“I'm bummed to not be racing, trust me, I want to be out here. I might even just gear up, why not?” joked Nick Romano with a laugh early Friday morning. The Phoenix Racing Honda rider suffered a knee injury at the 250SX East Division opener in Tampa, Florida, and was at MetLife Stadium talking to moto media and local TV news channels. Unfortunately, the New York native would be missing his home race as he shifts his focus on prepping for the AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
After a segment on Fox 5 Good Day New York News, we caught up with Romano for a quick update on his knee injury and what it is like having a race so close to not only the Big Apple but where he grew up.
Racer X: Nick Romano, we're here at the East Rutherford Supercross. Unfortunately, you're not racing your home race this weekend, but talk us through everything, doing the local media and just being a guy from, what, 25 minutes away from here?
Nick Romano: Yeah, yeah. Born and raised in Bayside, so that's about 25, 30 minutes without traffic. So, yeah, just here hanging out. I was on Good Day New York news. So, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Just coming out here doing what I have to, see the fans. Obviously bummed I'm not racing, but stuff happens, and we'll be here one year. [Laughs]
You've been dealing with a knee injury. I know you’ve been racing, taking a couple weeks off trying to get rehab back. Walk us through that process.
Yeah. Unfortunately, I injured my knee in Tampa, which was our season opener, which sucked. Cause I felt really good leading up to the race and into the year. But like I said, stuff happens. And kind of been in and out of this supercross season so far. I don't want to rush it, I hate rushing things, but at the same time, I hate not racing. So, it's brutal to sit out and watch you know, the guys do what I love, right? Knowing that I can be out there and be up there when I'm at full health. But yeah, it's just a work in progress. Send out my posts on Instagram and socials and the team, like, we're just going to regroup and get ready for outdoors. That's kind of my best bet right now, is not to go out and race two races. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but yeah, just focus on outdoors because I think we can get ahead with testing on the bike. And for me, I haven't even rode this Honda outdoors yet, so it's going to be a learning curve, and we got to throw a lot probably at it just to get it in a good spot. But yeah, we'll see.
Full outdoor season for you then?
Yeah, that's the goal. That's the plan. Yeah, like I said, I want to… I'm going to start riding next week. I'm going to go up to Club[MX] and test with these guys for a week or so and then, yeah, just try and get a good base setting on this bike and we'll see. Be nice to get ahead of the game, right? Like I said, and coming out swinging like I know how to.
And obviously, I'm sure you're bummed not to be racing here. I'm sure you've got friends and family here. Although you're not racing, what's it like to have a stage like this for supercross? To race at this stadium so close to where you live, but also New York's a big city, big area. It's a huge market for us and our sport.
Yeah, it's cool to have one here. Like, especially for me and all the New York people and Northeast people, honestly. Like this is a sick stadium and you have New York City, literally, you could see the city outside the stadium and it's cool. Like I said, I'm bummed to not be racing, trust me, I want to be out here. I might even just gear up, why not? [Laughs] But yeah, it's cool. And it's cool to have it for the New York/New Jersey people.
If you were going to be racing, would you do any cool jerseys or anything. What would the walk in fit be?
Oh yeah. Yeah, it'd be something…I had an idea I was going to do. I'm not a Giants fan or a Jets fan, personally. I'm actually a Cowboys fan for football, which is crazy, but I was going to do something cool and try to have me and my mom piece something together. Yeah. I always love the walk in fits.
But you're a Yankees guy, right?
Yeah, I'm a big Yankees guy.
I was like, maybe we'll see something.
Yeah, I was gonna do something, but it's always next time.
Watch this interview below.
