Chase Sexton (450 class) and Levi Kitchen (250 class) swept their respective classes at the Spring Creek National over the weekend. Both of them spoke with the media after the race in this Debrief feature.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, you’re on a roll right now, moto win after moto win. Talk us through moto number one and the acceleration that we really saw you putting out some great laps in moto two.

Yeah, I would say today my starts were a little bit better, first moto especially. I came out third, which was good enough to get the job done. Second moto, my start was good, but I got pushed really far wide. The guys from the inside didn’t really let off and got kind of sandwiched, so I had to go from a little bit farther back. I felt good on the bike today. Qualifying wasn’t great, was riding like a little bit of an idiot. For the first couple laps of the first one I was trying to calm down and kind of get into a flow. Once I find the flow it makes it a lot easier and the sand rollers were really gnarly today, which was kind of like the main point of the track for me. The second moto, I had a really good pace after about 10 minutes in and just kind of kept it going and had a lot of fun. The track was difficult, and it was a little warm today, so made for more separation.

The first set of sand rollers, a lot of guys were blasting through the first couple, but it looked like you found a rhythm, especially towards the end. Did you see that from somebody? Or is that something you just sort of developed?

No, I actually I did it the last lap of second qualifying. I tripled and it would kind of depend because you kind of get lost on what roller you’re on, so I would just kind of drop in and try and get three. One it was faster and two, it made it a lot easier. The rhythm was the biggest key for me today. Skimming them wasn’t really an option. I was really sketchy and then doubling them wasn’t super-fast, so tripling, if you could do it and do it consistent, was fast and I feel like first one, I got it pretty good. Then the second moto even better. It was a big separation in the sand rollers. I talked to AMart [Alex Martin] after the 250 second moto, I’m like, “Those rollers are the biggest I’ve ever seen.” I’ve never seen anything like that here or even RedBud so yeah, they gave it to us today.

Your fitness is clearly there, but you also seem to be a lot more confident and just riding a lot more comfortable. Does that allow you to also kind of take advantage of that fitness feeling comfortable not being tight on the motorcycle?

Yeah, I would say for me like the first motos recently have almost been more difficult because I was riding tight. Today was better. I tried to fix that a little. My fitness is good, but definitely more comfortable on the bike, I think. Since probably like Southwick, I got a lot more comfortable, and I think after that week after Southwick I made a big improvement just with my riding. We didn’t really change much with the bike, but I started to pick apart of the tracks more. With confidence comes just more belief and you trust it more. Last weekend at Redbud, I had a really good second moto and just kind of a continued build for me. Honestly, just with my riding, not so much the bike setup, but just trying to pick apart the track and not make it so difficult.

The last two wins, I believe these are your first wins on these tracks. Did that give you a little more respect for the track knowing that you hadn’t won a moto here before and did it help with your patience in the in the opening laps of the two motos?

RedBud for me this year felt more like what I grew up racing on. They put a lot of sand on it after 2017, like 2018 for Motocross of Nations. I feel like it kind of turned almost for the worse. This year felt more similar to what I was used to riding. So I was more comfortable and to be honest, it’s just confidence thing for me. I mean it is a riding thing, but with confidence comes more belief and you’re able to move around on the track and trust it a little bit more. So for me that’s been the biggest thing is confidence and just riding better honestly. So this track, I’ve always had good speed at. Made a little bit too many mistakes in the last two years that have cost me the win. My plan was not to throw it away and just go out there and ride.

Two solid motos and talking about confidence now with five straight moto wins and the three plus points that you’ve made-up in each one of those. Are you starting to feel like you’re taking control of the championship?

To be honest, I’m just focused week in and week out. I don’t let my mind get too far ahead because that’s when stuff can go wrong. I’m trying to have fun and be present. It might sound a little weird, but I after second practice I went in the motorhome just kind of turned the lights off, took a nap and then woke up and meditated for about 10 minutes to try and just calm down and really just center myself and get ready for the motos. The mistakes seem to come when I get too riled up. It’s not really a problem of a lack of focus, it’s more just me, kind of. Getting too into it and kind of too antsy, honestly. So just trying to calm myself down and be more present.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Levi, it’s been a long season swinging for that top step of the box. I know all the attempts that you had, this one’s got to feel pretty special, finally getting it done not once but twice.

Yeah, for sure. First overall for me, it’s taken me like three years. So yeah, a really good day. First moto, I had to fight hard for that one, it was pretty warm. I think everybody would attest to that. So yeah, I had to dig in that one and then moto two, I just had to let the race come to me. I fell on the first lap and then just slowly tried to make my way up and it was fun battling with Casey [Cochran] and he rode a great race. But yeah, I got it.

Let’s talk about eventually getting by Casey. Was this something timed, you knew it was going to happen, or you just sort of putting the pressure on to make these small mistakes happen that you could possibly get by?

Yeah, I actually tried a few times. Casey, you know, he would pick it up. I’ve had a couple races, especially in Supercross where I would push a little hard and throw it away, so I just waited for him to maybe mess up a little bit and I was catching quite a bit on the hill. So yeah, just waited for it and it eventually got it.

Some additional comments on how stoked you must be to win this. Your first moto win [this year], your first overall, the week before you go home.

Yeah, it’s obviously special to be able to do that. It’s taken a little while. I’ve wanted this for a long time, so yeah, right back to work. I want to just keep doing it and I’m stoked to finally put a day together.

Talk about what had to change here between round one where you were good and now. A little bit better last week too, what has been the thing you’re working on?

The bike, in all honesty. I don’t ever like saying that. Round one, it was pretty good because Pala was probably the slowest track on the circuit. We got to these faster tracks, I was way too soft and I’m finally getting more comfortable. Even though it seems like I’ve been on the bike for a long time, I have, but outdoors, it’s definitely a little different than the Yamaha was. It’s getting a lot better, though. I’m stoked on it now.

Obviously, we’re going to your home track, but haven’t you said that it’s not necessarily your style of track, even though you’re from there? Are you looking forward to it, like from a performance standpoint or just a crowd standpoint?

Yeah, I mean, obviously the crowd will be sick, but it really depends. I heard they’re bringing in a lot of sand, like a ton, so that should be pretty sick. Washougal’s pretty start dependent. I mean, as long as you’re up there, you can do pretty well. I feel pretty good there. It always depends on the prep. Hopefully it’s not too dry and hot, but we’ll see.