As the AMA Pro Motocross Championship is winding down, the top three in points have settled in. Chase Sexton has a 28-point lead over Hunter Lawrence, who has a 60-point lead over Aaron Plessinger who just passed Justin Cooper for third. Maybe the fact there is no close points race this season that allows the riders to be candid with each other? Or maybe it is the addition of Aaron Plessinger to the post-race press conference that seems to lighten everyone’s mood?
Plessinger who has become a fan favorite, always elicits the biggest crowd response everywhere he goes. It does not matter who your favorite rider is, when Plessinger is in the lead, everyone wants to see him win. It's hard not to like the guy, and it seems like his fellow competitors feel the same, as all three podium finishers were joking and laughing after the race. Something that does not usually happen, and it's nice to watch the guys have a little fun.
We have transcribed some of the back and forth between the guys below, as well as added the entire post-race press conference video for your enjoyment.
Chase, obviously, we know you're kind of perfectionist when it comes to your bike set up and you want it to be as good as it can be. With the format for SMX, do you think you need to work on your bike and test for the kind of more hybrid style or where are you at with it?
Sexton: Yeah, I mean, last year, to be honest, I didn't really do much prep, and my first race was my best race. So, I don't really know. Obviously, we'll transition to some sort of like supercross settings, but man, we've ridden so much this year and have such a good feel with the bike that you really don't need more than a week or two to get ready. So, obviously with the tracks, last year I rode supercross suspension for all three, the second one I should not have, a big mistake on my part, but I didn’t really know what to do. We didn't really have any data. So, this year, we'll take a different approach. Obviously, we'll have to see how the tracks are. I haven't really looked at the track map, I’m not even sure if they are out but yeah, I will see. The first one last year was pretty supercrossy. You couldn't really get away with a motocross set up. The second one was obviously really high speed and last was pretty much a supercross track. Right now I'm really comfortable, learned a lot of stuff on the bike throughout outdoors. And to be honest, it handles completely different supercross to outdoors. It doesn't really feel like the same bike so hopefully we can take some of that for the SX specs for SMX and next year.
Plessinger: [Laughs] He's asked me to set his bike up for him a couple of times. So, I am still thinking about it.
Sexton: AP and I might be the farthest apart on the spectrum for bike set up. But we have, actually an ongoing bet. We're gonna see who can go faster, we're gonna ride each other's bikes and see who can go faster on which one, because they are complete opposite basically.
Plessinger: And he's gonna love my bike. I told him last night that he's gonna get on my bike and, it might have been this morning, but he's gonna get on my bike and then he's gonna be like, “I don't know why I never tried this before because it is so good.”
Chase, how did you fix the start? Like did you just get a good start in that second moto, or do you think there's something you've done?
Plessinger: He stole my gate!
Lawrence: He paid the guy to hold the gate longer!
[Note: The gate was held an exceptionally long time before it dropped in the second moto.]
Sexton: You guys are just lucky I didn't hit the gate! I thought about going for a while “The gate's gonna drop. I'm just gonna go.” They're lucky I didn't take it out. I was coming. So no, we did change something to do in the clutch today that I've been wanting to do, and I've been messing with Carlos [Rivera, KTM Crew Chief]. You know, who actually gave this idea and you're gonna not believe this, is Phil [Nicoletti]. I'm not joking. We are sitting at Millville and I'm like, “Phil, how do you get such good starts?” And he went on and on about his starts and then he’s like, “You know what, I think your problem is something to do with your clutch.” And I'm like, “I’m going to ask the team about that.” So, I've been asking them, they've been like, “Ehhh” and then today after the first practice, I did a practice start, it wasn’t good and I was like, “Yeah, we are changing the clutch. Give me the Phil setting.” First moto start was really good, Hunter obviously got there first, he was on the inside. [Hunter gestures towards Plessinger reminding him Plessinger was ahead of him off the start as well.] Yeah, AP went around the outside, but I had to check up because Hunter was in front of me. So, first moto start was good, second moto start was even better. But yeah, really thankful I didn’t go, because I would have hit the gate for sure.
Lawrence: Your first practice start was the best one I think today.
Sexton: [Laughs] Yeah. No, no, I hit the gate in practice.
So, you were prepared for an extra-long gate. Practice how to not hit the gate.
Sexton: I was telling my mechanic because they do this thing where they like, I don't even know it's quick [they release riders on the track one at a time, so people were waiting for Chase to go]. So, he goes and I'm like, “Dude, Hunter's ready to go.” And my mechanic has my gate up, so I just went. Into the gate. So, that one wasn't good. And then we were doing practice starts for the second practice. Well, Hunter got a little sideways and when I say I got destroyed with the roost, my whole bike was covered in it. Hunter didn't know this, but I was covered, it was bad. It was like to the point where I thought about getting new gear. It was really bad.
Plessinger: I wanted to ask you what happened, but you were a little too far away.
Sexton: On what?
Plessinger: On the roost, I saw it and I didn’t know what happened.
Sexton: Yeah, Hunter got a little sideways.
Lawrence: I don't know if anyone saw, but there were frogs jumping in the water of the gate for how much rain we had. They were down at the local river, and they ended up at Unadilla today. That's how much rain we had.
Aaron did you say he stole your gate?
Plessinger: Oh, yeah well, I mean, he had the right of way because he was second [in moto one].
It was the gate you wanted?
Plessinger: Yeah, and I was kind of staring at it a little bit and he asked me, “How did you like that gate?” And I was like, “Ahh, it was all right, the first moto it was okay. It wasn't like great, but it was, you know, it was all right.” But yeah, he took a good one and I went back to Jade [Dungey, mechanic], and I was like, “Hold the bike, we’ve got to do some recon. I don't know where I'm going.” [Laughs] But no, it was good, it was just a real good gate. As you can see!
Sexton: I walked by the gate, so I went up there before first call, which I don't know why I thought it was the first call, but it was actually a fan blowing an air horn. So, I was out there like, I don't know, 15 minutes before I needed to be. So, I was out there looking at gates and I was like “Man, this gate looks really good” and Aaron comes by because I was a little bit further inside [first moto]. I was kind of nervous to go too far out to get pushed off the track if didn't get a good start. And I'm like, “Hey Aaron, how was it out there because I know you got a good start.” And he’s like, “Ehh the ruts aren't very good out there.” I am looking at one that doesn’t have a hole in it right now and he’s like, “Naw they all got holes, inside is better.” And I am like [shakes head no] “I am going for this gate” and I took it, he did the little look back and I’m like “That’s my gate.” [AP laughs]
You've gonna swerve him on that. You gotta tell him it's a terrible gate, right?
Plessinger: Naw, we're teammates. I'll give it to him.
Watch the entire post-race press conference here, with the most banter starting around the 15 minute mark:
