Presented by Fly Racing
Of the handful of anti-doping violations in professional motocross, Cade Clason's case is one of the more mismanaged. Clason, a privateer that followed the US pro series for years, tested positive for a prohibited unless TUE-approved amphetamine in 2017 and had his racing career come to an abrupt halt.
When news of the time the result became public, Clason immediately stated that the substance was Adderall, a medicine that can be approved by WADA on a case by case basis if deemed necessary, and that he had filed the paper but took it without hearing back from officials if the use was approved. The misunderstanding made no difference to the authorities that presided over the case and Clason was issued a suspension from competition in for the 2018 and 2019 seasons by the FIM.
While Clason was kept from racing, he was approached by FXR's Andy White with a job offer to help manage the gear brand's growing list of supported riders, a job that kept him at events in North America. When a major shakeup in Canadian motocross pulled the National series away from the FIM-recognized federation, Clason was technically free to race the Rockstar Energy MX Championship and he did so in 2018 and 2019.
In the middle of this past summer, Clason's suspension was lifted by the FIM and he was free to compete at AMA-FIM organized events again. Once his AMA membership was approved, he made it to the starting line for the Unadilla and Ironman rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Just before the last race of the year, we sat down with Clason and discussed much of what has gone down since 2017, how the time away helped him appreciate racing, his move to Arizona with his wife, and what the future holds.