Slaw
San Diego had to feel a bit like deja vu for Chase Sexton. Like he did in Detroit one year ago, Sexton jumped too early on the start of the 450 main event and was dead last entering the first turn. Yet, he was able to charge through the pack and salvaged a fourth place finish on the night in his second race with Monster Energy Kawasaki.
“Frustrated in putting myself in that hole off the rip because that was pretty dumb,” Sexton said in the post-race media scrum. “But we fought back and that’s the name of the game. We saved a lot of points. I know I’m in a bit of a hole at this point, but we’re pretty close to being in a good spot to click off some wins. So I think tonight obviously I had the bike to do it, just made a dumb mistake on my part. So clean that stuff up and just feels like I haven’t raced in a long time. Coming back from last weekend, I didn’t really get to be up in the front and then today it was still starting in the back. So I’d like to make it easier on myself for next weekend.”
When Sexton showed up to San Diego, there were some differences on his Kawasaki–namely some radical changes to the front end of his Kawasaki–which he talked about post-race, even confirming that he did ride Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki Levi Kitchen’s 250 earlier in the week.
“Just wanted to get it more comfortable for me,” he said. “I think in the off season, I went the wrong way and it was on me. With suspension, we made a lot of progress with the chassis and stuff, but suspension wise, I was really soft last weekend and the bike wasn’t going to be good for 20 minutes, but that was because of the way I pushed it. And I think this week, just honestly, the whole team, even Pro Circuit helped a lot and we came together as a family and it’s pretty cool. I’m really having fun being a part of Kawasaki andI think, yeah, we’re going to see good things here coming pretty soon. They’re a great team and they deserve to win. So my job is to put them there.
“It’s been really fun. Yeah, I mean, you hear the stuff out on there are really rigid and strict, but they’ve been nothing but open arms to me. And yeah, I rode Levi’s bike this week and I haven’t ridden a 250 in a long time and he rode my bike. So it was cool to go back and forth and learn some stuff that they… I mean, they do a lot of R&D themselves and my bike was a lot better today. Obviously we still have a little work to do, but the team’s been really, really awesome. I can’t say anything but good things about them.
“I got the rhythms and stuff down and I felt like I was going decently fast on it. So yeah, I was like, “Man, after last weekend, they’re going to have to put me on a 250, back in the lights class.” That was not very good. But no, it was really fun and it’s fun riding with Levi because he and I do the same training program. So we’re pretty familiar and it’s been good.”
Despite the changes on the bike and hitting the gate in the main event, Sexton rebounded from a bad opening night and salvaged massive championship points–although he still trails points leader Eli Tomac by 18 after two rounds.
“When you start in last, it’s a bit difficult to get to, especially with all the classes, it’s hard to get to the top five,” he said. And once I got there, I was pretty much… I wasn’t at my limit, but I was pushing pretty hard and I felt like I was catching them and they were right there and it was just a little bit too far for me to get to the back. And I had already put myself in a lot of hard riding up until that point. I was wide open for 15 minutes that race. So it would have been a lot easier starting in the front.”
Images: @octopi.media
