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The real trick is recognizing it in yourself.
If you take all the data available - Eli leaving because not going the direction he wants - despite championships, the Prado experiment, the PC parts swap on Chase's bike, Jake Weimer's interview on the Kawi teams unwillingness to adapt during his time - then there has to be something to it being the bike setup. Finding the feeling- whether or not Chase is influenced by his dad or his crew - is totally up to Chase. It won't be all or the other; as was joked about in the "is chase back" thread on competing for 6th - if Kawi and him don't see eye to eye he will ride where he feels safe. If that's 6th something is but I don't see a spot on any team for change even if he were to negotiate or walk out of his contract.
I spent some brief time looking at some data as well, and the results were surprising. I took a look back at the premier class of the last 25 years 2000-2025.
Kawasaki must be doing something right as they lead the way with championships (during this timeframe anyway). A lot of these titles weren't just won, they were mostly dominated.
15 championships in total, 7 supercross and 8 motocross.
RV was dominant in supercross winning 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. He missed 3 outdoor seasons due to injury, won both mx championship seasons he completed.
Honda, Yamaha and KTM are tied with 9 championships each.
Suzuki has 8 titles!
Husqvarna with 2
Honda went 20 YEARS without a premier SX title. Why isn't anyone scrutinizing that? Was it the motorcycle? Was it the team? Was it the wrong shade of red plastic? It's also ironic who won that title for them.
I honestly feel people are putting far too much weight in Jake Weimer's interview. Not saying what he said was wrong, but people continued to win on the Kawasaki regardless of the team dynamic. Same with John Tomac, he was being factual, they wanted more and Kawasaki apparently didn't allow it. It's just business at that point.
Eli won 4 titles with Kawasaki, 2 with Yamaha.
Fast forward to current day. The KX450 is winning elsewhere, most notably Romain Febvre with the 2025 MXGP title on a stock framed Kawasaki.
I don't believe this to be a team problem, a motorcycle problem, just a racer in a funk at the moment not being able to deliver (although he did win one round already this year).
If this was outdoors, maybe I'd be open to hearing the "it's the bike" people, but the fact of the matter is, Jason Anderson had this bike in the top 5 off starts and podiumed this platform 7x over the last two SX seasons along with a slew of 4ths and 5ths. He also missed like 10 of the rounds over those two seasons. The people saying he looked better on the zook than Kawi are also insane. The results prove everything. Big drop in results compared to the last two seasons on the Kawi.
if Jason Anderson could run the KX up front routinely, Chase should be able to week in and week out, not poking around in 6-8th. not saying he should be winning constantly, but his talent alone should have him in the top 5 weekly and he has been no where to be seen for all but 1 race.
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This exact fucking logic is what the kawi team used and are now the worst team in the pits….
Eh, you can’t draw any solid conclusions from past results. Circumstances change so much. Team managers change. All factories put out turd bikes every now and then. What brand is the dominant rider on? Why has PC won nothing for 14 years?
It’s not the bike its the team….
The team is not racing the motorcycle. Chase is.
Perhaps he should worry less about his frosted tips...........
Or worry about them more…
Yeah ok….so when Webb was with factory Yam before he went to KTM all the issues he had at Yam was all him….sorry bud same scenario, Kaw needs to clean house of their upper management as those two guys are the problem at Kaw…it’s not the bike…
The number of PC riders who've gotten hurt during the week or crashed out of championships is statistically significant. The bikes probably ARE too stiff and there's probably something going on with the linkage ratio that isn't serving them.
Technically you’re right but at the factory level you can’t separate team and bike, it’s both or none.
Also skimming this thread and look I know you're a Dungey fan and I was a Dungey fan too, but has anyone put a beat down on a former champ like Tomac did at Hangtown? If that isn't the pinnacle of comfortable on a bike then I don't know what is. It's not just about beating him by 90 seconds, his fastest lap was 5.759 seconds faster than Dungey's.
oh shit just posted this in another thread hahaha
I know it's not the bike. I just find it odd that people blame management for a racer's results, especially as it seems the team have been working their asses off to help Chase.
I need someone to clearly define the logic here.
If Chase qualifies in the top 3 who do we congratulate? Chase or management? What got them to that result?
If Chase gets a terrible start in the main, who do we condemn? Chase or the Kawasaki personnel standing trackside?
If Chase has a few bobbles during a race, was it Chase, the track or management?
Chase wins A2, was it because of his abilities or was management on vacation that week?
Maybe Kawasaki is hiring they could use someone as blind as you.
Pit Row
Poor leadership is their problem one only has to go back to 2020-2021 to see what happens when a team went from where Kaw is today to winning all because the team leadership was changed…that would have been when Yam hired Star to run their 450 team….Keith McCarty = Bruce Stjernstrom….so at the factory level you absolutely can separate the team from the bike as Star proved that as soon as they took over the 450 program
So Chase likes Levi's setup and runs that and wins. The next week gets caught in the gate and goes from last to 4th, than the bike is changed the following week and results have faltered. Who and why?
Is he racing this weekend or not?
There is already a 4 page thread committed to not answering that question. The search button is your friend!
Lol
Maybe you could contribute something more to the conversation.
Kawasaki Corporate, Kawasaki Race Management, Chase Sexton pointing to who’s to blame.
Yea, looking back that is easy to see now. I don't believe James was ever super picky about setup. I know there were bikes he didn't like, but we never really saw a full year of chasing setup other than that Yamaha fiasco. It is probably frustrating trying to coach chase
In the latest Gypsy pod with Osbourne, they talk about that Honda bike. Osbourne was training at the Tomacs in that era. Jase specifically implied that Tomac hated that bike, and Osbourne said absolutely not, not that one. He liked that bike.
Bike, Team, personal life, dad, mom, whatever. I don't believe it is actually any of these things. I think it is the fact that one of these things can just ruin Chase's confidence. He just seems to fold under any type of pressure. That, to me, looks like confidence issues. Some people can have all of those things not going well and they can put it aside and get in the zone. Chase, not so much.
He reminds me of James Stewart even more so. Definitely has ADHD.
Well said. It’s definitely not the bike. Brutal PR for Kawi coming off Prado’s drama. But with Sexton it’s the same rider making the exact same mistakes, now with 3 manufacturers in Honda. KTM, and Kawi. I think Chase will be much better outdoors. Supercross is a lot more thinking and technical. Yes he won in 2023 but 2nd place cooper went out round 15, 1st place Tomac went out Round 16. Chase was the 3rd in points and basically inherited that title before the last round. Otherwise we would still be talking about how he has all the skills but not the discipline to be Supercross champion. But he gets away with it being a former champion. Chase seems to thrive when he can just send it and not think much. His last to 1st ride on the KTM in motocross was insane. He’s got the speed. I got faith in Chase, i think he shows up outdoors to dominate.
Out for Birmingham. Safe to say the relationship is complicated?
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