Troy Dog
We finally got our battle royal between Jett Lawrence and Chase Sexton at High Point and it was AWESOME!
AND Jason Anderson was there to create initial chaos leading the first few laps! At this point both Lawrence brothers and Anderson won’t be sending one another Christmas cards in six months, and while we find that sad, we’re here for the pettiness! Anderson took Lawrence wide and Sexton got a two for one special.
The battle was one, Jett would make the move back into the lead. Then Sexton was able to make a pass on the defending champion AGAIN, which is something that I don’t believe anyone else has done this season. Then the battle was on and Jett stayed close while trying to counter.
Sexton seemed to have this Moto in the bag. Jett was keeping him close, but within five minutes pluss two laps remaining he had around a two second gap on Lawrence. It was going to come down to the wire in one of the most exciting races of the season. Then the unthinkable happened Sexton through it away and crashed. Lawrence went 1-1 at High Point, while Sexton went 3-2 for second.
“I was definitely pissed off when I came off of the track inititally,” Sexton said in the press conference to Racer X’s Mitch Kendra. “Yeah, I kind of had to take the positives from that race. I was riding well, stuff was coming to me pretty easily, and I had that one mistake that through it away obviously.”
After having possibly the best ride ever in 450MX history at Hangtown when he went from 40th to win the Moto, Sexton had some big crashes at Thunder Valley and wasn’t riding like himself.
“It’s nice to get a little reset,” Sexton said. “I just need a little reset. These last two weekends I’ve not fully been myself, the second moto was a lot better, I felt pretty good, just two stupid crashes. Pretty dumb, honestly.”
Had Thunder Valley gone to plan, then Sexton could have a decent points gap going into the break, instead he sits six points behind Hunter Lawrence, with Jett only two behind him. Sexton knows that the middle of the season is important and he’s focused on making sure he makes up some ground on the East Coast swing of Southwick, RedBud, Spring Creek, before the series heads West to Washougal before the Loretta Lynn’s break in the schedule.
“I felt like the speed in the second Moto was good, we changed a lot on the bike and we still have a lot of work to do. I just need to stay off of the ground and rest the next couple of weeks. Obviously train, but take some time to reset, and come out swinging. These next four races are going to be really important and make it happen.”
Main Image: Octopi Media
