CHASE SEXTON | GRIT-215 | 450SX

CHASE SEXTON | GRIT-215 | SX 450

Believing that he was still within reach of claiming an overall title, Honda's Chase Sexton would return to racing action in Glendale with a surplus of speed as practice began on Saturday afternoon. As usual, he would ascend to the lead designation throughout a variety of laps, powering through all facets of the raceway with speed that many couldn't fathom. He would hope to embody a similar persona for the main event, however a lackluster start would have him residing near the tenth place position as the pack would situate themselves. The Illinois native refused to quit, methodically working his way past riders like Adam Cianciarulo and Jason Anderson before trailing Ken Roczen (who was fourth). The two comrades were friendly with their battle on the Arizona circuit, but their feud would begin to boil as they neared the finish line, for the last lap of competition. Sexton had followed the rear wheel of the Suzuki rider for what seemed like an eternity, nearly crashing from a bit of "head shake" after the whoops on multiple occasions. But his fortitude would eventually crack the defensive armor of Roczen, in the last corner of action! It was here, on the final lap, where he out-charged the German via an inside pathway; pushing the number ninety-four wide, and claiming fourth before exiting the raceway. Sexton sought redemption for the following main event though, where he quickly worked his way into the lead and established a tone that was synonymous with victory. Eli Tomac trailed him though, and would immediately apply pressure as hey skated throughout the countless portion(s) of hard-packed terrain. Skipping from tabletop to tabletop, all seemed to be well until a brief stalling of the motor would have him nearly overtaken by the Yamaha rider; but Sexton would quickly regain the lead as he passed Tomac in the following whoop section on the right-hand side! From that point and onward, it was Sexton's race to lose; where the Honda rider was flawless and showcased his true talent after extending the gap to a multitude of seconds...en route to victory and a clenching of the checkered flag. This would lead to a third moto equation that could be finalized in a multitude of ways, however Sexton was willing to do whatever it took in order to occupy an overall podium score. Therefore as he resided in the top-four (amongst the earliest of stages) Chase would quickly move around his teammate Colt Nichols to occupy third. Once established, he would look ahead to see Justin Barcia and Eli Tomac attempting to blitz away from the field aboard this concrete-like racing surface. Sexton knew that he would have to be at ease with aggression of the throttle, opting to roll-on the power in a multitude of areas instead of jabbing the right handed grip with too much aggression. This allowed him to persevere through the entirety of the (roughly) thirteen minute contest, where he was unbothered by any competition behind him, and would go on to finish third for the moto (behind Barcia and Tomac). Which helped him accrue second overall, as final points were tallied!

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