Round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship was a positive outing for defending 450SX Champion Chase Sexton, qualifying second in the single session held during the afternoon and then racing to second in his Heat despite a crash while challenging for the lead at the Daytona International Speedway. Chase Sexton factored at the front of Daytona once again in the Main Event, leading the opening four laps until eventually taking the checkered flag in third position aboard the KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION. Sexton has climbed to P3 in the standings, currently 13 points outside of the red plate.
Chase Sexton: “This is definitely a step in the right direction. I’ve had a rough couple of weeks with my hand being hurt, but tonight was good. Overall, this is another building block and we’ll go back to work this week. I finally got to ride between races this past week with my hand and we’re not done yet, just gotta keep building and keep moving forward.”
His teammate Aaron Plessinger had a weekend to forget after he crashed heavily in the Main Event. His day started with promise, setting the eighth quickest lap in qualifying and then scoring P3 in his Heat, however, a crash while running sixth in the Main Event ended his hopes of a strong result, eventually salvaging four points for 18th position.
Aaron Plessinger: “Daytona was an interesting one. I was feeling good all day and then the rain came, got a little muddy, and the track was already soft, so that added to it. The Heat was good, caught a flow on my way to third, and then the Main Event was going well also, until it wasn’t. I was running around fifth or sixth, hit a soft spot on the face of a jump, and had to bail over the bars. I got up, the bike was all twisted so I pulled in, went back out, and then rolled around to save some points. Overall, we’re going into next weekend to race and we’re going to push on. I’m looking forward to Birmingham, it’s gonna be a good one.”
