Sexton MX vs SX: What went wrong?

Chase could probably lose the front end a couple times and still beat Herlings in a stadium.

Its not rocket science...90% of his falls are front end related

but why? you cant blame the bike because Roczen rarely lost the front and neither do the Lawrence brothers. throw in the other Honda teams and they don't have that issue.

we all know its the front end. But is it due to rider issue or his bike set up preference 

 Figured out the problem

Roczen lost the front end in Cardiff WSX last year on his Honda. And the last year he was on Honda during regular SX season.

Jett crashed several times losing the front last year, one at a triple crown. Hunter and Jett outpace the rest of the class so much they don't need to ride close to the edge like 450 guys do. 

Tomac lost the front end while leading Arlington race 3 this year on the Yamaha. These guys have their forks setup so stiff it's a tradeoff. 

At Seattle, Sexton crashed running wide on the edge of the track, twisted the front end and flipped. Would have happened on any bike with that line choice. 

Frankly I'm impressed how Sexton doesn't get rattled with this crashes and finish out of the top ten. Always seems to be in the top 5 no matter the crash. 

It wasn't so much small solo crashes in that period.  He was dinged most of the season his first full year after the opening round year race crash with Weimer (2014), and still was recovering from the 2015 Thunder Valley crash during 2016 SX, so that is two of his first three years.  He won races and finished second in his second full SX season.

Sexton will be fine.

I agree he’s riding just a bit over the edge. I think he’ll get it right soon and we’ll get to see some good racing between him and Jett.

After Jett rode past him twice at Red Budd, I think he's already in his head and probably the main reason why he wants out at Honda.

Zero built in wrong with the big Honda. Individual setup obviously matters.

Jett showed that by catching, passing and gapping Sexton (and everyone else) on the sister bike. He was faster than Chase in both Open races, and timed practice, at Red Bud.

I don’t think anything has changed. It sounds weird to people who don’t know the sport, but the longer MX races are actually much easier mentally.

Something is off with his suspension, especially his forks.

When I watch other riders, their front wheel actually leaves the ground through the chop.  Sexton's doesn't.  It's as it there's no spring in them.  They simply follow the terrain, no matter what.

It seems like they're too soft, but there's more to it than that.

I noticed this in both the Seattle SX, and the video this week with the pros testing for outdoors at Fox Raceway.

See "Curse of the Goat/Bambino"