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CHASE SEXTON
250 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Chase Sexton’s rst four rounds of the 2018 outdoor motocross series have been four races that he would like to forget. He voiced his frustrations this week and wanted a clean slate for the rest of the season. His overall nishes have been sixth, seventh, ninth and sixteenth. Sexton in
his rst full season outdoors, knows he is capable of much more. He enjoyed a successful rookie 250SX West Coast championship in Supercross, so expectations were high entering the outdoors and he knows he hasn’t quite met them. He was determined to right his wrongs, starting at Muddy Creek. The best way for Sexton to right his wrongs would be to get a good start, something he
has failed to do all season. His speed and endurance are on par, but it is hard to race from behind in such an even, stacked class. He put his speed on display in the morning qualifying practice sessions by going out and snagging the fth fastest lap time of the class. He seemed comfortable and con dent heading into the two motos. When the gate dropped in moto one, it saw Sexton fail to notch a good start. The Geico Honda rider was in all too familiar territory on the fringe of the
top ten. He slipped into ninth on lap two but would not be able to make any more moves for quite some time. He was on the rear fender of Joey Savatgy for a majority of the moto but could not nd room to advance his position. He picked up a position at the halfway point thanks to an Alex Martin crash but that would be the last of his moves for the race, he’d nish eighth. His speed was similar to those riders at the front but the top ten was running such close lap times it made it very dif cult to pass. One takeaway from the moto was that he kept points leader Aaron Plessinger behind him the whole moto despite receiving constant pressure. Sexton got out to a better start in moto two, but it still was lacking just a bit. He grabbed the green ag in seventh but this time he got aggres- sive and made early passes. He picked off Brandon Hartranft and Sean Cantrell to hop into fth
by lap three. From there he was able to shadow a four-way battle for the lead. He lingered just behind them and was waiting for hard racing to ensue, so he could get even closer. Finally, on lap eight, he took advantage of the rst slip up from the top four. Jordon Smith went down, and Sexton was there to capitalize. He then went after Plessinger and closed right up on him forcing the points leader into a mistake. Plessinger would bobble and Sexton would move right on by. He very quietly moved into third position. it would be a career best if he could hold on but almost as soon as he got there, Shane McElrath would come to apply the pressure. Sexton thwarted his initial attempts of
a pass but McElrath would end up passing him with three laps to go. Sexton remained strong and would nish the race in fourth. A moto career best for the young rider. His 8-4 moto scores netted him third overall on the day which would be his rst career podium. Sexton looked relieved to nally get that great result he had been searching for, but he was excited to keep it up and continue these kinds of results the rest of the season.
14 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018