Chase Sexton has admitted he has had a change in attitude more than a change in bike settings while he has been off the bike with the main goal of getting sharpened up for outdoors! And that attitude change worked immediately with Sexton on the podium in his first race back with a strong second in the main event and a heat race win!
Sexton is one of the most honest and straight-talking riders out there and yet again, he gave some very honest answers in the press conference about his struggles.
Still trying to find comfort on the Kawasaki
I told myself when I came back, I’m going to come back and I’m just going to do the best that I can and try and overcome the things I feel like I’m not very comfortable with, and I know that I’m good enough to be able to do that. So I just had to really have some tough mental days and weeks to kind of pull myself out of it.
You have to go out there and race your dirt bike and be the best you can. The team is working hard. It’s not from a lack of effort. It’s just ,sometimes, things just don’t go your way. So it’s been, I guess, a tough year, but I think this is the kind of the turning point that we needed to get this thing going on track.Â
On dealing with the bad times
I’ve rode a dirt bike since I was two and a half and the days and months or whatever, when you’re not really having that much fun on the dirt bike, it really kind of blends into your day to day life. And for me, I know what I’m capable of. And I know that if I’m comfortable, I can go out there and ride, but I was kind of holding myself back to the the limitations of feeling comfortable.
I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been the greatest days on the track and I haven’t really have been having the most fun up until when I crashed. And then when I crashed, I’m like, I got to make it mental turnaround. Even if I’m not having fun, I got to find things that are fun about it still. And yeah, it’s helped a lot. I felt like today, you know, even in practice, I didn’t feel all that great, but I told myself that I’m back at the races and I get to do what I love for for a living. And winning the heat race did me wonders and getting off to a decent start to build my confidence back.
These are things I’ve been dealing with for a while. And I’m kind of getting through them now. Last year in Supercross, I won seven races, and came up short on the championship – it hurt me a lot to lose by that little points. And knowing that it was my doing, I pretty much threw that away. Outdoors wasn’t great. And then SMX wasn’t that good, obviously. And then it’s just, it’s been a tough year or so.
But I would say I’m one of the happier guys that you’ll meet. It’s just, like I said, when you’re not having that much fun on the dirt bike, it does bleed over into your life. I’ve had to kind of battle that and just try and enjoy the days and try and be grateful for it because it is what I love to do. It’s hard to see it when you’re in it, but racing your bike for a living is really cool. It’s all going to be for the better because it’s going to make me stronger.
Focusing on outdoors
It is tough not being in a championship battle because sometimes you do lack a little bit of motivation just because… you’re racing for wins, obviously, but the championships is all what we trained for and what we prepare ourselves for. So yeah, obviously Supercross hasn’t gone my way, but hopefully outdoors we can come in strong. It’s going to be a stacked field.
So that’s honestly why I came back this early, it’s just to get ready for outdoors. I know it’s going to be tough and going to have some good competition. So I need to sharpen myself and kind of polish myself before we get there.
Watch Lewis Phillips half hour chat with his good friend, Sexton, below:
