Chase Sexton Suffers Concussion in Practice Crash, to Miss Hangtown Motocross Classic
In an already depleted 450 Class, some late news broke tonight: Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton will be sidelined for the second round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. The newly crowned 450SX Champion suffered a crash during the first qualifying session at the opening round of Pro Motocross, although he was not injured. He went on to finish 2-2 for second overall behind his teammate Jett Lawrence (1-1 for first overall).
However, in a press release tonight, Honda announced Sexton suffered a practice crash earlier this week that resulted in a concussion and testing. The #23 was also diagnosed with mono and the team decided to make the decision to sit out this weekend’s round two Hangtown Motocross Classic. The release said Sexton’s return to racing has yet to be determined. We will provide more information when it becomes available.
With Eli Tomac sidelined for the remainder of the year after an Achilles tendon injury, Sexton has a 77-point lead over third-place Cooper Webb in the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) standings after 18 rounds of the 31-round SMX championship.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Qualifying Points | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 550 | 163 |
| 2 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 340 | 146 |
| 3 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 710 | 126 |
| 4 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC | 451 | 120 |
| 5 |  Aaron Plessinger | Hamilton, OH | 622 | 104 |
| 6 |  Adam Cianciarulo | Port Orange, FL | 538 | 96 |
| 7 |  Garrett Marchbanks | Coalville, UT | 255 | 92 |
| 8 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 449 | 91 |
| 9 |  Colt Nichols | Muskogee, OK | 163 | 90 |
| 10 |  Ty Masterpool | Paradise, TX | 242 | 84 |
Sexton also posted the news of him sitting out this weekend to his personal Instagram as well.
The following press release is from Honda:
Chase Sexton to Miss Hangtown National
- Newly crowned AMA Supercross Champion crashed during midweek testing
- Sexton hopes to return to racing the AMA Pro Motocross series soon
TORRANCE, Calif. — Chase Sexton and Team Honda HRC have made the difficult decision to have the newly crowned AMA Supercross Champion miss round 2 of the AMA Pro Motocross series this weekend at Rancho Cordova, California’s Hangtown National, following a fall during testing this week.
Sexton was taking part in a multi-team test at Southern California’s Fox Raceway on Tuesday, May 30, where he had posted a strong second-overall result three days earlier during the opening round, despite some aches and pains from a qualifying crash. The Illinois native sustained a head impact in the test-session fall, prompting a doctor visit. In addition to a concussion being confirmed, Sexton was also diagnosed with mono, and the decision was made to have him take time off in order to recover. A return date isn’t yet certain, but Sexton hopes to return to the series as quickly as possible.
“I’m super-bummed to miss this weekend’s race,” Sexton said. “I feel like I rode well at Pala, and I was really looking forward to Hangtown because it’s a good track for me. Unfortunately, I was already pretty banged up from my qualifying crash on Saturday, and now with mono and Tuesday’s concussion on top of it, I want to do the right thing and hopefully be back on the track soon.”
