Chase Sexton closed out the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Championship with a second main event win of the year in Salt Lake City, providing a positive end to what’s been a troubled first 450SX campaign with Monster Energy Kawasaki. In this Debrief feature, Sexton reflects on the night and how it all unfolded in the final round of the season.

Image: Octopi Media.

Back in the winners circle

Yeah, I almost forgot what it’s like to do a press conference, to be honest. This is only my third time this year. So, it’s no secret that it’s been a trying year for me and also the team. It just hasn’t been ideal. So, to get this win means a lot. I’ve always been good here – this is my fourth win in a row. I knew that I had a good shot if I could just get off the gate honestly, and today I had two good starts in the heat race and the main event, and that was really the key. If I don’t put myself in position, it’s really hard, especially with how the tracks have been, to make passes. My whoop speed hasn’t been the greatest, so one area where I passed a lot of people prior kind of got taken away. So, I had to get creative and try to make passes in other places. I ended up starting to jump the whoops, I started to get closer to Jorge [Prado] and them, and I was honestly kind of just like, I didn’t really know what to do because even Jorge said it, but those guys up in the front – I felt good, like I knew I had a good flow, but I knew with how the track was, you couldn’t push it, and I also didn’t want to interfere with what they were doing. So I was just kind of riding around and then obviously Hunter [Lawrence] fell and Jorge was right there, and I’m like, ‘I can make a pass for second.’ Then Kenny [Roczen] kind of fell back to me, or I got a better flow as well too. So yeah, stoked for Kenny, but yeah it’s really nice to end off the championship this way and just get a win – two on the year. Hopefully we can carry some of this into outdoors.

The championship unfolding

Honestly, I feel like I was watching a movie when I was behind them. I got a pretty good start, Hunter was on the inside, then Kenny came from the outside and got him in the second turn. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is what people wanted for the championship race.’ Then Hunter went off the track and went down, and I’m like, ‘Now I can kind of just go for the win.’ Especially with how the track was in the whoops, it was so easy to catch somebody out. I knew where Kenny was strong, and he was still skimming the whoops, which I was really surprised about. I was trying to rev my bike, but I’m like, ‘I’m behind you, I don’t want you to freak out if I try and pass you.’ I didn’t want to cause any problems. I told him, ‘Dude, I wasn’t trying to get close to you, I just wanted to get out front,’ because I knew Justin [Cooper] and Cooper [Webb] and obviously Jorge were behind me, and I knew I had the speed to win. Like I said, it was a crazy race. The track was very gnarly, the whoops were sketchy and I went to the jump line, which is normally not my forte, but it worked out.

Image: Octopi Media.

Signs of progression

I think for me, to be honest, I didn’t even ride Supercross this week, I just rode outdoors. So maybe that was the key. I don’t know, I think my riding – it may not look like it on the track or this season – but especially during the week, I haven’t been riding super bad. I just haven’t had a lot of comfort. So today I kind of just said, don’t touch the bike. Obviously clicker adjustments for the whoops, but no shock off, no fork off, nothing. I’m just going to ride it and ride what I have, and it seemed to work out pretty well. I told myself, if I can get through the first 10 minutes – because I haven’t been comfortable in the whoops pretty much all year – and I go to jumping, I have a good chance of winning. I told my dad, “I’m not skimming these all main event. It’s just not happening.” Plus, I wanted to make it to outdoors. It worked out in my favour. Everything I imagined kind of played out. I got to do a cool ghost ride after the race and obviously I was stoked for Kenny. Honestly, I feel emotional a little bit, not even just about my win, but about the championship and how it came down. I like both of them, Hunter and Kenny. Kenny, I’ve been very close with ever since I moved to Florida when I was 16. He was like a big brother to me and I’ve seen what he’s gone through. He’s a bad dude and honestly it gives me a lot of hope for the future. You would’ve said three years ago that Kenny was never going to win a Supercross championship, that it was kind of over. Even Eli too, it just goes to show that the sport’s not changing, but you can do it longer if you have the right mindset. I’ve seen Kenny’s dark days up close and personal, and to see him come back from that is pretty special.

Four wins in a row at SLC

Honestly, I was just super motivated to end the season on a high. I don’t know who I told today, but I said I just want to get a trophy again. Normally at this point in the year my motorhome is filled up and we’re shipping trophies back home because we don’t have any more room. But this year there’s only two of them sitting there with dust on them because there’s no reason to ship them home. I just wanted to get a trophy and I was really motivated. Obviously last year I was in a must-win scenario, and in 2023 I didn’t have to win. In 2024 I kind of felt like I was in a similar spot to now where my year was better than what it’s been this year, but I only had one win and I didn’t want to go out with just one. I wanted to get another one. I knew the track was going to be really difficult, so if I could just ride smooth it would kind of play into my favour. I knew where I could be aggressive and where I couldn’t. The turns were pretty open and I could roll them pretty well. From halfway on I knew I wasn’t pushing super hard, but I had a comfortable pace to keep it going. It just so happened. I do like this place. I won here on 250s when we stayed here for the seven weeks and it’s become not a home race obviously, but it feels very familiar. I think that’s maybe why I feel so comfortable.