Chase Sexton has done it. Saturday’s Washougal National was a big one for the Illinois native. Not only did the #4 return to the center step of the podium—in just his third race back this summer—but he also handed Jett Lawrence another defeat, just his second in 450 Pro Motocross.
And actually, both of Jett Lawrence’s non-450 overall wins have been days with Sexton taking the win. But this time, it was straight up. Jett crashed hard at last year’s Hangtown Motocross Classic en route to his worst 450 Pro Motocross race to date, finishing 24-6 for 12th overall that day. At Washougal though, Jett was fully healthy. They traded moto wins, but Jett’s 3-1 was bested by Sexton’s 1-2.
Lawrence had a slide out in the first moto when he was going after Sexton for the lead, and it cost him second to Eli Tomac. But this was a fully healthy Lawrence vs a fully healthy Sexton. Although note that Jett said this track is arguably his worst track on the circuit, so maybe that comes into consideration here. Either way, a win is a win. Either way, the record books show Sexton with the win in those two Jett Lawrence non-wins to date.
Still, it was a big day for the Red Bull KTM #4 machine. And that is two straight overall wins at Washougal MX Park for Sexton, after he went 1-1 there this time last year. The bull-dog style rider shows he can handle the finesse that the tricky Washougal MX Park requires.
“It was nice to get a get a win,” Sexton said. “It's been a while since I've won a race. It's been since Salt Lake City [Supercross], so it's just nice and kind of get that monkey off my back and go into the break and try to get better. I still got a few things I can get better on and get a little more speed. I was better today with speed wise even in qualifying, but there's still a little bit of room to get better. So, I'm just happy to click off a win and go into the break and make some improvements.”
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In the first moto, Sexton got out front early and ran away with the moto win, a huge step forward from which his 45-plus second whooping last weekend in Minnesota. Jett Lawrence was going after Sexton out front but slid out in a turn and never got close enough for a move into the lead. The mistake cost the #18 a position to Eli Tomac, who came through second, about three seconds back (much, much better from the #3 this weekend as well) as Jett Lawrence was third, 17.7 seconds back.
In moto two, it was the Lawrence duo, Jorge Prado, Tomac, and Sexton all out front. The top four—all but Prado—were pulling away out front in an awesome battle. Back and forth, inside and outside, the three went. Unfortunately, the race was red flagged due to a downed rider (Anton Nordstrom).
The first version of the all-new staggered restart in Pro Motocross brought the field together again, but the first four riders still pulled away. Due to the AMA rulebook, the positions reset to the last full lap completed before the red flag came out, so Sexton’s badass outside pass into second was erased and he was third in the restart. Forced to repass Hunter Lawrence again, he did and got into second again. But while going after Jett, the #4 played it smart, knowing he had the overall win in his hand—something he did not do a few months back in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, which cost him.
Sexton noted this in the post-race press conference.
“I mean, we had a really good pace going and obviously Eli was right there, so I didn't really have any room to kind of back off,” Sexton said. “And then he [Jett] started to up the pace and I was like, okay, I'm going to try to go with him and just see what we can do. We started to get a little gap and I’m like, yeah…especially on this track, when you’re going up against someone as good as him, it’s hard to even think of somewhere to make a pass. I’m like, yeah, I'm going to just kind of cruise back and try and bring it home. It'd be stupid…I've done that once this year in Dallas, trying to go for a win when I didn’t need to and made myself look like an idiot. So, I’m like, yeah, today I’m not trying to do that.”
Check out the 450 Class video highlights:
Washougal - 450
July 19, 2025| Rider | Hometown | Motos | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 1 - 2 | KTM 450 SX-F |
| 2 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 3 - 1 | Honda CRF450R |
| 3 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 2 - 3 | Yamaha YZ450F |
| 4 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia | 5 - 4 | Honda CRF450R Works Edition |
| 5 |  R.J. Hampshire | Hudson, FL | 4 - 6 | Husqvarna FC 450 |
Jett credited Sexton’s day.
“It was, like Chase said, the first moto was really good, like he had a high intensity and was… we both were pushing hard, and we had a good battle and even the second one as well,” he said. “And it was fun.”
As far as Sexton getting a win only three races into his return, this is a great sign.
“I would say I'm a little bit ahead of schedule,” he said. “I didn't, I mean, last week I got beat by 48 seconds second moto, so, I feel like that was a pretty big bridge to gap, but I knew coming in here… I made a lot of bike changes this week. With the whole rear end of my bike, and they were quite a bit better. I had a really good day on Wednesday and I'm like, okay, kind of getting back to where I feel like I can compete for at least a race win. But yeah, I feel like I'm a little ahead of schedule.”
Sexton noted twice a focus on the upcoming SMX Playoffs.
“I mean, my whole goal is to get myself to where I feel like I'm ready to go after the SMX, and that's kind of why I came back when I did,” he said. “And, yeah, I don't know. I feel like it's a little ahead of schedule, but again, at any time, there's so many good guys that when you feel like you're on, you kind of have to make it work. So, I feel like that was today.”
“Yeah, it's nice to have a break. I mean, I have only raced, I think this is my third race in a row, so these guys have been racing a little longer than me this summer, but for me, Gonna take some time off… Yeah, there's not, there's not much going on, just kind of golfing, hanging out. I'm probably start riding SMX trying to get a little bit of a head start, but, yeah, just some suff that we don't normally get to do and try and enjoy it a little bit.”
Could this rest and a strong finish to Pro Motocross give Sexton an edge heading into the playoffs? Jett Lawrence is sitting on two straight 450SMX titles, so you know Sexton wants to get this one badly.
