A lot was made about Honda moving on from Ken Roczen at the end of last year and if it was the right move or not. Seeing now that they swept all 3 classes and got their first ever 450 title and first premier title since controversially moving on from RC Id say Honda is very happy with their decision.
Its crazy to think that they went from one of the longest title droughts, much longer than even Suzuki, to sweeping all 3 classes the next year after moving on from their previous star rider. It would have been amazing to have seen them get one with Kenny over those years, but it didnt happen.
Its even crazier looking at the position they are in now going in to mx with Sexton and Jett in 450 and Hunter in 250. Looks like a few more titles could be in the cards and its even possible they win both mx classes and sweep the entire year. Then to have Shimoda coming over for 250’s next year theyre in very good shape moving forward.
All true! But you have to be honest, if Eli hadn’t got hurt would Sexton have won the title? I think most would agree, Not!!! But if Eli wasn’t even there Sexton would have dominated for sure, he’s going to have a great career!
Im interested to see how fast Jett steps up. Sextons career from here could either go the way of villopoto and once he gets his first he rips off 4 in a row and retires as a great, or Jett could overtake him right as hes coming into form and block him from reaching his full historic potential. Its gonna be fun to watch.
I'm curious about that as well. I honestly think that even though luck got him the title this season, its a good thing. I think he wins the outdoor championship too, but Jett is right there. I fear that Sexton may have a career that looks more like Kevin Windham's.
He’s already got something Kdub doesn’t…
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Bigger question is how did they let Sexton go
Will be interesting to see if chase can get the Ktm through the whoops. he was the fastest in whoops this year. Prior to that was mookie..
they didnt... Chase wants to be the number 1 focus for the team he is riding for. HRC wants to keep Sexton.. But hard to have the spotlight on the team when you have Jett Lawrence as your team mate.
yup, Honda did not let Chase go, Chase wanted to go
Didn't ken leave honda to go race wsx. He turned down a supercross only deal from them
Its really hard to tell and that should make it exciting. I dont think anybody expected chase to be far and away the fastest 450 guy, to the point he can drop Tomac on any given night, but here we are. Looking at how fast he is today its crazy to think that he lucked into his first 250sx championship and wasnt even that remarkable when he won. To go from that to potential fmotp is a huge jump. Jett looks like hes gonna be the guy, but chase is definitely not gonna make it easy. Cant wait to see how it all unfolds. Thank god jett moved up though or this would have been a boring mx season.
Let’s not forget that Chase has struggled at times even this year with that Honda.
what if the Honda isn’t that good and it’s just Chase is GREAT, and he gets on that KTM and is even better? Whilst Jett is left losing the front end on this Honda.,
With that in mind, who is now coming to make the YZF look great in ‘24?
We can’t just assume another rider is going to climb on the YZF and be right up there. Eli the great has changed the image of the YZF these past two seasons, who says someone else is going to be able to keep that going?
I doubt it was Honda’s decision. Both Sexton and Roczen have struggled with the Honda in SX over the past couple of years. Both have voiced that opinion.
Then Roczen leaves because he’s unhappy and immediately looks better on a privateer Honda and then the Suzuki. Meanwhile Sexton’s struggles continued (while being lightning fast) in SX, until Honda obviously got desperate and changed something towards the second half of this season. The bike became more predictable, allowing Chase to regain some confidence.
It seems Sexton was unhappy enough to sign with someone else before they improved the bike. Maybe he regrets that decision now, maybe he doesn’t? But things are certainly going to get interesting.
If ands buts.
Eli made a few mistakes one of them was over jumping and doing his Achilles.
Sexton crashed while leading several times.
So let's be honest. If chase hadn't crashed a bunch of times would have tomac won the championship?
Both had luck go there way.
yeah and what if the KTM isnt that good...??
But… what if you’re wrong?
Imagine celebrating Chase’s title lol. Even Lars said stfu we’re not celebrating this.
This thread seems very misleading, it’s not like Honda made a big decision to fire Kenny and replace him with Chase, Hunter and Jett.
had the kept Kenny, they would have the same 3 titles plus a couple of race wins
You must have very selective hearing. Lars was very specifically mentioning not celebrating at Denver right after Eli got hurt. They were worried about optics not that they think his championship isn’t valid.
Pit Row
I see this nonstop. He didn't overjump anything. Watch the video of him riding and the video of his update. He says himself it was nothing out of the ordinary.
The difference is that Chase caused his own crashes.
Weigandt spoke with Canard in the post Salt Lake show and without being specific he discussed changing Chases bike a lot in relative terms after the half way point. He also mentioned Colt as being a big part of the sorting.
Chase also was docked 7 for cheating as well as self penalising with unforced crashes.
I still think Kenny looked better on the Honda compared to the Suzuki.
Especially that Firepower Honda! That bike worked perfectly!
Too bad ‘looks’ don’t get results then.
Then we are looking at a Jett domination. As many are expecting anyway.
I made that comment on the basis that Kenny complained about the Honda, got off of it and had a better year, on arguably the a far lesser machine and team.
And of course Colt, who hasn’t shone on it. And of course Chase’s difficulties that cost him dearly this year. And of course the frame mods we saw HRC adding mid-season.
Just a thought.
Kenny's 2023 results are more mental than anything.
Yeah that Honda had him sketched out.
Sketched out that he was losing his factory ride...
He left them because they didn’t want him to do WSX.
He left them because he wasn’t happy there.
Post a reply to: Honda happy with “the decision”.