Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton took the holeshot and left the field in his dust at Round 14 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season inside MetLife Stadium. Sexton stretched the lead past 18 seconds at one point. The win moved Sexton within nine points of the championship lead; a win in each of the three remaining rounds would assure Sexton the title. Words: Supercross
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb, the current points leader, moved into second place immediately after the Holeshot but slowly lost touch with Sexton on the rutted and challenging New Jersey track. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger battled much of the race with Rockstar Energy GASGAS Factory Racing’s Justin Barcia. After Barcia crashed in the closing laps, Plessinger held on to earn the final podium spot. In the Eastern Divisional 250SX Class, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker led every lap to become the first repeat winner in the division and took sole possession of the points lead.
“I felt good all day. The two whoop sections helped me out a lot. I really feel like I made a lot of time up there. The KTM group has the bike working great. I had such a good flow that moto, and it really just felt like it was effortless for me, which is what we want. [We’ll just try to] keep that going, but I’m stoked. Fifth win of the season, so just try to keep truckin’ and focus week in/week out and see where we get. Overall, [I’m] having fun. I got a great start and made it happen.” – Chase Sexton, when asked what a dominating win does for a rider’s confidence.
“It’s tough, he was on it, and he was killing me in those two sets of whoops. It’s something we’ve tried to fix this year, but these are gnarly. They have ruts all the way down them. I’m still pretty mind blown how he was able to do it so good. You’re trying to just stay with him, and he rode awesome. He was inching away, and those whoops were really killing me. I got a little tight, and that was all she wrote. With that being said, he did what he needed to do, he rode a great race, he kicked my butt, and I didn’t put my money where my mouth was. We’ll go back, regroup. Definitely bummed on that finish; we wanted more fight tonight, but it is what it is, and we’ll come back swinging… and try come win next week.” – Cooper Webb
“I was ready for this track to be over since second practice. It was gnarly, but it was just steep. I’ve been riding outdoors a little bit more than Supercross, so I got on this track, and I was like, ‘Woah!’ But nonetheless, we had a good ride. The team made the bike work great. [We] made a little change between, I think it was second and third practice, and after that I was smooth sailing. Got off to a great start, Justin [Barcia] and [Justin Cooper] were riding awesome. Unfortunately, Justin went down right there and JCoop kept me honest the whole race. And these guys [Sexton and Webb] were on another level. I was just pushing as hard as I could. My heart rate got high, and I slowed it down a little bit. Third’s good, five podiums now, and we’re going to finish this season off strong and head to outdoors feeling good.” – Aaron Plessinger, responding to the comment on the podium that he looked exhausted.
Image: KTM USA
