Chase Sexton’s second moto victory at Southwick was his first moto win since his last to first performance to secure the overall win at Hangtown. The result boosted Sexton to just three points behind championship leader Hunter Lawrence as Sexton continues to look for consistency from moto to moto.

Much like the fourth round at High Point, Sexton didn’t particularly look comfortable in the first moto at Southwick before completely turning it around in moto two. But the win at Southwick came from an impressive surge when Sexton found his groove halfway through the moto to leap from third to first in an instant and take off with the moto victory.

“I mean I was kind of off the pace honestly in both motos,” said Sexton. “I was good at the beginning of the second moto and the first moto, but then I would kind of lose the pace in the middle of the race. I wasn’t riding the track how it was meant to be ridden, and I finally started to get a good flow going towards the end of the second moto. Better late than never. I just kind of started picking different lines and I don’t know, it kind of all came together for me.”

Image: Octopi Media.

The lap times from the second moto show a clear progression that Sexton found another gear. He struggled to a 2:20.079 at the mid-point of the moto before going 2:19, 2:19, 2:18, 2:16 four laps in a row which were all faster than that of race leader Jett Lawrence.

Southwick certainly is a racetrack that can be won or lost based on line selection as the sandy conditions create a massive variance between two lines next to each other. But aside from figuring out better lines, Sexton also made a slight bike change before the moto that could have contributed to his increased comfort late in the race. However, Sexton put the blame solely on himself that he needed to figure it out.

“We made a few bike changes, but I mean honestly I needed a ride the track better and I kind of acknowledged that mid first moto,” said Sexton “I just couldn’t figure it out and this this track has never really like been my absolute favorite for some reason. I kind of had to put that behind me.

“I found some good lines and was able to kind of jump around the track and make it more fun. When you’re having fun, you go faster. So that was kind of the whole thing for me today. I didn’t want to override the track because it is a sand track, but you can have some big get offs out here. I didn’t really want to push it past the limit and was just riding within myself.”

Image: Octopi Media.

This is becoming a trend for Sexton in that he has been noticeably better in the second motos since Hangtown. He crashed while passing into the lead of the second moto at Thunder Valley, then led a few laps of the second moto at High Point before another crash pushed him back to second.

While the second moto rides are proof that Sexton is on the doorstep of more moto and overall wins, the lack of consistency between the two motos has been hurting him. While Hunter Lawrence has managed to hang onto the championship lead, Jett Lawrence has been surging winning each of the last three overalls and is now tied with Sexton for P2 in the standings.

If Sexton is going to stop the bleeding, he’ll likely have to turn things around in the first motos first.

“It seems that we miss the mark first motos for some reason,” said Sexton. “Whether it’s me or the bike, it’s kind of been both so we have to figure that out. We can’t be giving points away in the first moto, that’s not ideal. Then you kind of come out and you really have your back against the wall second moto, so you have to make it happen. I’m trying to fix that.”

Image: Octopi Media.

With the variance of Sexton, the consistency of Hunter Lawrence, and the consistent winning of Jett Lawrence, the 450MX title fight is as close as can be through five rounds. Three points separate the three riders heading into the true halfway point this weekend at RedBud.

While Jett Lawrence continues to ail from his shoulder injury sustained at Hangtown, Sexton or Hunter Lawrence could take a big step towards the championship by winning in the next few weeks. Though Jett has been winning the overalls, it’s clear there’s room to sneak in there as Sexton just proved at Southwick.

On top of that, RedBud is Sexton’s pseudo-home race for the Illinois native and he’s keen to get back on top in front of his home crowd in five days.