Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship in Birmingham saw Chase Sexton claw his way back into the 450SX title fight with a much-needed victory. Meanwhile, Nate Thrasher made a welcome return to the 250SX East winner’s circle, posting a consistent scorecard across the Triple Crown format.  Both riders spoke to the media following the racing for this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, you did exactly as you said you would, returning stronger after the break. How has tonight impacted your mental state for the better?

I think it’s nice to just get the monkey off my back, I hadn’t won in what felt like forever. It was good to click off those first two [Triple Crown] race wins, although I was quickly reminded when RJ [Hampshire] went down in the third [250SX East] race that anything can happen, so I had to execute my start and get out front. Once I did that I just kind of tried to ride my own race and not do anything stupid, try to learn from my mistake from Dallas. But it was good, and like I said I don’t know what it is about these last eight races but I seem to start seasons good, then I have that little rut, and then I seem to end pretty well so hopefully we can go on a run. Coop’s [Webb] riding well, so are these guys, and it’s going to be a fight to the end.

You said you had to learn some things, we saw in the last Triple Crown in Arlington you made those mistakes, but this time you let Cooper go by you and did you choose to not go back after him knowing you had the overall?

Well, it just came down to the three in after this the start rhythm, I wasn’t doing it in the third main, I was like, ‘It ain’t worth it.’ It was a big three in and you make one little mistake [and] you go off the track pretty easily, so I just stuck to the easy line and just hit that comfortably. I feel like I was riding pretty well, I was just losing a lot of time in that section so I let him go and then I started to reel him back in again later. Malcolm [Stewart] was closing in, so I was just focused on riding good laps and trying to stay in my lane, but it was good and like I said I just try and learn from what I did in Dallas, we’re always learning. So it was a good night, and like I said I feel like my riding was really good today and these last few tracks we have seem to be a little bit more hard-packed, more open and that seems to fit my style. Open up the turns and carry roll speed, so that may have something to do with it.

How important was the break in the calendar for you? What did you do, was it a case of analyzing and resetting?

I actually planned an off weekend with all my boys at the beach but I woke up Friday not feeling great. I rode [Friday] and then I woke up Saturday and really didn’t feel good, but still went to the beach and I then threw up all Saturday and Sunday. So I still don’t know if I got a stomach bug or what it was, maybe food poisoning, we never really put a finger on it but it was bad. I wasn’t feeling good until about Thursday, and yeah that’s just how it goes sometimes so maybe that’s what I needed.

I looked at the bike earlier today and the part that had been on there since around Phoenix to help with the rear shock was gone. I talked to the team and they said you guys have made some progress on some things, is that something that you worked on in the break?

Yeah, I mean we didn’t do much in the break, to be honest, I just told myself at this point ‘I’m just going to ride it, and we’re going to try and be as precise as I possibly can.’ [I’ll] push it when I can and when I can’t, just back it off a little bit. It pretty much came to the point where the fan wasn’t really doing anything, it was something else that we needed to fix, so the fan came off.

Have you had to adjust your riding style? Especially in those last few races where [that part] was really heavy and that action it puts into the shock how much energy it is?

Yeah, I mean it’s not so much I have to change my riding style but I have to be more precise. Which is good, it teaches me new stuff and I think I just have to ride it a little bit differently than what I was used to, but yeah, it’s just being more precise and not overriding it. That was the biggest thing, when I overrode it, it bit me so. That was the biggest thing.

How was it being back in Birmingham? Do you enjoy this new venue on the calendar?

It was weird, every time I looked over my shoulder I thought AP [Aaron Plessinger] was next to me, there’s a lot of guys walking around with mullets today. Everyone was super friendly today, when you come to the south, everyone, I mean now they have an accent, but everyone seems to be just nice and friendly and it is cool. I really enjoyed it here, and the track was cool too.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Nate, we know that you are hired to win, of course, the objective is always to go out there and win, but after everything you’ve been through this year what was the motivating factor tonight?

Yeah, it was just a whole lot better day for me. I finally was able to do some laps this week and that just translated [to tonight]. Before this week, I was nowhere and just not riding that well. It was tough going at those two racetracks we had, definitely with those ruts, so yeah I just felt one with the bike this weekend. From practice, I felt like it was tight between all four of us and going into the night show it was splitting hairs, so I knew it was going to come down to starts.

First podium this season, what significant changes have you made that made the difference that we saw tonight?

I felt like in Tampa, I had a good base from the off-season. I felt good that night and ended up going down early and fought my way back, and then after that just had that practice crash which really wasn’t my fault. So it was kind of tough, I was just surviving from that point, I really couldn’t grip [the bars] at all and the hand was flying off the grip. So it was very tough, just trying to survive and stay in it and log laps and try to get healthy. The two breaks helped, I took the first week off and then rode Tuesday and Wednesday, and yeah just felt like I turned a corner at the four-week mark. It was night and day really, I don’t know how to explain it but that week off just made a big difference. Racing with the injury obviously wasn’t letting it heal, so [I] finally got some healing done and yeah this weekend, this whole week I felt like my old self again.

You are so fast when you are on, but unfortunately, you’ve had some mishaps, we’ve seen that in the past with some weird things happening. How frustrating is that and how do you get over it?

I think this year’s off-season was the most productive one I have had, I was healthy coming into the season which hasn’t happened for me in a long time and it was a steady build. But I feel like this is the most solid I’ve ever been, didn’t make many mistakes tonight, and was pretty locked in and steady during each main event. Normally, I have some moments but this year hasn’t been like that even in the off-season, I was just steady every lap and every moto we did just building. I feel like I’m the most solid structurally I’ve been on the bike and technique-wise, so I think this year is going to be a good end of the season. We still have a lot of racing to go, I think anything can happen with two showdowns to go, so we’ll keep battling.

You’re a little way out but are you still all in on this championship, supercross-wise?

Yeah, I’m still fully in it. I mean I think we’re only at halfway right now, there’s still a lot of racing to go and anything can happen, just like Max [Anstie] today, you never know. So I’m just going to bank solid points and who knows, I’m not out of it yet and there’s a lot of racing to go. Two showdowns, there’s still a good chance to come back and win a lot of races.