Chase Sexton Goes Back-to-Back with East Rutherford SX Win

The whoops in New Jersey separated the two title rivals in a way that hasn’t been seen in a while, as they’ve been reasonably close on pace for the majority of this season, often creating close racing to the end. This time Sexton opened a huge gap. With two-straight victories now, the mind starts to wonder. Is it possible Sexton could “win out” and end the season on a five-race streak, which would give him the championship no matter what Webb does?

“I think since the break, I've been really building and building every weekend,” said Sexton. “Obviously the mud race wasn't great. But even Seattle, when Coop and I battled, I feel like I was riding in the right direction. And last weekend helped a lot mentally. During the week I've been riding really well. I'm feeling really connected with the bike, and I go off more of feeling than anything, than lap time. So just trying to keep getting better. Work on technique stuff, trying overall to just get a better feeling and yeah, it's been really, really, good. Three races left, so you know what we have to do and that’s just try and go out there and execute.”

That’s what he did in New Jersey.

“I knew it was going to be a long main event just with how gnarly the track was,” Sexton said. “So, the first few laps, I really just kind of let myself get into a flow. And then once I got there, I just I tried to click off fast lap after fast lap. And yeah, like I just had a really good feeling in the whoops. I mean, I've hit whoops like that a lot in practice, but at the races they get really gnarly, and I just felt really comfortable all day. Never really had any moments, which is good for the confidence. I feel like one mistake can really throw you off, they're gnarly and they there's really no room for error when they're like that. So yeah, it was solid all day and I was just able to lean on my technique and my talents that I have in the whoops.”

No late-race challenge from Webb this time, as Sexton had a gap built to nearly 20 seconds. That’s when he backed it way down.

“I was going about turtle pace, so it was easier when I was going faster, to be honest,” said Sexton. “When I slowed down, the track actually became harder. I rode pretty hard until about 4 or 5 minutes to go. And then when I got into lappers, I think Grant Harlan crashed in front of me in the whoops and cartwheeled, and I didn't know where his bike was going to go, and I was on top of him at one point. I kind of split in lappers through the whoops and I was changing lines. So, I was like, yeah, I'm not going to I'm not going to risk anything stupid trying to get on top of them. So yeah, the last ten laps I was just pretty much just riding. In the whoops, I think KJSC could have went through there faster!”

That was the cruise pace for Sexton. His race pace was unmatchable this time. Can he keep it going even if the track doesn’t offer two big sets of whoops? If so, this title run is completely in play.