For the first time in three weeks, a different 450SX rider stoop atop the Monster Energy AMA Supercross podium on Saturday night.
Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb broke rookie Jett Lawrence’s three-race win streak when he collected the checkered flag at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash., on March 23.
It was Webb’s third triumph of the season. The rider of the No. 2 Yamaha reduced the points gap on Lawrence, who is currently the class leader, from 21 to 16.
The Track Was The 23rd Player
In addition to the 22 competitors on the gate, the mildly-muddy, deeply-rutted race track was the 23rd player in the 450SX main event on Saturday night.
“Tonight was all-time rutty conditions. Just ever-changing,” Webb described during his post-race interview. “We probably looked like amateurs out there, it was so rough.”
It was during the pre-race hot lap that Webb noticed how rutted the track was from the 250SX feature, which was the first signal that it would be a difficult main event.
“You’d try harder, and then you’d get worse,” Webb said. “You had to go slow to go fast.”
While the physical demand wasn’t much higher than other races, the two-time Supercross champion noted it became more of a mental battle on the Seattle soil.
KTM Switch Proving Difficult For Sexton
Chase Sexton made noticeable improvements on his No. 1 Red Bull KTM machine over the Washington weekend.
The defending Supercross champion finished second — his best finish in six weeks.
During the post-race press conference at Lumen Field, the Illinois native confessed his pre-season move from Team Honda HRC to KTM has been more challenging than he originally anticipated.
“It’s not easy making a switch,” Sexton said. “I didn’t really plan for how big of a switch it was going to be…I’ve been trying to stay patient, but it’s not easy when you’re a rider.”
Patience hasn’t been the only struggle for the 24-year-old. He’s also taken a beating when it comes to his confidence, which he attributes to the various finishes he’s had outside the top five.
“There for a while, when I was battling for fifth and sixth, it’s not fun at all. I work really hard to win races and be on the podium, and when I’m back there lollygagging in eighth, ninth, sixth — whatever it was — I lost a lot of confidence,” Sexton said.
He’s seen signs of improvement the last few weeks, which has helped build some of his self-assurance, and Saturday night was another positive stepping-stone.
The KTM rider claimed the holeshot, led about half of the 20-minute main event and ended up second, despite a few mistakes.
It was his third podium appearance in four weeks.
News Nuggets
• Premier class rookie Hunter Lawrence won his first 450SX heat race early in the night. Afterward, Jett Lawrence made it a Lawrence brothers sweep and won the second heat race.
• Ken Roczen made his first career start in the Last Chance Qualifier after crashing in his heat race. He won the LCQ, transferred through and finished fifth in the main event.
• On the podium, Webb mentioned he had a “really bad” case of arm pump during the closing minutes of the race due to how challenging the race track got.