A candid Chase Sexton has admitted he didn’t expect progress with the bike to come so quickly – or to have the red plate so early! In fact only a couple of weeks ago Sexton admits he was just hoping for a top ten and now, he believes he can battle with Lawrence, Tomac or whoever will be out front in a dry supercross.
Sexton is now so confident on the bike that despite winning in the mud if San Francisco, he said he actually hoped it would be dry to get racing on the new settings he had for the front fork!
This is what a very open Sexton had to say about his last minute and unexpected rapid improvement with the Red Bull KTM:
“I wouldn’t say it was the best off season I’ve ever had. I definitely had some struggles. I was okay when I was in California, I went back to Florida and Kenny [Roczen, riding partner] would see it first hand. I would have multiple days where I would just kind of not be able to ride and I was just really just uncomfortable getting used to a new bike. And I have to give a big shout out to the team. They have put so much effort and hard work into getting me back to where I need to be. And I was saying before this weekend, I’m like, man, I’m kind of bummed it’s gonna be a mudder because the progress we made from last week to this week is pretty crazy and I felt like my normal self leading up into this race. So obviously, [good to] still get a win even in the mud. But yeah, I’ve just got to get a big shout out to the team. They put a huge effort in and are really willing to try anything to get me comfortable. And that’s what I’ve been looking for.
“Obviously there’s not much bike set up stuff you can do. You kind of just have to ride a ride around it and have a good balance and stay on two wheels. But for me, even last week after A1, I had a big weight lifted off my shoulders being on the podium. Obviously, I didn’t ride good and I was pretty far behind Jett at the finish line, but to get that result…at one point I was like, “Man, we’re gonna be lucky to be top 10.” So it was pretty some dark days in the off-season to have the team getting me comfortable. It’s a completely different motorcycle. It feels nothing like what I was on before. Like I said before, I was kind of looking forward to a dry race because we did make some big changes with the forks this week. That was the part I was struggling with. We were really comfortable on Thursday. I had two of the best days I’ve had on a KTM and felt like I was even better than I was last year.”
“I didn’t think we’d get here this fast. To be honest, I thought I was gonna really have to be patient and just try and work into a good position with the bike and I knew it was gonna take a lot of time. We were testing some big, big changes the week of Anaheim. The last the week before Anaheim, they got me pretty comfortable with the rear of the bike. I was pretty happy with it, but the bike wasn’t complete yet. This week we did some big changes and I feel like we’re getting really, really close to being very…we are good but there’s always a little small stuff you can make. I think from here on out, I expect myself to battle with the whoever’s out there. Honestly, it could be a different podium every week. You can’t really single out a person. It’s gonna be a brawl and I’m here for it and definitely think I’m in the right head space and position to battle for wins for the rest of the season.”
San Diego could be all time with Tomac also more confident, Jett Lawrence already saying he wants to win to claw points back on Sexton plus Roczen, Webb, Anderson all on form in the dry – not forgetting AP and Ferrandis!
Article: Jonathan McCready
Image: Feld Entertainment Inc.
