Chase Back on the Box

Returning 450MX champion details Spring Creek podium.

In his second race back from injury, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton returned to the 450MX podium at Spring Creek with a third-place overall, building momentum after missing time earlier in the season. Check In with Sexton as he reflects on Millville and the build toward the 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs.

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, I think you’re 30 or 40 seconds back. You have a front row seat to the pace that [Jett and Hunter Lawrence] are running. What do you need to do to be better?

Go faster down the hills. I was losing a lot of time and after about 15 minutes said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to get to the next race and not try and kill myself down these things.’ For me, they felt really, really sketchy and the track was very fast. I was just a little bit uncomfortable, but also they kept the same pace the whole time and just pulled away – they were riding really well and looked like they were really comfortable. So yeah, we lived to fight for another weekend and I just want to get better and better. I feel like my early laps were better today, but yeah, just really slow. I think I got to walk down the hill faster than I was going.

Coming back obviously from injury, these last two rounds – a P5 at RedBud and P3 here – is this right around the range of your expectations? Then, what do you take from these two top five overalls into Washougal and the rest of the outdoor season?

Yeah, I didn’t really have too high of expectations coming in. For whatever reason, I felt like I was a rookie again at Red Bud. I don’t know why. I felt super like out of place and I was able to ride pretty well second moto but I still had a ways to go. And even today, I got a little bit better speed-wise at the beginning. But just like I said, we got a lot of work to do with the bike with myself and it’s just an ongoing battle. But I think next week in Washougal, I really like and from here on out the tracks, I really enjoy so we’ll see. Just try and get better and try and battle with these two. They’ve been crushing it.

We’re going into the third year of the SMX Championship and we’ve seen how this plays out. You’ve missed some time this year, and several of your competitors dropped out this week as well. After taking time off, what’s the dynamic like – trying to race all season, keep yourself healthy, or take a break when you know you need it, then come in for that final push?

Yeah, I hadn’t missed a race in a while so it was nice to have some time off, but I wanted to come back obviously to get a good enough point seed for the first race. I came in leading last year’s and it didn’t work out very well. I only think I finished the second moto at the last round, so just trying to come in and get a good seed, and then also just try to get some momentum back on my side and start to fire in those last three outdoors.