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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
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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..
Chase definitely wasting some of his prime years. I wonder if anyone has told him that “perfect” setup doesn’t exist?
On “Vital” press day today, during the interview with Chiz, he mentions they found something positive in outdoor testing….
Cool, right? But then he says so and so approves, etc…. Then he says Chase’s dad approves. I’m not sure if it was a subtle jab, or just simply backing up the perspective that Pier is that influential in the process.
Chases Dad is Yoko Ono.
Yes they used those parts the next week…
More like Tony Alessi, I heard Tony had Varner tear down a motor on one of their factory KTM 250fs and had someone tear down the factory suspension from his factory Suzuki 450 😂😂
Or maybe not so astonishing for the few of us that thought Prado had a credible point.
But he’s only been able to overcome it once in 12 (?) tries??
Maybe he isn’t as talented as you think he is…
That’s what I thought, he ran the PC setup again after his win. Which makes his win this season even more bizarre.
Source?
He got caught in the gate and moved up to 4th the week after the win.
Pit Row
...a very well fed Yoko Ono...
Yep. His finish positions really aren't that bad when you consider his start positions in many of the races. None of the championship contenders have been any more successful coming from last place.
Unpopular opinion: Much credit to Prado that he didn’t stay on board of the Kawasaki trainwreck poop cruise, he’s to European to sugarcoat it.
When did the KX450 get bad?
Americans might not like it but Europeans are usually more direct and honest about things. I prefer to hear about the problems in interviews rather than hear "We need to work harder till next race" etc.
What do you think Prado's salary is at KTM... literally $0?
Hard to think he walked away from $155k a month base to basically nothing.
There really must have been some big problems at Kawi
I'm pretty sure money isn't an issue for Ducati.........
Wake me up when Bobby signs Chase
Do you have access to their financials? What are you basing your statement on? Is Ducati US the same parent company as the Italian based? Or are they separate like many of the Japanese are? What is their budget for the US based program? Or are you just guessing at this since you assume since Ducati appears to have money since they cater to high end customers? Would you think Ford or Ferrari has more free cash to spend?
I am not reading your AI slop. He’s won races before and lucked into championships. His days of being an outside contender for a championship are done.
I’m as anti-AI as anybody. Says a lot about you that any time you lay your eyes on a thought-out post, you assume it’s AI. There’s a pretty clear difference in phrasing between AI writing and human writing. You should read more.
Seems like Chase blindly goes for the fat contract over the confidence of a race bike or a teams willingness and ability to make the bike comfortable for him. His pride/ego has gotten him into a rough situation...first with Honda, then KTM & now Kawasaki, and for him being stuck in a 3-year downward spiral with Kawie now is ludicrous. I hope he matures in all of this, and won't wind up being a "shoulda, coulda, woulda rider" because of his choices.
And I hope that he has the courage to broom his Dad if he is a stumbling block to him. Lots of other riders have done it.
Post a reply to: Panic Button for Chase/Kawi?