“To be honest, I had a lot of pressure, I feel like, coming into this weekend for some reason,” said Chase Sexton. “I don't know, just because I had never won here. And I had a really good week of riding, felt really good and I feel like I made a step forward I was confident coming in, but you never know when you go racing and these guys are really good.”
Yes, Sexton wanted to win RedBud, finally, but there’s that other little thing called the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. The dynamic of the series changed, well, dramatically, since Jett Lawrence dropped from the series with a thumb injury. What was once a three-man points fight, which included last year’s champion and the winner of all but once race overall this year, is now really down to two. Could either of the other two contenders begin to seize control for the second half of the championship?
At first, it looked like Hunter Lawrence might be the one to do it, as he led early in moto one thanks to another awesome start, and while Sexton did catch him, he also knew it was proving very hard to find places to pass on this track. Hunter might have held on but might haves don’t count. He crashed hard on a downhill, sending his weekend the wrong direction, while Sexton’s path now pointed firmly upwards. The Red Bull KTM man followed that first moto win with a dominant moto two, and with that, his 1-1 gave him possession of the points lead.
Oh yeah, he has also finally won RedBud.
“Really special. I had chills in the podium,” said Sexton. “That's the best RedBud crowd I've seen, and I've been coming here since I was probably six years old. I don't really have any words honestly on the podium, I felt like a bit of an idiot. I was up there just looking at the crowd and not saying anything., Like I said, a lot of pressure to win today. I feel like the crowd was obviously on my side, but I wanted to perform for them.”
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Sexton has been a tale of two riders this season, often with some amazing rides but also with some less-than-stellar performances. His second motos are where he’s done the best work, and that was the case again here, but he did think the first race was better than previous.
“I didn't make too many bike changes today,” he said. “I was trying to keep it to the minimal side. I don't know what it is. My first one [moto] was better this weekend, but still not great. I'm still struggling a little bit just to get going and feel like my normal self. Second moto, I didn't necessarily love everything about the bike, but it actually made me ride it better, which was kind of cool. I don't know, I didn't make many changes today, which was nice, but I still need to work on some stuff, and I need to work on my starts. Hunter is killing us in the first lap stat. So, I'm trying to make that better.”
When Sexton says he wasn’t entirely happy with the bike, but it actually made him ride better, what does he mean? He told our Steve Matthes that he wasn’t happy with the rear end of the bike, which made him start hopping more bumps and riding the track more like a big supercross track. That actually helped.
“First moto I was a little bit more of a bulldog in the track and not, riding it great, but also it was really hard to, to get in a flow when you had, you were passing people 24/7 with lapped traffic,” he said. “So I don't know why it [traffic] felt worse today, but, second moto, I started just using the bumps to my advantage and hopping them. The bumps are gnarly. This one always gets really big bumps coming down the hills when they get that sand. I honestly was just having a lot of fun riding. That's really the bottom line.”
Sexton said he was flowing so well in the second moto that we wasn’t even using much energy. He said he could have ridden 45 minutes at that pace. The only piece left was to keep it on two wheels, and then celebrate with the fans.
“I had Aaron behind me, so I was just trying to click off laps,” Sexton said. “I ran the paddle [tire] second moto and there's a few spots on the track that were getting a little hairy, just because it was getting down to the base. So I was trying to just be mindful of that and not make a big mistake. I was pretty locked in, but then the last lap over like the launch pad section before you go to the leap., I looked over at the fans. The Leap was cool in the last lap. I wanted to get a clear track so I could be able to jump it and not have a lapper in front of me. So that was cool.”
RedBud - 450
July 6, 2024| Rider | Hometown | Motos | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 1 - 1 | KTM 450 SX-F |
| 2 |  Aaron Plessinger | Hamilton, OH | 4 - 2 | KTM 450 SX-F |
| 3 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 2 - 4 | Honda CRF450R |
| 4 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 5 - 3 | Kawasaki KX450SR |
| 5 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | 3 - 6 | Yamaha YZ450F |
Speaking of cool, Sexton even got doused by the water truck after taking the checkered flag.
“My home track, [Sunset Ridge in Illinois], the guy that owns it was does the water truck here and he sprayed me after the finish line, which was really cool and special. He told me on Thursday if I went 1-1 he’d spray me. So, he held that up.”
Sexton held up his end of the bargain, as well. He went 1-1 in front of the biggest crowd anyone could remember seeing at the RedBud National. It was so good, he says it felt even better than his worst-to-first ride at Hangtown.
“This race,” when Sexton was asked which win felt better. “Like I said, in front of all my, my friends and family. I had a lot of people here that I haven't really seen in a while and it's kind of chaotic and, I try and kind of stay even keel, but it's hard.”
Behind the Red Bull KTM semi, Sexton had a motorhome packed with family members, probably about a dozen, who hung out all day to cheer him. Most still live back in Illinois, which made this a true homecoming for him.
“This one is hard to top,” he said. “Aside from winning championships, I don't know if this will be topped.”
