After his 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship season, Chase Sexton was left with not only frustration, but determination—determination that paid off well at zMAX Dragway on Saturday. Sexton went into the day with a confidence he hasn't felt since his 450SX Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship season, and was able to finally get his hands back on that 450 class moto win. Going 1-1 for the day, the #23 put an end to Jett Lawrence's perfect win streak in the 450cc class and got his mojo back. Chase knew what he had in him, and he came prepared to release that beast at the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs round one. See what he had to say about it all in the post-race press conference below!
Chase, I know that was an incredible statement. We were talking about it on the mic for the live broadcast. We felt you made a statement not just in moto one but in moto two. When you did your fastest qualifier, the post-race interview, you were cool, calm, collected. It looked like there was no pressure. You won moto one. Moto two you had to do a little work, but same thing. Afterwards, just cool, calm, and collected. Did you feel a tremendous amount of pressure going into this race or none at all?
Chase Sexton: I definitely had a point to prove after the outdoor season I had. I was pretty disappointed with it. I was really happy when I got back on supercross. I felt like I found where I was in supercross this year right away, it kind of honestly calmed my nerves a little bit. I was able to focus on my riding, was able to put good motos in where I can with Tom Vialle. Just had a really good last few weeks. My preparation was good, I was confident coming into the day that I was going to be good. I know when I’m comfortable that I should be winning races, and that’s what we did today. I had a big point to prove. We’re not done yet. We got two more races to go. Keep this thing rolling.
Kind of nice to start off the day with a supercross championship ring from Mike Muye. That helped, too.
Yeah, not bad. Now I got a trophy to take home with it, so we’re good.
You had the first moto. Obviously, it went well and you got the win. You switched sides to go to the other side of the starting gate. Can you talk about that selection of choosing a gate and then why you switched it even after you won the first moto?
I just kind of went by what rut I thought was best. I looked at both sides. The left side had deeper ruts, and I didn’t want to have what happened to [Haiden] Deegan happen to me, so I was like, I’m just going to go with my gut and pick the best gate I thought. I ended up not getting a great start, but I made it work. I was really nervous. The nerves mostly came from the starts today just because it was a hard track to pass on. You had to be really methodical on where you pushed and where you could make a pass at. When I came out in sixth or seventh, I was scratching my head a little bit. But we got some good passes in early and just tried to put my head down, and it worked out.
The pre-race press conference, you kind of mentioned you and Kenny riding together a little bit. Whenever you see him in front of you, do you zone out a little bit or is it like a practice day for you guys? Does that add a little bit of comfort just knowing it’s your training buddy and he’s not going to pull anything on you? It’s just like another day at the practice track?
Yeah. We’ve been riding together quite a bit. We have a really good relationship. When we train together, we’re always wanting the best for each other and same with the races. Obviously we come here to win, but we can put that aside and still have a friendship. When he was leading, I knew when he got out front he was going to get away pretty fast. That’s why I was trying to get as quick as I could to the front. I knew I had Jett behind me, so I couldn’t back off. I had to go for the win. Obviously, still wanted to make a statement. I wanted to go for the win no matter what. I had guys coming from behind and I just put my head down. That long rhythm section was the biggest thing on the track. It was a big rhythm. It was quad, three, quad, and then three out. Had to get that almost every lap. It was fun racing with Ken. Just happy for both of us to be up here.
Can you evaluate this style of track? Is it what you expected? Is it more supercrossy or more motocrossy than you thought it would be?
I kind of had an idea what I thought the track would be like when we were practicing. Then I was reading Twitter and Instagram and everyone was saying how deep it was. I was like, well, hopefully we did the right preparation. Coming here, it honestly felt like Atlanta. Obviously there’s more outdoors to it, but it feels like an Atlanta track with the dirt being like that and those long rhythm sections. It honestly didn’t throw me off too much. I tend to like these speedway tracks with the rough bumps and also a little bit of supercross mixed in. So I was comfortable from the get-go yesterday.
Back in September of 1984 we had a supercross, David Bailey won on a Honda. Now your name is going in the record books. Tell us about what this win means tonight and how you’re going to prepare for the next two rounds to bring home the big trophy?
It’s always cool to win an inaugural race, obviously starting with this playoff series. I feel like everyone kind of came in ready to go. Obviously, there’s a lot up for grabs, so today was important. I just came in prepared. I just wanted to feel comfortable again. I didn’t have a good outdoors series. It was tough, but I still was confident in what I could do. Coming into this race, I knew it was good. Today it was good having those two races. Going into next week, it’s a home race for me. It’s about an hour from where I grew up. Going in with the red plate is going to be fun. Hopefully we can do this again.
We have, today, a hybrid track. How do you guys figure out the suspension hybrid for motocross and supercross today?
Ken Roczen: Honestly, it’s really nothing that new, at least not for this round. We look at the track maps and we saw that there’s rhythm sections. We had a bunch of 180-degree sweepers with some doubles. To me, it felt very identical to an Atlanta Speedway supercross track. We just had one rhythm lane instead of a couple, but we still had some bigger doubles and a triple. I don't think any of us are really overthinking it. Next weekend might be a little different. It looks a little bit more motocross style. For me, I looked at the track map coming here and to me it felt just like a speedway track. It’s really nothing new to us.
Chase Sexton: Same for me. I had really similar feelings to Atlanta. I’m basically on the supercross setup that I raced at Salt Lake City, just a little bit softer. I actually felt on the outdoor parts today better than I felt in the outdoor series on my outdoor bike. So, it was pretty funny. Just kind of a normal Atlanta race with a little more outdoors mixed in.
On the broadcast you spoke about having some hate in the last few months. Can you just elaborate a little bit with that?
Not to name any names. I have a hard time watching the broadcast sometimes. I feel like what I did in supercross was discounted a little bit, and I feel like my riding today proves that it shouldn’t be. I was confident in myself and still believe in myself. It gets annoying after listening to the same thing over and over every weekend. That’s kind of all I have on that part.
How difficult was it for you to see Jett take over the limelight in outdoors and what makes you so much more comfortable on supercross?
It wasn’t so much that he took over. Obviously he did, but it wasn’t really that part. It was just more getting beat by him every weekend was really tough. I knew deep down that I wasn’t super comfortable and I had more in the tank to give. I was kind of held back a little bit by the bike setup I chose for outdoors. If I had to go back, I would have probably done something different, but you can’t change the past, only the future. Coming into this, I felt comfortable right away. Last year in supercross I really reeled off some good races the last four or five races of supercross. I was confident that I had a good bike setup. When I first got on it this week leading up to the race, I really clicked into something that I haven’t since the beginning of this year. It’s hard to explain. When you feel good on a bike you can do stuff that you can’t do when you’re not. It’s just a feeling thing.
You’ve talked about it so far in this press conference, the way the outdoors went and things that had been said on TV. Does this win take a little bit of personal pressure off you or feel like a little bit of a relief? You already knew you could do this, but I know there was still a bit of stress, or whatever, the way things went.
To be honest, it’s nice to win again. I feel like I haven’t won in a year. Honestly, it motivates me more to keep that ball rolling. There’s a lot of good guys on the gate. As Ken said, it’s hard to win races. You’ve got to take these as you get them. I know I’m capable of winning more. Just got to put ourselves in a good position and go back and do good training and have some fun with Ken and Tom and get ready for next weekend.