“We’ve got some work to do, but I know we’re capable of improving and putting up better results next week.”

Chase Sexton’s last line in his post-race quote after the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season opener read a little different than his pre-race thoughts. On Friday during the pre-race press conference, Sexton was asked how soon he realistically thought he would be able to win on his new Kawasaki KX450SR. “Tomorrow,” the 2025 Anaheim 1 450SX winner said.

But on Saturday, Sexton’s day was up and down. It started off good as he was the fastest overall 450SX qualifier. His speed he had on both his Honda CRF450R and KTM 450 SX-F machines was still there, a good sign in his KX450SR debut. In his heat race he was battling Ken Roczen for the race lead until he crashed into the face of the over/under bridge. He finished fifth at the checkered flag.

Then in the main event, his starts cost him. He was about fourth from last exiting turn one in the main event. Then, the red flag came out due to the brutal collision between Justin Barcia and Malcolm Stewart. Sexton and Prado were two of the last four riders to exit the first turn before the red flag.

Off the full restart, Sexton was 14th at the holeshot stripe. Better position but still a lot of work to do. He was up to eighth by the end of the first full lap but dropped back to 11th two laps later. He worked his way forward, with a high position of seven on the 15th lap. He eventually came through the finish line eighth after one tip over and two off-track mishaps.