Chase Sexton (450 class) and Chance Hymas (250 class) picked up the overall wins at RedBud over the weekend. Both of them spoke with the media after the race in this Debrief feature.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, Independence Day weekend, you get the red background, you go 1-1. Incredible weekend, but go through the feelings, the process of it was just a big one all around?

Yeah, to be honest, I had a lot of pressure I feel like coming into this weekend for some reason. I don’t know why because I had never won here. I had a really good week of riding, felt really good and I feel like I made a step forward and I was confident coming in, but you never know when you go racing and these guys are really good. It’s really special. I had chills on the podium. That’s the best RedBud crowd I’ve seen. I’ve been coming here since I was probably six years old and it’s really special. I didn’t really have any words honestly on the podium, I felt like a bit of an idiot. I was up there just looking at the crowd and not saying anything. Like I said, a lot of pressure to win today. I feel like the crowd was obviously on my side, but I wanted to perform for them.

Since you did win, is this kind of becoming like the Daytona of motocross or Anaheim, like ‘That’s on my list, I got to win that one.’ Is that the vibe that we have here?

I mean, for me it’s just special because it is my home race. I would say that this is one of the more special races out of this series. It gets the best turnouts and it’s 4th of July weekend, so the vibes are always good, and the fans are crazy. It is a special race I feel like for everybody, but for me specifically it’s special because I grew up racing here a lot and like I said I never had good results here. So this year I was like, ‘Man, I have to make something happen.’

It feels like you’ve been changing a lot between the motos, but you guys nailed it from the get-go from the beginning of the day. How was that helpful to just get rolling with it?

Yeah, I didn’t make too many big changes today. I was trying to keep it to the minimal side but made a few. I don’t know what it is. My first one was better this weekend, but still not great. I’m still struggling a little bit just to get going and feel like my normal self, but it was better and then second moto I didn’t necessarily love everything about the bike. It actually made me ride it better, which was kind of cool. I didn’t make many changes today, which was nice, but I still need to work on some stuff, and I need to work on my starts. Hunter is killing us in the first lap. So I’m trying to make that better.

When you’re in the lead, it’s kind of tough because you don’t want to pick new lines that you haven’t taken. I think coming down the starting straight coming into the first turn, you had a good line like around all those braking bumps. Was that a line you had seen in the first moto, or was that something you saw develop on the sight lap?

After the finish line, I was kind of making bumps like I was jumping them. So I wasn’t getting that big kicking in the turn and then before the mechanics area, I was just going way wide, and I just found that honestly. I just went a little wide one lap and I was like, ‘Oh, that one is pretty good.’ It does help with the lappers; you do have to change your line and sometimes you do it for the better and sometimes for the worse. I was lucky to find some decent ones out there.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chance let’s talk about it. Sophomore season. I don’t think you can write a better story. Get your first overall, first moto win already this season. Take us through the emotions today coming off the track after that second moto, knowing you had it and has it really sunk in yet?

Not exactly quite yet. I mean, I didn’t even know I had the overall until I came to impound, and everyone was super stoked. No, it’s honestly really good. To do it on 4th of July weekend and being the only American on the team, it felt really good and especially to get my first overall win here and I feel like it’s kind of a bucket list win for a lot of Americans here at RedBud. So to get my first one here, it’s pretty special. I executed a really good second moto and put a big gap, but Jo [Shimoda] reeled me in, and I had to pick up the pace. I was really stoked to go 1-2 and it honestly shows how much we’re working and how bad we want this and we’re figuring it out. So it was a fun moto battling with him and yeah, super stoked.

Comparison of moto one to moto two for you: moto one looked like you’re more physical riding trying to put the bike in the places. Was it more of a mental balance between the physical and mental?

Moto two, yeah. I just rode a lot more relaxed in the second moto. First moto I got out front and I was just trying to build a big gap and I was just overriding the bike and taking bad lines. My riding style, the way I set up the bike, I can’t ride like that for 35 minutes. Those guys were on it in the first moto, and I was just off the pace and making bad choices. Second moto, I watched some film and did what I could and executed a really good start. I just tried to ride as loose as I could and honestly just believed that I could do it.

That penalty was assessed to you, so the points are just going to be about the same. Did you know you did it? Was it a shock that it came and that was assessed?

I could kind of see it coming into the corner, but what kind of confused me, it wasn’t on the lip of the jump. So that’s what threw me off, and honestly, I should have just rolled it just for precaution. I came around, I could see over the lip and there was nobody there, so I jumped it. Just a dumb mistake on my part. I should have had my head up and should have realized the situation but it’s hard because they come to me and kind of go back and forth on it like, ‘You’re going to get docked for this.’ I guess it is what it is and got docked a few points. I’m glad the results stayed the same. That’s all I can say.

In the second moto, you got the holeshot and I’ve been to a lot of races, but I don’t know if I’ve seen anybody check out and make such a big gap that quickly. Was that kind of a strategy you had to just go full on sprint knowing that maybe by the end of the race you could kind of settle it down?

Yeah, honestly, a lot of that came from the first moto. I was pretty mad after the first moto, just the way I was riding, and I knew I had to put the anger somewhere. I executed my start perfectly. I had a bike length on everybody, and I just said, ‘Alright, we’re done messing around and you put the gap in right now and ride like how you usually do.’ I rode my race like I do on a practice and I kind of made a few mistakes with some lappers and I got held up a little bit. When Jo started picking up the pace and got up to me, it honestly felt like when I’m at the practice track with Hunter or Jett catching me. It’s kind of the same scenario here. I needed to pick it up and keep doing my thing and not get too worked up about it. But yeah, that was cool. Just put some solid laps together, be consistent, but don’t ride over my head. Don’t use more energy than you have to just be very loose on the bike and take deep breaths.