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Why are we comparing him to Prado? Sexton is a title contender and should have probably been the #1 guy to win this title going into this season. Prado isn't even a top 5 guy (on any bike) - yet.
If anything you have to compare Sexton to Tomac. Both on a new team. One has won 3 races, the other is 5th in points with 1 podium in 6 rounds.
I asked Lewis to ask Weimer if he was allowed to change sprockets... i guess that escalated quickly
Going to listen now.
I wonder what James attributes all of his own crashes to...
1 hour 33 minute mark it starts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf2Mmc1tPvQ
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Weimer told a fairly convincing story and it puts kawi in awkward spot. They either have to say weimer is just wrong about things, or have to explain why it's different now, but if they do that it goes against what they've already said about the whole narrative being fake news.
A rider with a supercross championship, 17 supercross wins and 23 podiums coming into a season on a new bike that many have been critical of, they’re going to get looked at. Now when they come into that new season and only have 1 podium (the win) so far, it’s going to raise a bunch of questions. If the only thing Chase changed is teams, it’s pretty obvious it’s the bike.
It’s not just us, there have been a few media guys questioning if this is the right move.
Bring back Mike Fisher!! We need some leadership and insight at Kawi.
I’m sure there’s a tinge of truth in this post, but I just cannot take “dirtbikelover” as a credible source.
He did say the Yamaha contribute do a lot of his crashes and he lost confidence
Last year Swap did an interview with the Japanese Kawi test rider, I forget his name. He made a statement during the interview that immediately threw a red flag for me. Not an exact quote, but something to the effect that they know where the bike works well. It seemed to dismiss that different riders might want something very different. At a minimum, it makes me pause when thinking about what they are willing to do.
I agree with Stewart. He said Chase's bike is looking an awful lot like his '06 KX450F. That bike's first year and it was a "point and shoot" machine. It did not turn at all. And that bike was stiff as a board.
As far as all the second hand rumors of the inherent on going problems with the bike and team that have been going on for years it seems, doesn't that speak volumes about Prado and Sexton's judgement? Surely they must have heard the same shit from some people before signing multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts? Or is this like the person who marries somebody whose been divorced 4 times, "I can change them".
I'm not at all a Pulp MX regular (or even occasional) listener, but wow...that was pretty crazy. Dan seems to have put himself in a really awkward spot (and really ought to immediately reach out to Jake and apologize, but probably won't).
As far as Jason Anderson's success on the Kawi, I find it interesting that he is also a very throttle-aggressive, rear-steering rider like RV, so there's that.....hope this isn't another Factory Yamaha situation pre-Star takeover.....
It’s the Kawi to KTM and KTM to Kawi component. A comparison to Tomac is certainly valid too. But for different reasons.
Chase went to a team with almost no recent success. Tomac went to a team with lots of very recent success. That has to be taken in to consideration.
It’s certainly fair to say that Kawi needs to get it together and find the feel (in my opinion, that’s front grip) that Chase is looking for.
I think professional athletes at that level, regardless of which sport, just back themselves to be better than whoever was there before and think that whatever issues there may appear to be won’t be an issue for them. Often that isn’t the case though as we’ve seen
Hopefully it snows in Arlington for the "Green Plow".
one of the rare "elite" riders where it's genuinely a coin toss if you're going to get "smoke 'em all" Sexton, or you're gonna get "tip over and roll around in 5th" Sexton.
I suppose Eli has had many of those races, but you can almost set your watch by Chase's tipovers.
Pit Row
Last year I thought Prado was being dramatic. I still don’t agree with him quitting multiple times, however if Chase is having the same issues with the bike, wouldn’t Kawasaki start to believe it? If Dan is the problem he needs to go. I know pulp loves him and Dan himself says everyone is lying, but this much smoke has to be a fire somewhere. I love my Kawasaki and think it’s almost a perfect bike however none of us are going the speed of Prado or sexton.
Dan could probably say a lot about Weimers baby momma killing his confidence and being a major distraction I’m sure too and how he should’ve left her at home while he was at the races lol Jake also signed (2) 2 year deals, he could’ve went to a different team after his first contract was up. I’m sure what Jake’s saying is true, but Jake had major distractions with her that didn’t do him any favors for his racing career.
I noticed that too. Lots of talk about HT angle. I thought the x trigs were offered in different offsets, so maybe That's why he's not running them... And the PC's are neutral iirc, just stiffer.
Isn't kawi due for a new bike in 2027? It's been 3 years now on this chassis. I think all the previous models were 3 year runs.
Kawasaki is typically 4 years but it was 5 years from the 19 to 24. This was supposedly because of covid but I wouldn’t be surprised if it stays 5 years.
This.
I don't think the Sexton scenario makes Kawasaki look bad, as I blame it all on Chase. He's had the same problem on three brands now. Maybe he's just a mercurial rider and is unbeatable on his rare "on" days, but a 5th-10th guy on a regular day.
next couple of weeks is gonna be interesting...he pulls another tipover for 5th, steam is gonna be coming out of that rig.
So, going back to Villo, then later Tomac, and Anderson, it seems they are all rear steer riders. Was that because that is how that bike needed to be ridden? If true, is that still true?
This is a good point... I don't think it was as much how the bike needed to be ridden versus it was actually their riding style. And coincidentally it matched the Kawi's handling traits. Which also somewhat supports my take on Prado which was that he's not a very adaptable rider and couldn't adjust to what the Kawi does. But the KTM simply fits his riding style...
So, what does that say about Tomac now? Well, we know he is already riding a hugely different setup than AP, and I assume Prado. Was KTM just able to understand what Tomac was looking for and put it on the bike that easily?
Looking at the two previous seasons, it he really that far off from where he normally is?
2024
Round 1 3rd
Round 2 1st
Round 3 8th
Round 4 5th
Round 5 2nd
Round 6 9th
Average finish 4.66
2025
Round 1 1st
Round 2 6th
Round 3 4th
Round 4 1st
Round 5 5th
Round 6 3rd
Average finish 3.33
2026
Round 1 8th
Round 2 4th
Round 3 1st
Round 4 5th
Round 5 7th
Round 6 5th
Average finish 4.66
Takeshi Katsuya (Taka?) is the test rider. He had a nice interview with Gypsy a while back. Aussy accent threw me off...As a former pro had had experience going from lapped to winning on good/bad setup bikes. I think he was brought over to help Prado out for a while with MXGP based suspension changes. He was helping Febrve in MXGP. Perhaps he's doing same now for Chase too, not sure, but don't think so given SX specific suspension needs. Certainly as Chase transitions to outdoors it would be beneficial to try Febvre's setup, even if he ends up not liking it.
interesting. I'd say YES he's far off because if you'll notice in '24 he was on the box 3x. This year, just his one win. Everything else has been pretty awful.
It is just some paraphrasing of what James said on his Seattle rewind show. But basically a more accurate version was James said “Chase pushes the front and he doesn’t react to the feeling of doing so, which points to him not being sure about what’s wrong/what needs to change because he has to wait to find out how the bike reacts (inconsistently), ergo a set up issue” it’s more nuanced than that, but he goes into it at 28:10
Post a reply to: Panic Button for Chase/Kawi?