Image: Octopi Media.

450SX rookie Chase Sexton continues to find his footing on the premier class of Monster Energy Supercross, grabbing a heat race win Saturday that he says was his best ride so far on his Team Honda HRC CRF450R.

Sexton opened the Atlanta Motor Speedway residency with back-to-back second-place finishes, notching his first two podiums of his career aboard a 450.

Continuing to build on the momentum, he clocked the second-fastest time in qualifying at Atlanta 3 and came out swinging when the gate dropped in his heat race, taking the win in what he called his best ride of the season so far.

“Atlanta 3 started off pretty good,” Sexton explained. “I was P2 in qualifying, which was obviously not first, but I was still pretty happy with it.

“I felt good on the bike and felt like I was riding well, and then in the heat race, I got a decent start and made some quick passes, made my way into first, and actually rode really well. I thought I rode probably the best I have all year, so I felt comfortable going into the main event.”

His night took a turn though in the main event, struggling in the whoops and never finding the rhythm he had throughout the earlier part of the day.

“However,” he continued, “I didn’t feel comfortable in the whoops on the sight lap, and it kind of went downhill from there. I didn’t get the best start, made a few quick passes, but then got hung up on someone’s bike and went backward–ended up going off the track in the whoops.

“It wasn’t the main event I wanted, and I didn’t ride to my standards, but overall we had a really good showing in Atlanta and are looking to top that in Salt Lake City. We’re going to go back to work this week and get ready for the last two rounds.”