Panic Button for Chase/Kawi?

I’m a huge Chase and Kawi fan but yeah I’m hitting the panic button. 

It bothered me when When Weege said on the broadcast  , chase told him “I’l be happy with a 7th or better at Seattle” 

No,in my opinion that’s a wrong virwpoint. He is a CHAMPION. He should NOT be settling for - 5-6th place. That’s being complacent. He needs to expect more out himself and do better. 

You will never hear, Tomac,Jett, or even Webb say that. He needs to grab himself by the balls, and say it doesn’t matter how perfect the bike is, always expect a podium at the least 

PANIC BUTTON = YES

Not a huge Chase fan, but he's only 18 pts down.. coop was 20+ down 3 weeks ago now 11 

It's getting worse with each new brand.

🤦‍♂️

Clearly it’s not the bike(s)

He looked really uncomfortable. Wasn’t jumping onto the tabletop or doing the same triple combinations as the lead riders. Spinning out coming out of turns. That kind of rutty track really seemed to take away his confidence. 

A guy went from winning titles and being world class on a KTM to struggling to be the rider they really are on a Kawasaki? 
Have we seen this before?

If we're talking about the same quote, I believe you misheard him.

About halfway through the main Weege said Chase, "told me yesterday, as a joke I believe, 'Well, I hope I'm better than seventh' ".

Didn't hear anything about Chase being happy with 7th or better.

It's panic time. The last two weeks he has looked bad. He rode like a 6-10 guy the last two weeks. He has never looked like this in the 450 class. He's hardly shown a flash of anything at all. If he didn't get that win, it would be full panic. Maybe he's sick or something? If his riding and comfort level is actually this, it's panic.

When a rider of Chase’s caliber isn’t tripling onto the table after the whoops and Deegan was almost every lap on a 250, kitchen also did it a number of times on a 250, and most of the top 450 riders were hitting it, makes me think something is up.  There’s no way they can’t make that bike a title contending bike.  The production SR gets pretty rave reviews and it’s production…

headChase

Pull out the biggest panic button you can find and slam it. This is worse than his lowest point at KTM. 

i dont disagree re kawi, but everyone else has their elite rider(s) already and even if not, who else would be desperate enough to roll the dice on a volatile headcase over a younger 250 graduate?  maybe a suzuki resurgence happens and he ends up there after KRoc retires?  

i honestly dont understand how any of the japanese bikes at that level cant be whatever the rider needs them to be. same suspension suppliers, reasonable amount of geometry controls, same/similar bore/stroke...assuming a minimal amount of flexibility and engineering resources on the part of the team, the bikes really should be almost interchangeable. i dont get it. 

I think it’s way too early to be so hard on Chase.  Not everyone can switch brands and be as comfortable as Tomac is.  I was not expecting Chase to do well this year, but I would give it more time before you hit the panic button. 

Chase on Suzuki would probably be a good mix, take some pressure off him and maybe find the joy of riding again.. I like that one.. 

To be brutally honest, he’s never been a real contender for a title (big bike). Hate on that take all anyone wants, but it’s the truth. 

            OK, this is a crazy thought, so downvote me to death. How would it be if Kawasaki gave Mitch a couple of 450’s to do anything he wants to them, hopefully making Chase happy with the results. More likely that Jeff Ward comes back to race, but the next 3 years are gonna be 10 years long if they don’t figure this out fairly quickly. Let’s F’N Go !

If we ever get anyone from Kawi in front of the media again and they don’t go hiding like they did all of last year, hopefully someone can ask them how it’s possible that they signed two of the best talents in the sport in the last two years and both of them look the worst they ever have done in their entire career 

Agreed. He is so fast, but so inconsistent. That's a problem if you are fighting for a championship title. A championship is won over 17 rounds, not one night.

I just hope he stays healthy, gets used to the bike and gets back up front where he belongs. And im not even a Sexton fan. I just dont like seeing people struggle, and I love some good racing at the front of the pack.

I took it as obvious he was being sarcastic, and Weege calling out the irony when it was being actualized.

Looking at Kawi since the RC days:

James Stewart (2002-2008) Red Bull/ Monster gate.

Ezra Lusk (2002-2003)

Michael Byrne (2003-2006)

Tim Ferry (2007-2009)

Ryan Villopoto (2009–2015) Their best guy in recent times continues to express a team change would have extended his career. Relationship tarnished with Kawi USA for doing the GP deal.

Chad Reed (2010) - Bad go of things.

Jake Weimer (2011–2014) Always expressed Kawi gave him RV’s set up and had zero willingness to deviate from this/ work with him on the bike. 

Fabien Izoird - (2011) fill in.

Davi Millsaps (2015) Locker gate. (Do we know what the substance was yet?!)

Wil Hahn (2016) Injury after injury..

Josh Grant (2015–2017) Fill in

Eli Tomac (2016–2021) Ended badly right?

Adam Cianciarulo (2019–2024) Injury after injury..

Joey Savatgy (2018–2019) Ended badly.

Jason Anderson (2022–2025) Has he performed better on the RMZ this year?

Jorge Prado (2025) Ended very badly 😂 bike dissatisfaction expressed. Team dissatisfaction expressed.

Chase Sexton (2026–present) Notorious for bike set up issues - is this a surprise he’s not performing as well?

Garrett Marchbanks (2026–present) If the #1 seat at Kawi has been less than desirable, the #2 certainly is.

I’m a Kawi fan, but it’s been rough to say the least and if current performances are anything to go by, it’s not getting any better soon.. 

Panic buttons broken. 1 podium and only getting worse. 

So if he wins a championship in his 2nd or 3rd year of his contract will people  still be complaining about his first year on the bike?

It’s a new team and new bike I would expect him to struggle all year working on setup. 
Go into off season with a ton of new data and work on setup. 

I guess I don’t see how else you would expect to do it. 

When Kawasaki signed Sexton after all the trouble they had with Prado, you had to know it would lead to uncomfortable situations. Sexton has never been pleased with his bike at his previous two employers and now he would have Prado's complaints as a "get out of jail free" card to blame the bike for anything. It kind of makes you think about Anderson doing well on the scooter and Kawasaki canning him.

That's a lot.....

Add to that PC going from the dominant team in the small bike class to falling behind and struggling. 

With AC and some of these 250 guys all being constantly injured it makes you wonder how much of it is the bike putting them on the ground? Marchbanks crashing every week too it seems like.

The fact that RV and tomac had as much success as they did and both still wanted out also says a lot. 

It's just getting to be death by a thousand cuts.

Everyone is winning on the brands he left.

He simply looks like he does not enjoy motorcycle racing. He is out there cashing checks.

Trust logic. 

In a few years he will be a very popular name in the “what might have been” threads until we all get older and he is replaced in conversations with the newer version of him.

It has been obvious for a few years now.

There’s multiple people on new bikes this season that are doing better than Chase and don’t need a year to figure it out. I thought these guys could win on any bike, or was that just for Prado?