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CHASE SEXTON
250 MX / 11TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> Since making his rookie debut back at High Point, Chase Sexton has gradually improved his overall finishes each round. Last week he finished in eighth place and looked very strong on the rough and sandy course of Southwick. His speed and endurance is seemingly progressing at each race and he is showing no signs of slow- ing down. The Geico Honda product was excited to see Millville next on the schedule as it’s one of his favorite tracks on the circuit. He came into the race eager to keep his streak of improving alive. Sexton looked good in the morning qualifying practice sessions slicing through the mud to secure the eighth fastest lap time in the class.
He seemed to click with the Minnesota track and he was more than ready for that gate to drop for the first moto of the day. Sexton’s start in the opening moto was not exactly what he was looking for but it was not terrible. He rounded lap one in elev- enth position and he did not want to stay there. He got by Jon Ames on lap two and then passed Lorenzo Locurcio a few laps later to move into ninth. He continued his surge forward into the second half of the moto when he passed Scuba Steve Clarke for eighth. With just a few laps remaining, he started feeling some serious pressure from Dylan Ferrandis. Simultaneously, Sexton had caught up to Zach Osborne whose bike had lost it’s coolant. The three riders quickly got into a wild battle. Osborne was just trying to nurse his bike to the finish while Sexton and Ferrandis were all over the track swapping positions behind him trying to move forward. With two laps left, Sexton made the move around Osborne for seventh and looked to have it for the finish. But on that last lap, Sexton would throw it away and go down. He remounted quickly and salvaged a twelfth. A great ride blemished by a late mistake. He would be ready to re- bound in moto two. The second moto did not start the way Sexton would have liked as he came out of lap one in nineteenth. He channeled some fiery intensity to leap frog up to thirteenth just four laps into the race but that would be nearly as far as he’d go. The field spread out and riders got faster closer to the front and he’d only be able to pick up two more spots before the end of the moto. He’d go 12-11 for eleventh overall on the day. His streak of career bests came to an end but he will be looking to start a new one next weekend at Washougal with some better starts.