Sexton’s Title Defense Done (Jason Weigandt)
The second moto Jett Lawrence versus Eli Tomac battle really saved the day at Fox Raceway. Just about 11 minutes into the first moto, a season with so many questions had produced one key answer: Jett is back. In that first moto, Tomac and Jorge Prado weren’t even close to Jett, and Chase Sexton? The defending 450 Pro Motocross Champion was already out. That was so darned weird. Who can remember the last time a rider up front ditched his goggles that early into a race? Yes, it’s racing and anything can happen, and that includes goggles breaking. The whole way it transpired, though, is so odd. Ditching the goggles was followed by a weirdo crash that was apparently caused by Chase hitting neutral landing a jump. Sexton was unable to get up from the crash and salvage points, then chose not to race the second moto. We’ve seen Sexton get up from much, much worse and still finish. Now, I understand that in sports sometimes injuries happen randomly, and the biggest hits don’t even hurt. So that could be the case here. But last night the word finally came from KTM and Chase that he would sit out of Hangtown, although nothing specific was injured.
“I’m definitely banged up after last weekend’s crash but thankfully there’s nothing broken so that’s a positive,” Chase commented in a press release. “I’ve made the decision to sit out this weekend’s race and focus on getting back to 100 percent.”
That then ends any chance of defending his 450 Pro Motocross Championship. It seems so odd to me that Chase didn’t try to salvage something in these first few motos, especially knowing recent history. Stay in it, salvage points, and you never know what could happen. Look at what happened to Lawrence and Tomac in supercross, for example. If Chase had really broken something, then it would all make perfect sense but seeing one of the toughest and most durable riders on the track fail to finish the first four motos of the season (at least) doesn’t compute.
We might not know for a while, but is this break just as mental as it is physical? This sport is taxing and thanks to his own durability, Chase hardly misses races. He missed the first half of the 2023 Pro Motocross campaign but raced everything last year, and this season’s Monster Energy Supercross battle with Cooper Webb took a lot out of both riders. Webb has it easier outdoors, mentally, though. He’s racing in the bonus, just having a good time with zero expectations on winning. Chase, after just going to the wall in supercross, is now expected to defend his #1 plate against a fresh, fired up Jett, Eli, Hunter, Jorge, etc. Also, let’s not forget that the last two years Chase, again thanks much to his durability, entered the SMX Playoffs as the number one seed, only to see that not help him enough against riders who were fired up, fresh and motivated. Heck, Chase crashed out of the triple-points final each season, so that’s two bitter endings. Maybe this time he wants to be the guy that comes in fresh? I wouldn’t be surprised. The question is, when?
Maybe that’s just too much for him and a break is what he needs.
, le il y a 3 heures et 59 minutes.
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