SAN FRANCISCO — Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton put in a near flawless ride under some of the most brutal race conditions ever seen at a Monster Energy AMA Supercross race to win round two Saturday night.
The victory pushed Sexton to the point lead after two races.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac navigated the deteriorating track to earn second place inside Oracle Park; he jumped from ninth to being tied for third place in the point standings.
Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki’s Ken Roczen recovered from an early mistake to pass his way up to third place.
The event kicks off the season-long Love Moto Stop Cancer text-to-donate campaign as well as Ken Roczen’s Kickstart for a Cause bike sweepstakes, both to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
In the Western Regional 250SX Class, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Jordon Smith followed up last week’s second-place finish to earn the top spot at round two.
“Leading the race in a mud situation, it’s obviously where you want to be because you’re not getting roosted, but it also seems like it lasts forever,” Sexton said. “The first couple laps when I was by myself and I wasn’t dealing with lapped traffic it felt, not easy, but I had a good flow and was able to hit my lines. Then once we got into lapped traffic, that’s when the race kinda starts and being able to pick around those guys is key… It’s tough not to make a mistake out there but I was fairly consistent every lap and was pretty happy with how consistent I was.”
The Western Regional 250SX class held its second round and Jordon Smith took over the red plate and a five-point lead in the 10-round championship.
Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen landed on the podium again, this time moving up one spot to earn second place. Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha’s Garrett Marchbanks had to work hard for his third-place finish after rounding the first lap in seventh place.
“I’ve been pretty bad in mud races in my pro career, especially lately. At the mudder in New Jersey last year I did terrible, I think I got 18th,” Smith said. “At High Point [motocross] in the mud I did not do good there, either. And we got here today and Bobby [Regan, the team owner] was like, “Jordon, I’ve seen you ride in the mud, you just need to try to survive today and get as many points as you can’. And I was like, ‘All right Bobby, I’m going to try to prove you wrong, but you’re kinda right.’ I do feel like I’ve gotten better in the mud… I think riding outdoors last year helped me.”