Interview: Enzo Temmerman Motocross Racer

Before you read this, make sure your MX boots are buckled on tight, your chin strap is sinched up, goggles are clean and fog-free, wrists and fingers are limbered up and, of course, your gas is turned on. Because when you click 2^nd gear, dump the clutch, and start Monster Energy/Kawasaki/Team Green’s Enzo Temmerman’s story you’re gonna be in for the ride/read of your week here.

California-born to an MX racing dad and uncles who immigrated to the U.S. from the European hotbed of motocross, Belgium, Enzo’s father, Paul, launched his two-year-old kid across the backyard on a Yamaha PW50 and set the stage for a young racing career that’s transcended the California tracks to the major amateur MX Nationals, including Loretta’s, and has reached the pinnacle of ‘Who’s got next’ with Enzo’s rise to the top of Monster Energy AMA Supercross’ SMX Next program.

Along this familiar journey to most, if not all, top pro motocross racers, there have no doubt been some tough spots along the way, which you’ll learn about shortly here. Enzo began racing the 50cc classes in 2014 and battled consistently in the Monster Energy AMA Amateur Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Tennessee through 2024. His speed would get him noticed early on, but the Carmichael, Stewart and Cianciarulo-like consistency with winning would keep him a click or so behind the new guard of Monster Energy-backed Loretta’s champs his age like Drew Adams and Landen Gordon.

And while there were a multitude of reasons, not excuses, for his lack of overall class championships and podium finishes at the amateur national level, Enzo stuck with it, rallied back time after time from injury and now stands tall as the odds-on favorite to win the overall SMS Next title.

But before this weekend’s SMX Next finals in Pittsburgh, you’ve gotta read about the past year Enzo endured, and how he was able to rally back to the position he’s in now. Absolutely incredible story this Monster Energy athlete has to tell.

Monster Energy: Enzo! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy riding/racing schedule with Monster Energy/Team Green/Kawasaki here. The Monster Army is pumped to see you back on the track racing SMX Next this season! It’d been a tough couple years for you as you’ve been making the transition from amateur to the pro ranks. But it looks like you’ve got ‘er on the rails and have been charging ahead.

Enzo Temmerman: No problem man, it’s a pleasure to be doing this. It definitely has been an eventful couple years but, we’re heading in the right direction for sure.

ME: Take us back here… way back in fact. “Enzo” might be the fastest name in racing, but the youthful energy drink community may not realize the name’s history. Tell us how your parents came up with that name and, by chance, did the great Italian Ferrari race brand have anything to do with the name your folks gave you?

ET: It actually doesn’t have anything to do with Ferrari. One of my dad’s favorite soccer player’s is named Enzo. So I was named after him.

ME: Ah, we’re big motorsports fans here and Monster Energy HQ, so we had to ask. And we stand corrected! Staying aboard the way back machine here, you first showed up on the national MX radar at the Monster Energy AMA MX National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch back in 2014, ripping on Cobra dirt bikes in the 51cc 4-6 age class, the top Californian in the class with a solid 4^th place run (4-7-6). Several few years later (2015) you’d win your first national championship on a KTM 65 (10-11 class), topping some other great up-and-coming racers like Landen Gordon, Luke Fauser, Jeremy Fappani and Logan Best. Talk about that week at Loretta’s and what it meant to you to be a national champion.

ET: Yeah, it was a great week. One I’ll always remember for sure. I had a few tough years at the Ranch prior to that, so to get the championship was a big accomplishment. And also landed me a ride with the Orange Brigade team.

ME: Having spent the majority of your young career with KTM, you made the decision to switch to Monster Energy/Team Green/Kawasaki in 2021 – and have been with the Team Green program ever since. Discuss that decision, what went into making it, and how it’s paid off for you.

ET: The biggest factor that lead us to making that decision was we wanted to jump up to the 250 class. After my Supermini year at Loretta’s, I was offered to renew my contract with the Orange Brigade team to ride a year of 125s. But Ryan Holiday from Team Green had offered us a spot to ride on a 250 for the next year. I really wanted to start racing in the 250 class and took the spot on Team Green. I instantly felt comfortable on the KX250 and have loved the bike ever since. So I’m happy with the decision to switch over to Team Green.

ME: In 2023 you’d score your second Loretta’s overall career podium with a strong 3^rd place run in the Schoolboy 12-17 B/C class versus, again, some tough competition including Casey Cochran, Krystian Janik and your then Team Green teammate, Drew Adams. What was it at that point of your race career, with that final Loretta’s podium, which gave you the confidence to know you could run with your fastest peers from around the nation?

ET: That was another good week for me at the Ranch. I didn’t get the championship, but had a lot of solid motos and it was definitely a turning point for me on the bigger bike. From when I jumped on the KX250, up until this point, I still hadn’t grown into the 250 all the way. But from that week on I felt a lot stronger on it and started gaining more confidence on it.

ME: The term ‘bump in the road’ is often used for setback. But brother, you basically went through a mile-long, V’d out whoop pad beginning in 2023, which lasted through pretty much the entire ’24 season. A December (’23) practice crash put you in the hospital with an unwanted trifecta - a broken femur, collarbone and wrist. You managed to make the opening Anaheim round, albeit in a wheelchair, and ended up getting sick with a gnarbuckle infection right after that. Read that you lost around 30 pounds off your tall, thin frame. But in something that only a grizzled old banged up desert racer could appreciate, you somehow managed to rally back to – unbelievably - qualify for Loretta’s, albeit not even being able to walk. What?

ET: Yeah, this past year was really tough on me. It was already bad enough breaking a femur along with two other bones, but that infection took a toll on my whole body. I had crashed in December, but was back in the hospital a little over a month later, and had five more surgeries done on my leg to try and rid the infection. I was then put on antibiotics, taking 15+ pills a day for three months, trying to shake the infection completely. In March, I had hopped on my bike and rolled around at an area qualifier with my leg dangling off the peg and in May, I had finally gotten off my antibiotics and been cleared to ride just in time for (the Loretta’s) regional qualifiers. So, I still managed to qualify for Loretta’s and spent the rest of the time until then trying to get my leg stronger, and get in the best shape I could after being off the bike for six months.

ME: Amazing! You rallied through the ’24 Loretta’s with a remarkable 6^th place finish in 250 Pro Sport – yet still nowhere near 100-percent, and in that oppressive middle Tennessee heat. Among the few ahead of you were Adams and the Monster Energy 250 guy, Cole Davies (Star/Yamaha), who’s been on a tear as of late. And those who’ve been to Hurricane Mills, Tenn., in August know that’s the stuff of legend right there. What’d that 6^th place run last summer do for your confidence, knowing that if you can hang close to those guys in the shape you were in, think what you could do versus them – and the rest of the SMX Next field – when you’re healthy?

ET: It actually did a lot for me. Usually, I would be pretty down about a 6th place finish. But with being on the couch for six months to start the year and my leg still not being 100%, I was pretty content with being able to put together three solid motos in the 250 Pro Sport class. I knew that moving forward, if I could get my body right, I could be right there with those guys.

ME: You’d get that chance following Loretta’s last summer, where you were healthy enough (sort of) to run it back in the World All-Stars race at the Sept. 21^st SMX Championships in Vegas . And you ripped a 5^th place finish out of another absolutely stacked field. Another confidence boost.

ET: Yes, by this point I was starting to get back in better shape and my body was finally healthy. I had a solid race, with clean laps. (I) definitely wanted more than 5^th, but it was a step in the right direction.

ME: But just as things seemed to be working well for you on track, you’d suffer another setback when a practice track crash wrecked (broke & dislocated) your shoulder. Dude… what was going through your head at that point? You COULD NOT catch a break, figurately, in the past calendar year.

ET: At this point, I was really bummed out. After how the year started and going through so many surgeries, so much rehab, so much rebuilding, and finally getting back to where I want to be - just to be on the couch again. It was a tough pill to swallow, but I quickly changed my mindset to thinking if I got through everything I’ve already been thru this year, then I can come back from this as well.

ME: 2025 and a fresh, new start for you. SMX Next schedule opens in Glendale, Ariz., and you’re in. Talk about your health heading into that February 1^st round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross and, maybe just as important, your state of mind.

ET: So coming into the first SMX Next round, I was finally healthy again, but only had about four weeks on the bike. I knew I just had to be smart about it and get through the day. I had never raced on a supercross track yet, and didn’t have a full off season of prep going into it. So the goal was to just get through this one and onto the next.

ME: So when the desert dust settled in Glendale you were on the podium, 2^nd place in another field stacked to the brim with talent. After what you just went through, the injuries, hospital time, rest, recovery, battling back – on one leg – what was going through your mind at that point?

ET: It was a sigh of relief to be honest. I’d had a really rough year in 2024, so to start the new year with a podium and more importantly, being healthy and ready for the next round, it felt really good.

ME: Another great SMX Next 2^nd place finish at Daytona Beach, Fla., then you break through in the biggest way possible with a victory at the penultimate SMX Next round in Birmingham, Ala. You must have been on top of the world that night.

ET: Yes, Daytona I felt really good on the bike and had really good speed, but I had a poor start and had to make my way to that 2nd place finish from well outside the top ten. At the next round, I had a better start and just rode smart and it paid off. That one felt really good. Finally got to where I want to be and definitely the biggest win of my career so far.

ME: So one last SMX Next race coming up here, April 26^th in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Finals. The Big One to decide who’s got next? What are your thoughts heading into what could be called the “Biggest race of your life so far?”

ET: Thoughts are the same as always - I want to win. I’m finally healthy and had quite some time now with no setbacks and just steady progress. Feeling really good on the bike lately and really excited for this last round.

ME: Alright, Enzo. Thanks a bunch for your time, man. From everyone at Monster Energy… best of luck in continuing one of the Best comeback stories we’ve heard in a long time.

ET: I appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me and letting me share some of my story.