What was it like when Honda finally claimed the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship? We hung around to find out
WORDS: JASON WEIGANDT
PHOTOS: ALIGN MEDIA
If you’ve waited 20 years, what’s one more week? When series points leader Eli Tomac exited the Monster Energy Supercross Championship in Denver, it essentially made the title a lock for Chase Sexton and Team Honda HRC. The team didn’t celebrate, though, because that would be disrespectful to Eli. He might be the team’s competition, but they respect him, nonetheless.
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[Forkner] in particular—he beat me pretty much any time we raced! That was difficult, but, I wouldn’t change it, because I don’t think I would have that motivation and that drive if I was winning every weekend. I kept my head down and it’s one thing I’m super proud of.”
“You would have to check but I don’t think going into Spring Nationals (in Texas) he had a really good record,” offered Keir Sexton. “Because we just started riding. We would stop at Robbie Reynard’s on the way down, ride for three or four days and then we would go race. And then we had one year where it was pretty mild in Illinois, so we rode outdoor, we rode sand all of the time. Then we would just go there and see where we were at. If you looked at our progression, Loretta’s was good and then by the time we got to Mini O’s, he was really good.
“I think us and the Forkners all had the same plan-that you want to have a ceiling left so he has room to grow, and some of the guys were tapped out, maybe. But I didn’t see that back then. It wasn’t a master plan.”
Keir Sexton, behind the scenes, is known for being plenty tough on Chase. No doubt, he’s serious about success. But he didn’t really see this as a potential profession until Chase signed with the GEICO Honda team, at the end of the minicycle days.
“We didn’t put all of our eggs in one basket,” said Keir.
Not that he could have. There are five children in the Sexton family. They actually moved to Florida, not so Chase could ride motocross year-round, but to follow his sister’s gymnastics’ career. “Gymnastics at first,” Keir explained. “We moved for our daughter, and then she started playing softball and then went to college for softball.”
Clearly, the Sexton family isn’t afraid to dream big and go after goals. Nor is the Honda team, but it takes a special mentality to deal with the setbacks and keep pushing. And when you push a title celebration back 20 years, waiting one more week only makes it sweeter.
“I wanted it to feel special when it really happened, and now we are going to go celebrate it a little more,” said Lindstrom when it was all said and done. “But man, 20 years obviously. You know, I was there for pretty much all of it, and every year we were like, ‘Okay we’ve got to do this, and we’ve got to do that.’ Every year we improved, and we tried to do better and better. And we still failed, right? You get so used to being beat down in that way that it almost feels impossible. And then things like, ‘the Curse.’ You hear people start to say that, and it almost feels a little bit real. So, to finally get the premier class win is just a huge weight off of our shoulders. Not even pressure from Honda corporate or anything, I just want to freaking win this championship, you know? So, to finally do it… Man, it feels good.” X