In crashing out of podium contention at the season-opener, Chase Sexton has conceded that ‘I have to figure out how to not make bonehead mistakes’ after he salvaged fifth at Anaheim 1.

Sexton displayed front-running pace during the night, securing a heat race win and then pressuring teammate and eventual winner Ken Roczen in the main before two costly falls mid-race dropped him back.

The Team Honda HRC rider was able to recover to fifth in the end, however, the feeling of what could have been lingers, clearly displaying potential in the early stages of his sophomore 450SX campaign.

“Today was pretty good – practice was good, heat race was good,” Sexton explained. “In the main event, I made a few costly mistakes, which was frustrating. My speed is really good and I feel really good on the bike… we did a lot of good work during the off-season and it’s looking promising.

“Finishing fifth after crashing twice is pretty good I guess, but I have to figure out how to get my marks up and not make bonehead mistakes. The track was really good, I actually had fun on it all day. The mistakes I made were my fault. The bike felt good on the track – we had a good base – and I just really enjoyed it.

“I won a heat and got fifth in the main because of my mistakes, so I’m looking forward to improving. Kenny won, so it proved that we put in some good work on the bike. We’re healthy and on to the next round.”

Sexton will get a chance at redemption this Saturday at round two of the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross Championship in Oakland, CA.