Chase Sexton went into the sixth round of Monster Energy Supercross with a five-point lead over Cooper Webb. However, after a rough first lap, where Sexton not only got stuck in the gate, but also went down a couple of corners later, he found himself having to work his way up from last. An impressive ride found him standing on the podium at the end of the night in third place, though he lost his five-point advantage over Webb, who made a late race pass on Ken Roczen for the win.
Even though the series has lost title contenders the last couple of weeks with Eli Tomac and both Hunter and Jett Lawrence out with injury, the racing has still been exciting. The field may not be as deep as it was at Anaheim 1, but it is still a feat to come from dead last to third. Sexton explained how he did it in the post-race press conference.
“I think I made the most time up honestly in the whoops," Sexton said. "I think it's the best I've hit the whoops on a 450 since I've started racing in this class, to be honest, so I was going down the right side, pretty much fourth gear as fast as I could go and passed Malcolm [Stewart] and Jason [Anderson] there. It was that section [before the whoops] and in the whoops that I could make up the most time. And yeah, that ride, it wasn't a win, but honestly, those are the ones that stick with you more because if there's something that you put a lot of heart and fight into, they mean a lot, even though it wasn't a win. But it was the best I could do today.”
If coming from behind to land on the podium wasn’t impressive enough, Sexton locked in the fastest time of the race, four tenths faster than Roczen’s fastest time. All while coming through traffic. When he got into fourth place, he was able to gobble up time on Anderson in third, and when Anderson made him work to get around, there was no point when Sexton thought of settling for fourth.
“No, I was pushing through no matter what," Sexton said on settling for fourth or not. "I came from last, I wasn't gonna give up podium. So, yeah, I passed him in the whoops, I knew it was coming because I passed him the whoops and then I kind of got to the inside of him in that turn. We jumped the triple side by side and I pushed him wide in the sand a little bit and I knew he was on the inside of me after the finish line, and if anyone knows Jason, you're right, he races hard and pushed me over the berm a little bit and then we kind of played cat and mouse on the straightaway. But yeah, we went back and forth there for a second. It's just racing. I know how Jason will race and it's not like he did anything like dangerous. He just raced me hard, and I mean for a podium, it means a lot, so there's no problem there, just hard racing.”
Sexton’s ride was reminiscent of his Hangtown ride last year where he came from last to first, and a stark contrast to last week in Florida, where he led most of the race only to crash and finish fifth.
“I don't really like doing that, but it kind of reminded me of Hangtown a little bit last year," Sexton said on charging from last in Detroit. "Obviously, I didn't win the race, but when I get in that mode, it kind of fires something up in me and I kind of just sent it and went for it and I had a really good flow going. It was hard because there were so many guys I had to pass and I had to take different lines, but also I was really on the mark with hitting my marks and just doing consistent laps and I was kind of keeping track where these guys [Roczen and Webb] were just so I can kind of base my pace off of them and know that I'm going fast. So, like I said, I had good whoop speed, good section after the start straight, and yeah, just put a lot of fight into that race.”
The come from behind rides are exciting to watch, but now that the field is thinner and Webb is on a roll with his first win, now is not the time to be giving points away. Sexton has been fast so far this year, but up until this weekend he has either won or been off the podium. Meanwhile Webb has finished on the podium four out of six races. What’s the old saying? “Consistency beats speed when speed lands you on the ground.” Okay so it might not be a saying, but it is something fans have seen happen time and time again in supercross. So, the question is, what will win out this year, speed (Sexton) or consistency (Webb)?
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC  | 168 |
| 2 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL | 158 |
| 3 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 152 |
| 4 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 125 |
| 5 |  Malcolm Stewart | Haines City, FL | 124 |
