Page 34 - Issue-61

CHASE SEXTON
250 SX / 3RD
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Chase Sexton was robbed of his rookie season last year. The Geico Honda product entered round one in Atlanta for the 2017 250SX East Coast Championship looking to make some noise but instead broke his femur obliviously sidelining him the rest of the season. The injury was so dev- astating for a young rider who had never suffered an injury that severe before. The recovery time sitting on the couch and waiting for the leg to heal was a tough pill to swallow but he would be able to race several outdoor rounds during the summer and open some eyes in the industry. He had a few strong rides and capped the season with a strong sixth place overall. He also would get sixth in the MX2 class at the MXGP of USA in Florida continuing to showcase his potential. He then car- ried on his offseason training with teammate Christian Craig and prepared to finally put his super- cross talents on display. After an eighth at his first race last weekend, he was left with a bitter taste in his mouth because he knew he had the speed to finish much higher. Sexton looked nice and fast in the qualifying practice sessions emerging from them with the fifth fastest lap time. He has a tendency to quietly put on strong rides so the “red-shirt” rookie was eager for the gates to drop dur- ing the night show. The gate drop in his heat race went pretty well. Sexton came out of the first lap in fourth place looking very race-y. He made the move around one of his old amateur rivals Mitchell Harrison after a quick battle and then set his sights on the reigning 250SX West Champion Justin Hill. He would get around the champ nearly as fast as he got around Harrison and he made it look easy. It was only lap three and he was already in second place but unfortunately for him, fastest qualifier of the day Adam Cianciarulo had gotten the holeshot and had built a comfortable lead. Sexton would be unable to gain much ground en route to finishing second but he did set the fastest lap time of the race. He was clearly ready for the main event. Sexton got off to another decent start in the main event. He got through lap one in fifth behind his teammate Christian Craig. Craig pulled out just a bit in the first few laps tailing a four-rider battle for the lead as Sexton struggled to find his groove. About a handful of laps later, Sexton started picking it up and made it a five-way battle for the lead. This is when things started getting tight. Aaron Plessinger came charging into the pack
as well and he sent Sexton back to sixth. The rookie did not panic and he remained vigilant. He stayed right on the tail end of that pack continuing to apply pressure to Craig who dropped back to fifth. Finally after many laps of battling Sexton made his moves passing Craig and race one winner Shane McElrath to take fourth with four laps to go. He then applied pressure to Cianciarulo in third and forced him into a mistake and crash allowing him to slide into third place. From there Sexton continued logging quick laps all the way to the end. He would finish on the podium in third place in his second career supercross race. He even challenged Savatgy for second place a bit on the final lap. It was a very impressive performance from Sexton as he continues to hone his speed and turn it into consistent finishes.
34 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 14, 2018