By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
Chase Sexton sits third in points through eight rounds of the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season after a third-place finish in Daytona Saturday night.
“It’s definitely a step in right direction. I’ve had a rough couple weeks with my hand being hurt,” Sexton said.
“It was a good first couple laps. I was doing this section next to the tunnel jump pretty good. Then I started getting a little sketchy and stopped doing it, and I paid the price for it.”
”So overall this is a building block, and we’ll go back to work this week. I finally got to ride this week with my [injured but healing] hand, and yeah, we’re not done yet. Just gotta keep building and keep moving forward.”
The 2023 champion started the season with a win in San Francisco with his new team, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
Sexton, who raced a Honda for nine years, delivered Honda their first Supercross championship in twenty years last season.
Sexton is optimistic about his transition from Honda to KTM.
“Overall the move has been good,” he said. “I have been learning a lot about the bike and trying to improve overall every weekend.”
“I feel like we have gotten better and better and we had a good week of testing during the break.”
“I feel like we haven’t found our stride yet,” he said. “That’s almost a good thing because they haven’t seen the best of us yet.”
“Overall, it has been fun.”
Motocross riders are some of the fittest athletes on the face of the earth.
“You have to be well-rounded as an athlete,” Sexton said.
“It is a very talent-based sport; I could say you have to have a lot of skill.”
Talent and skill are not enough to compete at the top level.
“Racing for twenty minutes, you have to have good cardio because you are at max heart rate, and you have to be strong enough to manhandle the 450s and be in control.”
That’s what it takes just to stay upright. Riders also condition their bodies for the inevitable fall.
“You have to be flexible if you hit the ground,” he joked.
“It is a true test of being an overall athlete.”
Sexton doesn’t anticipate having any difficulties in adapting to the new Birmingham track.
“Going to a new venue is different, but we have all been riding a long time and very capable of adapting to a new track.”
“The biggest thing about going to Birmingham is the dirt and not knowing what the dirt is like,” he said.
“After you ride a few laps you are going to have an idea where you’re at.”
The Illinois native is fully aware of how passionate Alabamians are about any type of racing.
“Knowing that Alabama is a motorsports state, I could be biased, but I feel like this is the pinnacle of motorsport racing.”
“That in itself is a driving force to come watch it.”
Sexton is looking forward to racing for the first time in Birmingham.
“We’ve never been in Alabama before and it will be fun.”
Chase Sexton’s results:
2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship 450SX Champion
2022 AMA Pro Motocross Championship 450 Runner-Up
2023 SuperMotocross World Championship 450SMX 3rd place
Seven career Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship 450 Wins
Six career AMA Pro Motocross Championship 450 Wins
One career SuperMotocross World Championship 450SMX Win
2018 250SX Rookie of the Year
2016 Pro Motocross 250 Class Rookie of the Year
2016 AMA Nicky Hayden Amateur Horizon Award
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series comes to Birmingham this Saturday, March 9.
Gates open at 11 AM and racing begins at 6 PM.