Since Saturday night mush anticipation has been building around what Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton’s injuries were that he sustained on the first lap of the first 450SMX Moto.
As you know, Sexton was caught up in a racing incident with Justin Barcia, resulting in the TLD GasGas rider accidentally hitting the 2024 Pro Motocross Champion’s back and hand with his tire.
Sexton circulated the track for a couple laps before pulling in and he eventually called it a night. That led to a meeting about Team USA’s future and Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Eli Tomac answered the call to save the day and fill-in for Sexton.
Red Bull KTM put out the following press release about Sexton’s injuries and how long he will have to be out for:
Injuries sustained in Saturday nights SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Final will unfortunately rule Chase Sexton out of the upcoming 2024 FIM Motocross of Nations (MXoN), where the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider was due to represent Team USA.
The impact to Sexton’s back and shoulder on the opening lap of 450SMX Moto 1 in Las Vegas has resulted in him withdrawing from the MXoN weekend scheduled for October 4-6 at Matterley Basin in the United Kingdom. Medical evaluations this week have also confirmed that he suffered a bone contusion to his right hand and wouldn’t be at 100 percent fitness in time for the event.
Chase Sexton: “Obviously it’s really disappointing to have my season end the way it did in Las Vegas. I’m especially disappointed that I am not going to be able to compete at this year’s MXoN. There’s no greater honor than representing your country on the world stage and it’s a role that I take seriously, but unfortunately my body is pretty banged up right now and I have a bone contusion in my right hand that is going to limit my ability to perform at my best next week. Team USA deserves nothing but the best, healthiest three athletes on the team and unfortunately that’s just not me right now.”
Team Manager of Red Bull KTM Ian Harrison: “MXoN is a unique event and being at the end of the long racing calendar year, it’s tough to have riders all fit and healthy after so much racing. We were lucky enough to have both Chase and Aaron Plessinger in the starting line-up for des Nations this year, but unfortunately Chase took a big hit to his body at the final SMX round in Las Vegas and won’t be healed up in time to race next week. However, Aaron is still ready to go and we look forward to supporting him alongside Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac at Matterley Basin.”
Main Image: Octopi Media