Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
That’s only part of it. You need to be able to sell yourself to sponsors, you need your own money that you are prepared to lose, you need strong relationships with top level support people who are prepared to dive in with you, you need to be able to separate the riding from the team ownership but still do both at a high level, you need to know exactly what you want from a bike so you can choose the right equipment for you and the team.
100% correct, I couldn’t imagine Chase endearing himself to prospective sponsors after the last few years. It’s risky for anyone who takes him on next. Absolute certified badass on a motorcycle as long as he’s comfortable, the problem is, I think he’s lost sight of what gives him comfort
I think that his best option. He’s not going back to Honda. Triumph likely doesn’t have close to the money, same with Ducati or Beta. Suzuki likely a no go long s Ken is there. Yamaha maybe, but I think highly unlikely. And if he does end up at Yamaha, willing to bet it’s similar to Prado deal, low/no salary and bonuses. Would still get gear money I am sure. But at this point in his career I am willing to bet he knows another championship is highly unlikely to happen. Smart money would be to learn how to shut up n ride the bike, finish 4-10 with the occasional podium or stars align and win. Cash that big check and sleep on a pile of money at night.
I think majority of the guys on the gate know they aren’t gonna win. I’d bet the house even Webb knows certain days he’s not gonna win.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
Fully agree with you on Kawasaki not being flexible, which is also not a well kept secret and something he should’ve considered when signing a three year deal. Tough, but I think that’s fair.
I’m of the belief that he should hold out, and leverage his recent championships for what they’re worth, against a team that hasn’t had much success in 5yrs. Sexton was the rider that broke the Carmichael Curse over at Honda… use that!
Should he get out of his current contract, I don’t blame him. However, the context in which he left his last two teams does not do him any favors in options or reputation. Again tough, because that bike seems to suck (for a factory bike), but I think fair.
Chase isn’t “most of the guys on the gate”. He’s one of a few who can push or even occasionally beat Jett, and he’s a two time 450 champion. It would be a massive ask to expect him to accept riding around in 5-10, even if he’s being paid well. To these guys the money is just an outcome; within reason they’ll take a paycut to get back to winning.
And I believe Dazzy crapped all over the bike setup Jett had to start from, basically saying Sexton steered the team in the wrong direction and they had to do a lot of work to fix it.
Yep. That is accurate from what I recall of that interview.
Chase doesn’t know how to set up a bike and went to a team that apparently knows just as little as he does.
hindsight is 20/20 but I really didnt see it going this poorly.
Well said
Thats a tough one. Myself personally I'd rather win and the 7 figure check add up/come with it. Oh well. Atleast it isn't MMA or boxing where you lose and get your ass kicked.
The guy won his third race on the bike against one of the most stacked fields ever....
People seem to forget the shit show he was outdoors last year. He has been broken since he blew that sx title.
Isn’t Chase left handed? What if the Kawi is set up for righties?
I don't know about all the hype Dazzy gets, did he ever race? I think a lot of the Lawrence boy's success can be attributed to Roczen's dad and Johny O.
People referencing the dazzy comment about the bike setup never mention the other guy that rode that generation of the CRF for a couple of years with chase.
I didn’t hear Dazzy take credit for fixing Jett’s setup. I think like John Tomac, Dad can say things their son would prefer not to.
Cool story. Now back here in reality, all those guys know from lap 1 or 2 of practice roughly where they’ll be in the main. Baring some outside factors, they know each weekend. Chase isn’t nor has he ever really been fighting for a big bike championship without an asterisk. Flame away, plenty of you’ll can’t handle the truth. Fan boy circle jerk gets in the way of reality.
Damn we might as well not race then.
I’m guessing you had roczen being in the fight for this championship in November right?
Back in November I had Jett for the title...
Pit Row
You’ll find that the Lawrence family also attribute a lot of their success to working with Stefan Everts when they were kids in Europe. Jett rides a lot like Everts did.
One thing I don’t understand - when you’re considering going to a team at the best of times but especially when a guy has just left under somewhat hostile circumstances - and as this is a very small sport presumably Sexton has heard the historical rumblings re Kawasaki - surely you’d do some due diligence pre signing ?
Maybe he did and just got BS’ed by everyone he made enquiries to but I’d find that a struggle to believe.
Sexton probably sees or saw himself as better than Prado and therefore any issues Prado had wouldn’t apply to him. I think that’s just the way the elite guys think. I think there’s pretty strong chance that Kawi promised a lot more than they can actually deliver as well
I feel like this situation is a ticking time bomb. You never know when it's going to go completely off the rails like Prado did.
Matthes said that he wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves before outdoors. He did also say that he doesn’t think that’s what will happen, but the fact we’re already at the point where he wouldn’t be surprised to see it tells you something about the situation over there.
Given everything that happened last year, and how much was riding on this year for Kawi, if Sexton makes it even less of the way through the year than Prado did that would be absolutely astonishing
Yeah, but the majority of the guys on the gate aren't on Chase Sexton's level. Guys that are as talented as Chase (and have had the success that Chase has had) only want to win, unless they are in the twilight of their career and simply going out there because they love it and it pays well. Chase is still in what should be his prime. He was on somewhat of an upward trajectory until this year.
2022 MX: His first season that showed he can truly be an elite 450 guy outdoors; almost beat prime Tomac straight-up for the title.
2023 SX: While it wasn't the most impressive title ever won, he was markedly better than 2021 or 2022 and was the fastest guy more often than not.
2023 MX: Bad result on paper as he missed several rounds and couldn't take a moto from Jett, but I would argue Jett stepped up the level so much that Chase was probably riding even faster than he was in 2022. We've seen how dominant Jett has been against the best in the world since then; the only other guy to race Jett that close for several MX rounds is his brother.
2024 SX: Definitely a step back; had early struggles with the KTM, but was hauling at the end of the season and began to look like the second best guy behind Jett.
2024 MX: While he probably wouldn't win this title against healthy Jett all 11 rounds, he did handedly beat Hunter, who we know is extremely tough competition. His most consistent season by far, and included one of the best single moto performances I've ever seen at Hangtown.
2025 SX: Mental breakdown mid-season, but his performance in the second half of the season was the best riding of his career, including MX, IMO. If he brought that speed and intensity every season, I don't think a soul beats him except Jett, and I even think they'd be battling back and forth.
2025 MX: Throwaway w/ injury and KTM debacle, but he put in a couple of awesome rides showing he was still cream of the crop - Washougal comes to mind.
2026 SX: Straight-up mediocre - pretty similar to 2024 SX when he moved to KTM... unless he finishes strong these last few rounds and/or comes out guns blazing in MX, it will be a really rough look.
In summary, most of his 450 career has been 2 steps forward, 1 step back.. sometimes, 1 step forward, 2 steps back. If he follows up this SX season with a bad MX season, it'll basically be 3 straight steps back. He expects to win because he has won before... 3 straight series of not even being in title contention would be a new low.
I'm shocked that this is even on the cards for Chase...
If this goes through that's 2 bad breakups It's going to take a special person to recover from this mentally, I don't know man.
We are one crash and banged up away from his time at Kawi being done. He won’t be at Pala on a green bike. Stamped, signed, approved.
https://youtu.be/c9g9CJhn_ww?si=4nft-qtHaOCAiFro
They were talking at the beginning of april. Deal didnt go through
I want to see Jett on Kawasaki (not that it'll ever happen). I'm sure bike would not be an issue.
It absolutely would be if he asked to try certain parts and they told him "no."
I still want to know why Sexton won a race on PC suspension parts and they haven't been seen since. Why did their "reset" go back to the x-trig clamps when they couldn't find their magical setting and Sexton decided to just "focus on himself?"
This^^
He had a setup that looked pretty good, why not keep using that? Did Kaw take those PC parts and duplicate them as close as possible with the KHI approved parts?
Bizarre..
Post a reply to: Panic Button for Chase/Kawi?