Indianapolis was a better round of Monster Energy Supercross for Chase Sexton, who showed speed coming through the pack in all three Triple Crown races en route to third overall. Yes, speed. Been awhile since we’ve said that about Sexton, who has morphed from fast-but-crash a year ago to steady-not-flashy so far this year. This puts his switch from Honda HRC to Red Bull KTM firmly into the spotlight. NBC’s Will Christien talked to Sexton about this post-race at Indy. Is Sexton himself getting better, or is it the motorcycle?
Watch: The Sexton discussion with Carmichael and Villopoto begins at 12:00.
“It’s a little bit of both,” Sexton said. “I still don’t have, I don’t know, the speed or the spark that I had last year yet. It’s coming back, trying to get better every week. I had a pretty gnarly off-season, just not being able to do a lot of motos. I wish I was where I’m at now before the season started. It is what it is, better late than never. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be as far as winning races, but I feel like we’re starting to climb back toward the top. Tonight was a good tell-tale of where I’m heading. I need a lot of work on my starts but other than that I feel like I rode pretty good tonight.”
That “gnarly off-season” is a reference back to some long testing days with the team. As late as December we were hearing reports of Sexton not gelling with his new machine, but he rebounded in time to get on the podium at Anaheim 1, and then win a week later in the mud of San Francisco. Those results perhaps masked what a work in progress this really has been.
“It was a lot more than I thought it was going to be,” Sexton said at Indy. “I didn’t take into account the aluminum frame to the steel frame. It’s a big difference. We’re kind of paying the price for that right now. We’ll get there, these are just growing pains and steps that we have to take before we get to the top.”
Yes, it takes time. That makes sense considering this is a new bike and team for Chase, except for one major point: He is already the defending Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion, and he could have simply stayed at his old team, which did offer for him to come back. Switching was his choice. That’s what puts this all so far under the microscope. Also, why it could be easy to write off this year’s results and simply say the game has changed because Jett Lawrence is now part of the 450 field, it’s not like Sexton is finishing second to Lawrence in every race and every qualifying session. He’s in the group, he’s in the battles, but the bike switch has not vaulted him to a new level, far ahead of the riders he battled last year.
This all led to some deep bench racing between multi-time champions Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto on their Title24 Podcast this week. What led to Sexton’s KTM decision, and how is it going?
“He had a chance to ride, I assume, multiple bikes,” said Villopoto.
“Dude, that’s what I’m saying!” Carmichael said. “I heard he loved the Star Yamaha, I heard that from a pretty reliable source. I actually busted him! I saw him in Tallahassee. I spotted him, he was pulling out of Whole Foods, he was with a sponsor of his. I saw the sponsor he was with and I’m like, 'Who is in the car? Oh crap. That was Chase.' Anyhow, you just have to assume he rode the KTM [also]. At that point, maybe I’m different, maybe you’re difference, but I struggle with him saying the bike isn’t what he expected. You don’t get many cracks at being the supercross champion, so you want to eliminate as many throw away years as possible, or a rebuilding year. It’s too short in our industry. So, I look back and I’m like, ‘Well, what were you expecting? Did you base your decision on something different other than the bike you rode? When you tested, you knew it was better than your Honda, and I’m going to that manufacturer because this bike is better, and it gives me the feel that I need and I’m looking for?’ That’s what I would have based it on. It sounds to me like he didn’t make that decision because of that, or maybe if he rode the Red Bull KTM, maybe at the time he didn’t think it was better but at that time he thought, 'Well, it might get better.' I don’t think you can base your decision [on that]. I don’t think you go that route.”
Keep in mind that the KTM race bike has been going through a pretty fast evolution in the last few months, and this year’s race bike is far different from what Cooper Webb was racing on last year, for example. From a different frame to different forks and shock, things are changing in a hurry. Sometimes, riders are actually trying to hit a moving target.
“He rode multiple bikes,” said Villopoto. “He obviously made that decision based on the bike being pretty damned good, and then maybe his surroundings of the team, having Roger [De Coster], having Ian [Harrison] that have won multiple championships with multiple riders. I know this bike is capable of winning races and winning championships, we’ve seen it before. Coop won championships on it, AP [Aaron Plessinger] won a race on it. I think they’re making good strides. I think it comes down to Chase needing to be quicker and put himself in better situations, because I know the bike is capable.”
“Dude I’m flabbergasted,” said Carmichael. “I go back to when he rode the chassis. You came from aluminum, you rode the KTM, you rode the Star bike. So, I would love to know, what was the difference. Why was it good when you tested the KTM last year?”
Villopoto mentions there are many things that go into a decision, and it’s not always the bike. Staffing, for example, can make just as big a difference. Sexton, when he first talked about the switch, referenced the KTM staff quite a bit in his interviews.
“What was his ultimate decision to pick the KTM over Star Racing?” Villopoto wonders. “Was it money? Value? Was it the team that surrounded him? Was it a smaller team versus how many riders Star has? We don’t obviously know any of that. Look, he sewed his seed, he picked it, and he needs to win on it.”
That’s the challenge Sexton is tackling head on. He needs to better himself and his bike to go after his old stats like race wins, fast qualifying times and even holeshots. He doesn’t shy away from this. Remember, he’s been down in a hole before and has dug himself out, from being the underdog in his early days, to fighting back against legends like Eli Tomac. The biggest loss would be to give up on it, and there’s no sign of that happening anytime soon.
