"I've Had to Mature A Lot Since I Got on a 450..." | Chase Sexton on Learning from Adversity 1

The 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season has seen HRC Factory Honda's Chase Sexton on the podium 11 times, inside the top five 14 times, and the fastest qualifier 12 times. All in all a very successful season. He will most likely finish the season in second place and roll into the Pro Motocross Championship with a lot of confidence. The mistakes made this season have been discussed endlessly by the media and fans but now that the season is almost over what does Chase think looking back? He called in to a recent episode of the MotoXpod Show to discuss that and what he's learned as a racer this season. The interview was conducted by Jamie Guida, Scotty Thomson, Lewis Phillips, and Doc Smith.

For the full interview, check out Ep269 of the MotoXpod Show | Ft. Chase Sexton, Brent Duffe, David Pulley, and Sean Brennen. Also, if you would like to watch the video version from the MotoXpod Show click the link above.

Jamie Guida – Vital MX: I'm going to ask you the same question I asked in the press conference because I don't know if everybody heard it. I'd like to get a little more detail. With the championship pretty much settled, where does your motivation to push the limits come from going into these last two races? Before you answer, I'd like Lewis to give his opinion on this because I have a feeling he has one.

Lewis Phillips: Well, that's a dumb question. If I was in the press conference, I would have stood up, smacked that mic out of your hand, and ripped your credential off of your neck. (This was sarcasm people) No, the motivation is to win. Winning out would be nice. Nothing is over. We have two rounds to go. Anything can happen. The motivation is to win each week. It's obvious, right?

Chase Sexton: He pretty much said it word for word. It's never over till it's over. My goal is to win the race. That's my game plan. I guess winning is motivating. So, if I race, I'm going to the race I want to win. That's enough motivation in itself.

Jamie: That's kind of what I expected, but I wanted to hear the answer. 

Chase: I don't know what I said about it in the press conference. Probably something like that. I was tired during that press conference, so half of my answers were probably delirious. I didn't sleep very well the night before. Those early races, dude, it's 6:00 a.m. You have to get up and then you're on the track at 730. I missed the first lap of free practice, which doesn't really matter, but yeah, I was a little late to the party.

Jamie: How did you like the city of Nashville? We were all out in town later that evening, even if we were tired. I'm in love with that city, Chase. I want to move there. 

Chase: Yeah, I was walking down Broadway and it was so packed. I don't know what else was going on that weekend or if it's always like that, but it was packed. It's a cool city, especially when you win. It makes it a lot better. I was only down there for a couple of hours. I would have liked to go longer. Our hotel was at the airport, so I only got to see it when I was literally at the race or when I was downtown after. There's a reason a lot of people go there. It's just a fun town, and I wasn't dressed in the right attire. I needed a cowboy hat or something, but maybe next time.

Lewis: Building on what I asked you after the race, you said that you feel you've turned a corner mentally since Glendale, and obviously you've been great since then. Some people would say you've been great all season, but that's just me. I feel like the whole mental thing was overplayed in the middle part of the season. You can take some of the blame, but there are also other things that have to take the blame as well for the mistakes or whatever. It was never all mental, was it?

Chase: No. It's partly on me and some other stuff we had to figure out, like testing and all that. It definitely was a big talking point. I couldn't even go on social media without seeing it. Whether it was people commenting on my Instagram or the tv commentators talking about it. I couldn't go on my phone without seeing it and at that point maybe it does starts to get mental. You're like, “Man, that's all I see. All I can think about are these late-race mistakes.” I guess it was really after the break, it was Seattle. I crashed while leading and after that, I left Seattle, and it was weird because I was bummed for sure, but usually after races like that, I don't want to talk to anybody. I’m super mad. After Seattle, it was weird because I was not in a good mood, but I was down to talk or whatever. I was just defeated. Then I came back and rode in California for only one day. I took that week pretty much off and went to Santa Barbara and hung out with my trainer. My girlfriend lives up there and I just hit the reset button a little bit and came back for Glendale and had a good race there. From there, once you have those good races in a row, you gain confidence and I've changed a few things up in my day-to-day schedule riding-wise. We also tested the week before Glendale just to get me more confident later in the races and it's paid off so far. I mean, the season's not over by any means. As a rider, I've gained that confidence back. In the 250 class I never really had these problems, these late race mistakes. I just needed to get back to where I was confident later in the races because my fitness is really good. I should be good. That's where I should be attacking. I shouldn't be making these mistakes. So now mentally, I just feel a lot better. I'm definitely on the right track at this point.

Lewis: This is what I presumed earlier. I was thinking about this, and I don't think you ever actually struggled mentally. I think other people put that on you by saying it so much and at that point it's impossible to ignore, which sucks. What sucks, even more, is now that you've kind of fixed this, no one's giving you credit for that or acknowledging that.

Chase: It doesn't really matter at this point. I guess it's a good thing if we're not saying anything. I’ll just keep winning races, and that's all I can do.

Scotty Thomson – MotoXpod Show: I've really admired your resiliency this season. Even though things didn't always go as planned, you've stayed strong and stayed healthy which is a big deal for a younger guy. We've seen (Eli) Tomac have a couple of struggle-filled years, and Ryan Villopoto, Ricky Carmichael, and James Stewart all had that same thing. Do you feel you've checked those last boxes and now you know what it takes to do the championship? 

Chase: Yeah. I've always been taught never to give up. Through the hard times, that's when you make the most strides. I acknowledged when I was having those crashes that this is the time you need to push through and not quit or give up. I try to stay positive because when you're super negative, I feel those things happen easier. I like to think I checked those boxes off. It just seems like every year everyone has problems they have to face, and no year is ever perfect. You always have things come up. For me right now, I definitely feel my Supercross season this year compared to last year is light years above where I was. Obviously, I had that great outdoor season last year but it's just super hard to connect Supercross and motocross. It is so different, and you have these different guys that are good at Supercross or good at outdoors. Obviously, you have Eli that's very good at both. My goal is to be that guy where I can compete for championships in both series. This year in Supercross, my goal coming in was to compete for a championship and hopefully come out on top at the end of the year. I needed everything to go as planned to do that. I've had some struggles, but I feel like overall I've definitely progressed a lot this year. Even last year being as fast as I was, I feel I'm faster this year and my consistency is getting better. I think I've only had that one race where I crashed in Indy and was outside the top ten. I think every other race I've been in the top five. Then in Detroit where I got docked those seven points. Besides those races, I think it's been overall solid so far. As I said, we have two more races to go, and if I can win these two and that's the goal is to put my best foot forward and we'll see what happens. Overall, I'm pumped with the progress I've made and definitely overcoming some of those hurdles this year.

Scotty: I saw earlier on Instagram that you and Kenny (Roczen) were out there having fun on the Supercross track. Is that just trying to keep yourself mentally sane while trying to battle for this championship?

Chase: No, I feel like pressure situations don’t really affect me so much. During the week, even outdoors last year I was pretty loose. I think it's how you have to go about it, especially if you think you're going to be competing for championships throughout your whole career. That stuff can weigh you down and Eli, he's kind of mastered that. So, for me today, Kenny and I have been riding together quite a bit. We do gym together and bike rides pretty much every day. We train together during the week, which is cool because when I moved to Florida, he was kind of my mentor when I was on 250s. He won pretty much every moto of that outdoor season when I moved to Florida. Then we kind of went through this weird spell where I moved to the 450 class, and we were competing against each other. We were on the same team, but our relationship got weird. We didn't really talk that much. We never were enemies or anything, but we went through this weird part in our relationship and now we're back. I feel like we're closer than ever and we race each other hard, but we always are clean. He's a great racer and it's been fun to have him as a training partner because he's in a really good spot. Honestly, I feel he’s the happiest and the best he's been off the bike in a long time, so it's been cool. We pushed each other today. We did motos together, which is always fun, and we did a little bit of goon riding after the motos. I went on the track, and he was testing something. I had my goggles wrapped around my neck, basically. Then we just started messing around. You have got to keep the mood light because the weekends are game time. During the week you have to have a little bit of fun.

Jamie: This is only your third season in the 450 class and your progression has been absolutely stellar. Looking back on these last couple of seasons what have you learned about yourself as a competitor dealing with the adversities and the struggles of being a professional athlete?

Chase: Man, it's hard to pinpoint one thing. In my second year in the 250 class, I only won one race. I obviously won the championship the next year but Austin (Forkner) had some misfortunes, but I came in and I won five races and was really solid. Then I got moved to the 450 class right away, and I'm happy that it worked out that way. I feel like I'm better on the 450 as far as riding and my riding style fits the bike because I'm a bigger guy. I think I got moved up pretty fast, so maybe I was a little bit naive that I could just go in and win right away not knowing how hard it is. I really struggled with the bike setup on the 450. I'm pretty comfortable this year and outdoors last year, but besides that, I hadn't been super comfortable. It's hard to set up a 450. They have so much weight and so much power. I've dealt with that struggle a lot and it kind of drags into your whole life when you're not comfortable on the dirt bike and you have to go perform on it. It's not the best feeling. The season is pretty long and grueling. I feel I've done a good job at managing that. Last year was my first full year of all the races and it was gnarly. At the end of the year, I was still ready to go. The competition is also a whole nother level from the 250 class. I think when you're in the 250 class, you're just really naive about how good the guys are on 450s. They're the premier guys and the tracks are gnarly. No one really understands how tough it is to race in Supercross on a 450 and especially outdoors with the tracks being gnarlier, the bikes are heavier, and guys being better. It takes a toll on you if you're not comfortable. Those little things and how to manage that is one thing I've had to learn. I've had to mature a lot since I got on the 450, but that's also just me growing up as well. There are a lot of things I could hit on, but those are the main things.

Lewis: No matter what happens in the last two rounds you've have to be stoked with how this year has gone. You've got 11 podiums so far. That's the same number of podiums that Tomac had last year when he won the championship. So clearly, you're both at a very high level already. That's a massive step up from where you were last year as well. You said earlier that you've dropped outside of the top ten once, but you were actually in the top ten in Indy, so let's not sell ourselves short on that. It's just been amazing no matter what happens these last two weeks.

Chase: That's how I'm looking at it. Even going into this weekend in Nashville. I'm happy with how I've been riding. I don't know how many Poles I have. I think maybe it's 12 this year. I think I missed three. So, just with my speed and the potential that I do have, I still feel like I haven't even come close to my ceiling yet. So, that's something that's positive I can look forward to. Yeah, my season's been good. My biggest thing was I was stuck on one win this year for a little bit. I'm like, “Dude, I can't win one race this whole year. I have to start clicking these things off.” I have four now and hopefully, we can get a few more. My goal is to keep progressing and get better each season I'm racing. That's the biggest thing for me because I feel like I'm good right now but if I can get better and better and better, it's only going to be a good thing. So that's what I'm pumped about, not getting stagnant and just keep getting better.