Consistency was key for Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton at Round 4 of the AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series in Glendale, Arizona. The 2023 champion was victorious in the first Triple Crown of the year with 3-3-2 scores. Sexton becomes the first two-time winner of the year and takes back the red plate he had after his A1 win.
Sexton started the day off with a solid P2 in yet another extremely intense afternoon of qualifying sessions. At the press conference he weighed in on the qualifying sessions saying, “It is no secret I like to qualify first if I can and it’s just a good way to start the day for me. I came off track after the third qualifying [I’m] like, dude there’s no way. He [Jett Lawrence] has to be doing something different because in the turns in stuff I felt like I rode pretty well, and I nailed the rhythms. I go back and watch the Dartfish, and the wall jump after the mechanics area he was launching, and I was losing a lot of time there, so I picked that up for the race.”
Sexton had a relatively slow start to the night, getting passed a couple times early in the first race and coming around sixth at the end of lap one. Sexton caught fire around the midway point of race one and found his way around Ken Roczen on lap 10 to move into third. He was the fastest on track the next three laps but was too far back to threaten Cooper Webb and Jett Lawrence for the lead.
It was more of the same for Chase in race two. He was well outside the top ten out of the first turn, but made a bunch of passes early, coming around lap one in eighth. He charged up to third by halfway and at one point Sexton was under heavy pressure from Eli Tomac. The two closed on Jett Lawrence in second but Sexton was unable to get close enough to attempt a pass and wound up third once again. His 3-3 scores put him tied for third overall with Cooper Webb, two points behind Lawrence and one behind Roczen going into the final race of the night.
Sexton finally got a start in race three, passing Hunter Lawrence early to be the leader at the end of lap one. Tomac took advantage of a mistake by Sexton in one of many big rhythm lanes went on to win race three while Sexton shadowed him to the finish. With Jett Lawrence’s dramatic exit from the race, and Roczen’s fifth place finish in race three, Sexton’s 3-3-2 scores were enough to get the overall victory, the second Triple Crown win of his career.
In his podium interview after race three, Sexton was happy with the result, but was disappointed to not win race three noting, “[I] made a dumb mistake and let Eli get by me. I am honestly a little bummed I didn’t win that last race; I wanted that one.”
Sexton elaborated with Steve Matthes after the race.
“Well, I mean, I wanted to win the race and then I freaking was a bonehead and missed the rhythm section. Eli got me. But yeah, that was unfortunate because if I could have got that rhythm, I don't think he was anywhere he could have passed me because the track was hard to pass, so. Yeah, other than that it was good. After that, I kind of just rode smart. I knew I had to beat Coop and Eli wasn't really in the mix, so I just kind of rode smart and I feel like I rode good. I had good laps. First and second main, really put a good charge on, which was cool. And last it was a lot easier getting a good start.
“We got the overall win and that is what we are here to do, we’re here to win and get the red plate back,” he said in the press conference. “Consistency paid off tonight. My speed was good, just a few little mistakes and things we need to work on for next week, but we are in a good spot and I’m ready to fight for this thing.”
When asked about his strategy for racing for the race win versus the overall win in race three, Sexton explained, “I didn’t know where Jett and Ken were, but I knew Cooper and I were close on points as well. I knew if he got me, I would lose. Obviously, the goal was to win the race and then when I got passed by Eli, I was pushing but I was not going to do anything stupid to try and throw it away. So yeah, I knew where I was, in my head I kind of had the math down. The speed was high, Eli was riding really well and obviously Cooper was keeping me very honest in that third main, so I had to ride good and just try to keep it on two wheels and ride solid. I think I lost speed; I think that was my slowest main event the was the third one, but I got a good start so just goes to show that getting up front can make life a lot easier.”
Sexton now has two wins on the season, equaling his total from last season after just four rounds. He talked with Matthes about his improvement from last year after race saying, “Yeah, it is a big difference. I am a lot better, I feel way more like myself and yeah, I am ready to go. I am excited for the next race already. It’s nice to have that. I just re-watched last year’s race here and I was hurt obviously, but I just looked miserable on the bike, like I did not look happy and this year you can see a big difference in my riding.”
Sexton will take the red plate to the Sunshine State next weekend, when the series heads to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, for the first east coast race of the season. He holds a two-point lead over Roczen and nine over Tomac who is third in the series standings after four rounds.
