CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana - Chase Sexton entered Round 11 of the Pro Motocross season with a five consecutive wins and a 28-point lead over Hunter Lawrence, but in a series that does not award points for the back half of the field, nothing could be taken for granted.
Sexton wasn’t content to simply clinch the 2024 championship with a solid run. He took the lead on Lap 5 and held it till the end.
“I felt the safest out front,” Sexton told Peacock’s Jason Thomas from the podium. “I was just trying to get by Aaron [Plessinger]. They were all riding really good. High pace for the first moto. That was a dream ride; no mistakes, solid, in front of a hometown crowd.”
Sexton has been virtually unchallenged since Jett Lawrence was sidelined by injury in a practice crash following Round 5 in Southwick, Massachusetts. With results of first and second in the two motos, Lawrence won that round, but Sexton was only one position shy of the overall victory. He finished third in Moto 1 and won the second race. If not for a poor start and had he finished ahead of Hunter Lawrence in the first moto, he would have secured the tiebreaker with the Moto 2 win.
And that has been the tone ever since. Hunter has nipped at his heels most weekends, but with stronger performances in the second motos, Sexton has emerged victorious on multiple occasions due to the tiebreaker.
Regardless of how he’s done so, Sexton was the only winner in the next five rounds. He dominated the RedBud, Spring Creek, and Washougal Nationals with a sweep of the motos. At Unadilla and Budds Creek, he finished second in Moto 1 and won the second race.
Sexton was also the rider who ended Jett Lawrence’s perfect record of moto wins In the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Round 2. Jett crashed hard in Moto 1 and finished 24th; Sexton won the overall with a perfect 1-1 weekend.
In his five-year career in the 450 division, Sexton has defined himself as a late-season charger. When he won the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross title, he did so on the strength of four wins in the final five races of the season.
In that championship hunt, he also marked the season by remaining healthy as two of the strongest riders in the field were eliminated in the closing rounds. Cooper Webb sustained a concussion in a heat race crash in Nashville, Tennessee, with two races remaining. Eli Tomac ruptured his Achilles Tendon in the penultimate round in Denver.
At Salt Lake City the following week, Sexton remarked that durability is as much of this sport as speed.
In 2024, Sexton has shown both. With 11 wins in 20 motos entering Ironman, no one questions his speed. With only one result outside the top five and a worst finish of sixth, no one can question his durability either.
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