Image: Octopi Media.

A crushing late-race crash brought a devastating end to Chase Sexton’s charge while leading in Minneapolis, the Team Honda HRC rider now to undergo concussion protocol before Monster Energy Supercross resumes in Dallas this Saturday.

Sexton was on-track for a second victory of the season, passing Cooper Webb in the early stages of the 450SX main event to take the lead and then maintaining a healthy-sized margin to Jason Anderson once the Kawasaki rider made his way into second.

However, just moments before the checkered flag flow, Sexton went down heavily, losing the front out of a turn and up the face of a jump, getting shot into the air in the process and impacting the face of the following section. The number 23 was in a visible amount of pain as the crash brought a premature end to his night.

“This was an extremely bittersweet race,” Team Honda HRC team manager Lars Lindstrom explained. “Our 450 riders were great all day and proved that with a 1-3 finish in the first heat race, and then Chase was dominating the main event until his crash with just a couple laps to go.

“I was gutted for him and for the team because the victory was so close for all of us – it would’ve been incredible to win both the 250 and 450 main events.”

A zero points haul at U.S. Bank Stadium means Sexton is now sixth in the 450SX points standings. According to Honda following round seven, he left the stadium feeling relatively well and at the officials’ discretion will complete concussion protocol as a precaution before competing at Arlington, the second Triple Crown event of the season.