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This^^^^
I think you're onto something. Very rarely does he go down on a smooth track.
He managed to eliminate most of his mistakes in moto last summer (sure, he went down a bunch at Pala moto 2 but that was a last-ditch effort for a championship, so it's understandable). I believe he has the mental focus and physical conditioning to ride consistently for 20 min + 2 laps, as he was able to do it as well as Tomac for 30 min + 2 laps over the summer. Seems to me like it's an issue with him adjusting to a broken-down SX track specifically.
Man if he doesn’t beat Webb and Tomac straight up this year and continues these bobbles, he’s going to be a total head case next year with Jett.
Some say his body is too far forward and he does not look far enough up track.
Faulty foot placement on the pegs has been mentioned as well.
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Yeah but but if you take the amount of time his body positioning is perfect it will be much more often than most of the field, when analyzing crashes atleast one of those things will be out of whack contributing to the crash. I will say I think Chase looks through the top of his goggles more than most is why his head looks like its aiming down more than others.
I think the Lawrence brothers have the cleanest technique, Hunter even maybe more than Jett.
Eli didn't win his first 450 SX title until year 7, but IMO, he still had things figured out pretty early.
He finished 2nd in the standings in his second year in the class. He finished 85pts. behind Dungey.
Eli Tomac
Year 1: 13th. Did 9 races then out with injury. Got 2nd twice.
Year 2: 2nd. 13 top 5, 11 podiums including 3 wins.
Year 3: 4th. 11 top 5, 5 podiums including 1 win.
Year 4: 2nd in points. Finished 5pts. behind Dungey. 12 podiums including 9 wins.
Year 5: 3rd. 12 podiums including 8 wins.
Year 6: 2nd. Finished 18pts. behind Webb. 10 podiums including 6 wins.
Year 7: 450 SX Champion. 12 podiums including 7 wins.
Year 8: 3rd. 11 top 5 including 8 podiums and 3 wins.
Year 9: 450 SX Champion. 11 podiums including 7 wins.
Year 10: Currently 2nd sitting 1pt back from Webb. 7 top 5 including 6 podiums and 5 wins.
Chase Sexton
Year 1: 12th. 11 races. 6 top 5 including 3 podiums.
Year 2: 6th. 12 top 5 including 8 podiums and a win.
Year 3: Currently 3rd sitting 13pts. back from Webb. 8 top 5 including 6 podiums and a win.
Chase's second year isn't great. With those stats he should've finished higher than 6th in points.
Eli's third year is his worst. Eli has had bad races, but I don't think a lot of them were because he was lawn darting himself into the ground. Every once in awhile his alter ego Elito Mac comes out and leaves fans scratching their heads wondering WTF is going on with Eli.
There's plenty of time left for Chase to figure things out, but there's no guarantee he will. For example take a look at guys like AC, RJ, Forkner, Smith, etc. All of them are veterans that are still trying to figure things out.
Predicting when Elito Mac is going to make an appearance is a lot more difficult than predicting when Sexton will lawn dart or wash the front end out.
The good news is that Chase's finishing position in the standings has improved year over year. The bad news is that he's still making a lot of mistakes.
Maybe he needs to abandon trying to be "perfect" on the bike all the time. Look at Barcia Saturday night, he is all over that bike and he just attacks and attacks constantly rather than taking a mental break or worrying about smoothness.
Thinking outside the box …… could it be suspension fade from overheating late in the race?
Barcia has about one good race each season, should he really be used as a good example on how to ride?
So is he injured? As far as his riding, obviously something is a miss.
He never, or almost never, crashes on a fresh track or with no pressure on him. I don't think anyone in this thread said it, but I've heard it on pods or other interviews, people saying it's the bike. He's riding the same bike all day, and not crashing, and putting up insane practice times.
So if it is the bike, I would say he's in a similar place as Eli seems to be, where if the track is gnarly the bike isn't great....Eli just has the mental ability to turn it down a bit. Maybe too much 😬
I'm a Sexton fan, but all you guys saying "when" he figures it out are disregarding history of the sport. I hate to sound like RC, but this is an "if" situation.
But man, IF he figures it out...it will be something special.
"the bike" is a bullshit excuse... Chase's head is the problem... he can't seem to keep it in the game
I think it is partially bike. The reason he can go as fast on smooth track has to do with how he sets his bike up. Turns better, higher rear (relative) but instead becomes very unforgiving when it is rough. It's like he sets his bike up for smooth tracks which gives him thinner margins.
Been pointed out a few times that he seems to have traction issues (rear) which is the result of to stiff and high rear.
By the time he figures it out, Coop will have another number 1 plate.
I still don’t think HRC liked that he is leaving and are not giving him what he needs.
The bigger problem is if Webb stays at KTM, Chase becomes second fiddle and that is messing with his mind. He wants to be #1 and probably anticipated Webb would be gone.
If chase can’t get along at KTM, then we could see him bouncing around from team to team and never achieving 450 success.
I should clarify. What HRC needs to give Chase is structure. I don’t think he has Jade as his mechanic this year, has his dad set his program and practices at private tracks. HRC should have him riding with Hymas and Lawrence brothers. More oversight in training and riding coach.
This is on the assumption he is confirmed at ktm. I'm not convinced yet as you say cooper looks like he's staying at ktm too
Sexton this year reminds me of tomac in 2017 with all the speed an mistakes and dungey on his way out.
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brainfade from overheating in the race more likely.
“It’s a different mindset, to slow down and take what the track will give you. I too think he will figure it out.“
Exactly
Manny you been around to long to not know this.... He needs to sometimes slow down to go faster.... He gets too excited to be the fastest RAW speed guy when he doesnt need to sometimes...some areas, some laps, whatever it is, and he needs to figure it out before its to late... Hes taking A LOT of hard hits to the ground and it might end up catching up to him.
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