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CHASE SEXTON
250 SX / 5TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Chase Sexton has enjoyed quite the successful rookie season. The Geico Honda young gun has shown ashes of his raw speed and talent on numerous occasions throughout the year. There have been races where he would set some of the fastest lap times of the race while climbing through the pack. He has challenged each of the title contenders and bested them all at different points during the season. He has been fun to watch only nishing worse than eighth one time and nishing on the podium three times. One of those podiums came at the most recent 250SX West Coast round in Seattle where he nished a career best second place. He will look to carry that momentum into the nal two rounds beginning here in Salt Lake City.
Sexton looked great and showcased his speed once again in the qualifying practice sessions. He notched the fourth fastest lap time and was in the same 48.8 second range as two of the riders quicker than him, Savatgy and Plessinger. He was clearly ready to saddle up and do battle high in the altitude in Utah.
Sexton, who has struggled with his holeshots all year, ripped the holeshot to begin the day of rac- ing. He hopped through the rst rhythm lane rst but would lose the lead to points leader, Aaron Plessinger, by the end of the rst lap. He saw this as a grand opportunity to try and run with the best racer in the class. Sexton rode hard in second place in the shadow of Plessinger and although the points leader snuck away, Sexton kept him honest and in his sights all the way to the end. It let him know that if he started ahead of him and had a stronger rst lap, he had a good chance at keeping him behind.
Sexton could not get another holeshot in the main event and started this one back in seventh place. With the top four riders in the points standings all starting in the top four, Sexton was not in an op- portune position. He quickly passed Blake Wharton and defending champ, Justin Hill, on the rst two laps but by that point, most of the damage had been done. He was about three seconds behind the top four, just far enough to not make a difference in the battle. As the race neared its halfway point, Sexton actually started reeling in Plessinger in fourth and pulled up on his rear wheel. The rookie started applying a little pressure but Plessinger was able to nd some extra speed and pull back ahead. This de ated Sexton’s run and he would ride the rest of the race in a quiet fth. It was a good result from the rookie, but he has to feel a bit left out after not being able to participate in the battle up front. He has one more week to close out his great rookie season strong.
38 GRITMOTO • APRIL 29, 2018