself on the outside looking in before Mitch Payton and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki threw him a lifeline.
With injuries depleting the roster, Romano earned a fill-in ride during Monster Energy Supercross and made the most of it, scoring three top-10 finishes in seven starts after making just one Supercross appearance in 2025.
When Cameron McAdoo and Drew Adams were sidelined to begin Pro Motocross, Romano remained with the team, although his status for the full season was far from guaranteed.
It’s becoming harder and harder to imagine the team moving on now. Romano opened the summer running up front, then broke through with the first SMX podium of his career, finishing third overall at Thunder Valley on Saturday.
It’s been a winding road from amateur standout to nearly out of the sport and back onto the podium with factory support.
The New York native reflected on that journey with the media following Thunder Valley.
Congratulations on your first overall outdoor podium. This has got to feel pretty awesome. And we know you came in this year as a fill-in rider for Kawasaki, but you are really establishing your spot here in the paddock and on their team. Can you talk about that and maybe your work getting to this point?
Nick Romano: It’s just been a work in progress, a lot of trial and error for me. It was a lot of unknowns. A year ago, at one point, told myself and my family and my parents that I was quitting. I was done. It was just kind of a dark road there for a couple of years at the end of my stint with Yamaha and when I went privateer, it just was one thing after another. So, I told myself about six, eight months ago, I said, ‘if I can’t get back on a factory bike, this is it.” Hounded Mitch for a long, long time and I truly can’t thank him enough for the opportunity. It’s just a blessing. I guess on paper I’m the fill-in guy, but I’m trying to establish myself to be a full-time guy. Every weekend’s been good and the bike is amazing; the team is great. We have really good banter going with Levi, Seth, and now Drew is back and Enzo. So just fun times. It really is. We’ll just try and keep at it.
Let’s lean into that a little bit. You’re fighting for a spot, is that just some extra motivation to continue to rejuvenate your career? Saw it happen with Ken Roczen where he was literally down in the dumps and now he’s Supercross champion
After the injuries, I had a lot of time to myself. You sit there, you’re hurt, you sit there, you watch, you sit there, you train, and I have a different mentality going into everything now. It’s not even about the fill-in, or this or that. It’s just I have the opportunity in my hands right now and I’m just taking it literally race by race, day by day. And yes, at the end of the day, I do want the contract and I do want to establish myself to be on a factory team, but if that’s meant to be, it’s meant be. I have to focus on myself and in the moment and results. If that comes with it, then obviously it’s awesome, but for me right now it’s just keep focusing. I finally got this third, I want to get it again. I want to get another podium and I want to get a win, so we’ll keep working at it.
Are you enjoying racing again?
It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. I do feel like a little kid again. I feel like an amateur. I was a very good BNA guy at my final years and I won a lot and I’m not winning yet, but it’s just fun. With Levi, he’s basically my older brother at this point, so we have fun times on and off the track and with the group and the team and Mitch and the mechanics. It’s just a good team and there’s good movement, good motion. So yeah, we’ll just keep trucking along.
You’ve had some really strong finishes and this week, you’re able to close it out. What have you done, if anything, to work on your race pace, your race fitness over the last two rounds?
It’s really just been trusting the work I do. I’m a very self-motivated athlete. You can ask anyone around me. I work my absolute butt off to the point where maybe it’s too much. And that’s kind of something I’ve learned getting Epstein-Barr in the past and now there’s just a fine line on everything. I know I’ve always had the fitness and I’ve always had the speed, but it’s kind of just been putting everything together and I do feel like I’m finally doing that now. So, I was telling my dad just now, every weekend I feel like I’m getting another half a lap to a lap each moto and I still need to find whether it’s 10 to 15 seconds overall time at the end of the 35 minutes, but that’ll come with confidence and good starts and just everything I’m doing. I don’t want to get too out of myself yet. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.
Does it also come with repetition?
Yeah, for sure it does. Just kind of staying doing the same thing, whether that’s on the bike program, off the bike, I’m pretty mental when it comes to that stuff this week. I had a good week last weekend, so I was trying to eat the same thing at the same time, same day, drink the same thing and seemed to work out today. So I try and do it again today.
And then today. Was this a sense of relief or vindication?
Both, but mainly relief. I’ve been really trying to get the moto podium. That was kind of my big goal, but to get it overall podium, it’s awesome dude. I don’t even know what else to say besides, it’s a dream come true.
Photos: octopi.media
