Change is never easy, but for Chase Sexton, it’s become a necessary part of rediscovering his spark. After a demanding season that tested him mentally more than ever before, the American has chosen to hit the reset button – determined to reignite the fun, freedom, and fire that first made him fall in love with motocross.
In a new Mysport YouTube episode, ‘Cut the Chase’, Sexton discussed some topics.
“This year for me, I’d say it wasn’t a terrible year, but it definitely was far from my best year. I dealt with a lot of stuff this year that I haven’t really dealt with just mentally, and it made it pretty hard. So, I think now is the time to kind of reset and go for the second half of my career. That’s kind of where I’m at now, and trying to right the wrongs that I’ve made, and just hit the reset button a little bit.”
After admitting that recent seasons haven’t reflected his true potential, Sexton is ready to get back to what makes him tick – the pure enjoyment of racing and the mindset that carried him from a young hopeful to a championship contender.
“I would say that in the last two years, I’ve kind of gotten away from just how I felt as a kid. Obviously, I’m getting older, but I’m still young. I still enjoy riding my dirt bike, I love what I do and there’s no reason not to have fun while I’m doing it. I think when I say reset and get ready for the second half, it’s more find that teenage version of myself. Find the energy and the fun again. I think just sometimes you get stuck in a rut. It could be your environment, it could be people you work with, it could be yourself. All the outside stuff that shouldn’t affect what I do, get rid of that and just go back to the basics for me. That’s the goal for next year.”
Sexton found extra motivation when his team faced tough times financially – using the situation as fuel to deliver results and try to put the KTM Group at the top of the box.
“For me, I think them going through all the financial troubles that they had, I think just made me want to win more. It just gave me more motivation to put their bike towards the front and winning. So in that aspect, I think it actually maybe helped me. I don’t really know about the parts situation and if they were struggling in that aspect. But as far as just me as a racer and what I needed to do is to win and I think it gave me more motivation. It just put more emphasis on doing good for the team you’re riding for and try and help them as much as you can and that’s how I looked at it.”
Still, Sexton admits not everything in his previous setup clicked as hoped. While maintaining respect for Roger De Coster and Ian Harrison who he worked very closely with, he believes a change is needed to get back to his best.
“It wasn’t really that much fun if I’m being honest. As far as Roger (de Coster) goes, he helped me a lot. I feel like he was one person that I could go to and I knew he was going to give me the honest answer. He was going to help me as much as he could. I still have a lot of respect for him and obviously Ian (Harrison). I just think personalities maybe didn’t mesh as good as I thought they were going to and that can be on me. I’ll take responsibility for that and it was time to move on. You only get so many years as a racer and you need to make the most of them. I owe it to myself to make a change.”
It’s still pending official confirmation but it’s going to be very interesting to see Sexton when he makes the switch to Kawasaki.
