With Monster Energy AMA Supercross winding down, the points are closer than ever. Even though Cooper Webb has been able to close the gap and now sits tied for the lead with Jett Lawrence, he is not the only one making up points on the young Australian. Chase Sexton has also closed in on his old teammate in the last three rounds.
After switching teams in the off-season, the Red Bull KTM rider not only had to adapt to a new machine, but he was also racing with a broken hand earlier in the season. Without the raw speed he has shown in years past, it has been easy for some fans to count out last year’s champion. Plus, Sexton has only one win (at the second round) compared to Lawrence's five wins and Webb's four wins. But a closer look at the stats show that he has the same number of podiums as Lawrence and Webb (seven) as well as the same number of races outside of the top five (three). So, while it seems he is farther out of the championship on a quick glance, the stats show it shouldn’t be a surprise that he is only 15 points out of the lead. And if anyone knows the importance of staying close in points at the end of the season, it's Chase Sexton, as he said in the post-race press conference:
“I feel like these last five or six races, I really kind of found my form. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I kind of had a little bit of a low mid-season. I lost a lot of points obviously. So really just looking to kind of go on a roll these last four races and try and do what I can. Obviously, it's never over, till it's over, we found that out last year. So just try and keep myself in good positions. Need to work on my starts, my starts were absolutely horrendous tonight. So, gotta work on those and just try to keep getting better.”
Anytime a rider switches bikes it will come with a learning curve, some are just steeper than others. But it's seeming like Sexton may be over the hump, adapting to the KTM.
“It's just a big difference going from what I was on before to where I'm at now, it's a big difference," he said. "So, getting used to it and also trying to use the bike where it's really good and also kind of back off it where maybe it's not the greatest. So, it's kind of a give and a take and that's kind of what I'm learning at this point and trying to not fix my riding but adapt my riding to the new bike.”
Sexton was fast in Foxborough, showing some of his old speed as he came from behind to catch Ken Roczen for second, on a track that was difficult to pass on.
“There for a while I rode really close behind him [Roczen] and then I kinda, at some point, you kind of hold back a little bit and take, not a breather, but when you have good speed and you're able to ride comfortable and you feel like you have more speed than the guys in front of you," Sexton said. "So, you kinda hold back and then you try and make a really hard push and see if you can break him. Ken, he's not dumb, either. He knows how to ride defensive, but also he's a super smart rider. So, it was hard and obviously him and I are pretty good friends. So, I'm not gonna just go in there and absolutely demolish him, which it wouldn't be cool. I wouldn't do that to pretty much anybody, but I didn't want to Kenny especially. So I just was trying to make a smart pass and I got close to him a few times and I was like, 'Man, I feel like I'm close but I couldn't make a pass,' and then I was able to kind of figure out a line to get around him and then he stuck right behind me and I made that mistake after the finish, like, 'I am not gonna let him get back around me.'"
After making a pass on Roczen, Sexton set his sights on Webb, but Webb is known for both finishing strong and not being the easiest rider to pass. We have all seen his late-race passes to claim wins. This time, Webb was on the other end of it.
“It was just kind of a lot of set up and you couldn't be super aggressive with all the track was, it was really slippery," said Sexton. "So, you had to be patient. I got a little antsy at the finish line, I saw Cooper miss the rut and I kind of went to rail the turn and maybe have a pass and my rear end just kind of got over the outside of it. Obviously, the whoops would have been nice, but Coop, he's not dumb. He's gonna hug the inside. And even if I had more whoop speed, it leaves him on the inside of me. So, it would have been tough. But I feel like I had a good speed tonight.”
Sitting 15 points out of the lead with four races to go, it would be tough for any rider to get to the top, especially going up against the likes of Lawrence and Webb. But anything can happen in racing, especially this year where everyone is struggling with being on the box consistently every weekend. But if we learned anything from the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season it's not to count out Chase Sexton.
