It's been a rough start to the season for Chase Sexton and Monster Energy Kawasaki. After qualifying fastest at Anaheim 1, Chase crashed in the heat race and had his fair share of troubles in the main event as well, to finish eighth on the night. In San Diego, Chase was very uncharacteristically sixth in qualifying but then went on to dominate his heat. Then in the main event, Chase and fans alike felt like they were suffering from deja vu when he got stuck in the gate just like he did last year in Detroit. Chase rebounded quickly and was inside the top ten by the second lap. For a while he was the fastest rider on the track and was able to go from last to fourth, where he finished on the night. Steve Matthes was able to catch up with him after the race.
Racer X: All right, Chase Sexton I don’t know where to start…
Chase Sexton: I already know what you are going to say.
Incredible heat race, incredible main at times, I thought. You ran out of steam a little bit at the end, but that first part wasn’t great. Do you take solace in the fact that you did ride really well?
Yeah, I mean it was better than last weekend that’s for sure. So, I don’t know, it was annoying to hit the gate. The problem with hitting the gate is that you just really don’t have a chance at winning at that point.
So, you did hit it? I didn’t know if you pulled it back and then it dropped?
No I hit it; I was stuck in it. Stupid.
I can only think of two top level riders that have ever hit the gate and you’re both of them.
The problem is I’ve done it like three times. I wanted that damn start so bad. Maybe too bad.
Heat race though was an awesome ride, just feeling good with the bike changes and everything else?
Yeah, it's getting better, a lot better. Last weekend was terrible, but you don’t really know how to set a bike up until you race it, so we were pretty far off last weekend. We changed a lot of stuff this week. But I actually got a lot of help from Pro Circuit too, so that was nice. But yeah, we’ll keep going. We are a lot closer than we were.
The mechanic in me goes “he rode for a month and a half and then gets an eighth and changes clamps and links,” but the proof is kind of out there so.
It was a lot more than just clamps and links, let’s just say that. The bike is probably, I will say 15 or 10 mil taller now in the back.
Oh really? Is this something you were asking for and then they relented?
I think after Anaheim everyone was like, “That wasn’t very good.”
You qualified quickest?
Yeah, but I could pretty much ride... I could probably ride my truck and go out and qualify pretty good on it. I think we are making progress. I feel still like really rusty racing for some reason. SMX didn’t go great, ended really bad. I feel like I have to claw my way back which is annoying. But it is what it is.
Did you do the on/off thing in the whoops [jump whoops up onto table]?
No. Because then you’ve got to jump them. I feel good skimming. Like I was passing people in the whoops, I told them to take that stupid last whoop out so people couldn’t do it. Because it’s just asking people to jump through the whoops, I hate that. But it actually was a pretty cool section.
You went from last to eighth in two laps. What were you doing? Where were you getting guys?
I don’t know, I feel like everyone was sleeping. I was passing people and I am like, “What are these guys doing?” But I was trying to do it safely, I feel like you can kind of do it like recklessly, but I was trying to be precise and pass people. And yeah, I made a lot of passes, I passed a lot of guys in the whoops, too, which helps. I was good in the second set, just wheel tapping them. I hit Cooper [Webb] there, I really feel like, I am sure he’s not pumped, but there was nothing I could do, I went to the inside.
You’ll maybe text him?
No, I think it's going to make it worse if I text him. ...I just, I went to the inside, and I don’t really know if he thought I was there, or if he knew I was that close. I’m sure I’ll hear from him, or maybe not.
Well thanks for doing this, heat race was good, we’re on the right track now I think.
Yeah, I mean we’ve got to dig ourselves out of a points deficit now but I would rather have it this way than start super how and then have the mid-season... I want to build through the season. I think having a new team is kind of forcing me to do that. So, it's good, I’m really having fun with these guys. I haven’t felt like this on a team since I was on GEICO.
