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I think he doesn’t like Mookie for some reason. He’s probably one of the least dislikable riders out there.
He’s going to clubMX. You heard it here first.
Go get them Chase!!!!
So you went from saying that Sexton was shitting on the bike in every interview to now showing one interview? Gotcha. Chase Sexton was talking about bike set up. In the same interview, he also said he had to work on getting comfortable on the KTM. No one here is saying that Chase was comfortable on the Kawasaki or that he liked the Kawasaki. It was clear that he didn’t gel with that bike and that he wanted off of the team. These things are to be expected and it’s world apart from the way that Jorge went about it.
Jorge purposely gave up, disrespected his competitors by saying he would be beating them if he was on a different bike, and generally just took a bad attitude. Everyone saw it.
That is exactly why fans have responded differently to Chase than they did Jorge. It’s not about racism or xenophobia.
I am confused by the racism thing? Aren't Sexton and Prado the same race? I guess people are conflating race with culture/nationality...
Anyway, two things can be true at the same time. Sexton can be a total headcase, and Team Kawasaki appears to be a total sh*tshow. That is what this looks like to me anyway
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Chase announced he was leaving KTM early in the season, when KTM were having financial issues, if KTM had gone out of business, Chase may have struggled to get another ride.
There is not a chance in hell he has time to do his own thing and again, the $ is not there. He is still one of the fastest guys on the planet and he will get paid. If not a factory team,. something like Quad Lock with factory equipment in the deal (like you mentioned). I am just not sure a team like that can come up with the $ to pay him or have the capacity to deal with him overall.
Jorge said he would be winning on a different bike, and look what happened!
I wasn’t big on Jorge’s behaviour last year but from the moment they rolled out at A1 I became a fan. He put his money where his mouth was and did what was necessary to win.
Never make a plan you can’t change….
If Chase behaved professionally, how did any of us know he was unhappy with the bike even as early as February?
To be fair, Chase could have said zilch all year and it still would have been obvious.
There’s nothing wrong with riders speaking their truth imo, in fact I wish there was more of it.
Different things happened and communication was different. Jorge was more open and critical, Chase ghost rode his bike but didn’t say anything. Chase had a history of jumping brands despite winning championships on both of them but couldn’t be competitive enough on the Kawi though winning two races. Jorge never got his World championship speed outdoors on the Kawi. Both were accused as not trying hard enough “just ride the damn bike”; Sexton got hurt and quit. Jorge rode it out, was accused of not trying and quit. Jorge instantly found his form on KTM and still isn’t forgiven by some for not trying on Kawi. If Sexton starts being instantly more competitive on another brand will it be enough for the Kawi apologists to stop citing RV2 success over a decade ago as a reason Kawi is “fine”?
These Factory Kawi 450 apologists are either trolling or delusional.
the only place i see money coming from is Monster and alpinestars. in that lane, he could conceivably make some deal with Star racing where he's effectively riding for the team for free and making money to the side of that
Jorge wanted to be out +200% regardless, Shitty look but now, who cares. Its all on Kawi now…
I’d have left KTM at that point too, the vultures were circling and it was looking like the brand might disappear. Kawasaki has its issues for sure, but its financial stability is solid.
Let's relax a bit on the "Prado is winning on a different bike". He only won a National because the brothers were sinking their own ship and he won 1 out of 6 motos in SMX and got the SMX Series overall thanks to weirdo points and points carried from SX/MX, not like "wow he's winning all those races now that he's on a different bike"
PTSD?
Latest rumor from Pulpmx:
-return to Ktm, word is he made amends
-star is making a play,
-quadlock is trying to put a deal in with factory support Though parts would be an issue with the new 27. I personally wonder if running the 26 factory bike would be possible since the Laws killed it om them
- PMGe they acquired a new sponsor and Roczens deal has yet to be finalized
Pit Row
crazy cause, before he left, some Vitards were saying Chase would never find another team if he really quit at Kawasaki
Its actually a pretty rare opportunity for any team, cause if he does good, the bike and team will get more credit given the circumstances
I mean they're not exactly wrong. Every other team pretty much filled their rosters, but being an elite rider means some teams will risk over extending to pick him up. But I would imagine it isnt gonna be for much money where ever he goes. It's gonna have to be all about the bike
very true. but seems an asymmetric bet in the wrong direction.
Ktm probably has the money they budgeted for Tomac available.
The real question is, can Me. Tuck-tha-front handle the immense pressure to perform that any of these deals will bring? It’s not like they’re gonna give him a gap year to find himself.
I do agree but it does beg the question of why they sign with them after riding their bike? A rider of their caliber should be able to tell if they are gonna be able to win on that bike. When Tomac switched to Star, he said immediately he knew he could win outdoors and was confident they'd be able to find a good SX setup with testing. He won everything that year.
How can riders like Sexton and Prado ride that bike before signing a contract and all of a sudden realize after they cant ride to their full potential on it? There have to be talks about how much the team would be willing to do to make the rider happy and how far they will go to achieve that.
I think the blame has to be on the riders a bit too. They should be able to know if that bikes gonna work for them or not before they sign
Average finish over his 450 career, 5th place. Also 1 of only 18 ever to win both a sx and mx title in the premier class. I’m thinking he will be just fine, he is already one of the best to ever do it even if he hung it up today.
Agree, No one is going to have more pressure than Chase rolling his front tire up to the gate at A1.
"....why they sign with them after riding their bike? A rider of their caliber should be able to tell if they are gonna be able to win on that bike."
This question and statement comes up a lot, however i recently saw an interesting interview with Stefan Everts, in which he explained that he made this mistake many times himself. Testing all off season, only to turn up at round one and find the bike wasn't where he needed it.
If a 10 time world champion can make that mistake, I guess anyone can.
It’s gonna be intense from day 1, weeks before they roll the tranporrters into the Anaheim parking lot. Every testing session and every timed lap will either build his confidence or crush it. It’s definitely not Hakuna matata time.
Good point. Until you are in a racing scenario its hard to tell how good the bike really is. You can start chasing your tail, especially making big changes.
I will admit, I was critical of Prado for the way he handled that Kawi situation last summer. I still think how he acted was very unprofessional though. He did back up what he was saying. Like others have said, theres gonna be alot of pressure on Sexton at A1. I hope he’s right
All the Prado fans here sure do. I agree with you.
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