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Chase Sexton (left) and Ken Roczen chat during press day at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (Jason Reasin photo)

Sexton, Roczen Qualify Strong At Daytona Supercross

Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton earned the fast qualifier award for Saturday’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross race at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Sexton dropped into the 1 minute, 11-second range as the final qualifying session of the day wound down. H.E.P. Motorsports’ Ken Roczen was close behind with a fast lap of 1:12.399 seconds.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson finished third with a 1:12.889-second lap time.

After struggling to find his groove earlier in the day, Star Racing Yamaha’s Eli Tomac bounced back in the second session to qualify fourth. He’ll have his eye on collecting a seventh career victory at Daytona this weekend.

Meanwhile, in his 450SX debut, R.J. Hampshire qualified fifth. While he regularly competes in the 250SX West division, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider is switching gears this weekend to try his hand at the 450SX class.

Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis was set to make his return to the series after sustaining a concussion at round four of the season in Houston, Texas. However, he took a tough tumble during press day in Daytona on Friday and has made the call to sit out Saturday’s race.

450SX Qualifying 1 Results

Sexton took up residence at the top of the leaderboard early on, filing a fast lap of 1:13.071 seconds.

Roczen, who has historically been strong at Daytona, put his No. 94 Suzuki in second. His best finish at the speedway was a runner-up result in 2020. Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb filed in third, TLD/Red Bull/GASGAS rider Justin Barcia was fourth and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Christian Craig completed the top five.

Tomac was eighth on the charts by the end of the nine-minute session.

250SX Overall Qualifying Results

The 250SX East group of riders was once again led by Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence during qualifying at Daytona Int’l Speedway. The rider of the No. 96 machine recorded a fast lap of 1:13.782 seconds with less than a minute to go in the second session, securing his spot at the top.

Last week’s winner Nate Thrasher qualified second, while his Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha teammate Jordon Smith came in third. Notably, Smith is a past Daytona winner — he took a trip to victory lane at the Florida round in 2018.

Michael Mosiman qualified fourth, while Max Anstie finished fifth.