Chase Sexton repeated his qualifying performance from last weekend and set the fast time again at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, with a 50.320-second lap time.
The Honda HRC rider continued to better his own times as he remained over a second faster than Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis who took second place with a 51.415-second lap time.
“The track is super tacky and the berms are like rails, so keep my corner speed up, stay good in the whoops and hit my marks,” Sexton said about his strategy in his Race Day Live interview.
Ferrandis’ teammate Eli Tomac was settled comfortably in third at 51.431 seconds. The defending champion stumbled during the Triple Crown last weekend when he crashed in the third race, but bounced back to salvage sixth overall on the night.
Monster Energy Kawasaki riders Jason Anderson and Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five in qualifying.
450SX Qualifying 1 Results
Sexton set a fast lap of 50.796 seconds four minutes into the first qualifying session, which was over a second faster than Ferrandis at 52.151 seconds. The top of the leaderboard remained uncharacteristically steady for most of the session, with Tomac, Ken Roczen and Anderson settling in behind Sexton and Ferrandis.
By the end, Sexton had dropped his time down further to 50.481 seconds, Anderson jumped up to second with a 51.828-second lap time and Tomac stayed in third at 51.895 seconds.
250SX Overall Qualifying Results
It’s a new group of 250cc class riders this weekend in Houston, Texas, as the series begins its two-week stint with the 250SX East Championship. Notably, several professional debuts are being made at NRG Stadium, including anticipated appearances from Star Racing Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan and Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle.
Fire Power Parts Honda rider Max Anstie jumped onto the radar by dominating both qualifying sessions, ending the day with a 52.129-second lap time. Nate Thrasher finished second with a 52.438-second lap time and Jordon Smith came in third at 52.443.
Key competitors Hunter Lawrence and Jeremy Martin rounded out the top five.
Deegan topped the charts in the 250SX B-qualifying session with a 53.492-second lap time.