Houston, Texas (January 13, 2018) – It didn’t take GEICO Honda supercross rookie Chase Sexton very long to figure it out. On a tough, technical track in Houston’s NRG Stadium, the 18-year-old from Illinois rode steady and snagged third in just the second Monster Energy Supercross race of his career.
“To be honest, no,” said Sexton when asked if he expected to podium so quickly. “Last weekend I got an eighth, and I wasn’t really happy with that. I was shooting tonight for a top five. I was riding sixth the whole moto and made two passes and I was in fourth. Then Adam [Cianciarulo] ended up crashing. That was like two laps to go, and I was set up for a podium. I was just trying to get through those two laps. I’m really happy to come away with a podium.”
It was a solid day for the team all around, with Christian Craig finishing fifth despite nursing an ankle injury. Craig overjumped a landing during the week and his ankle immediately swelled up. Two therapy sessions a day helped prep the ankle for Saturday.
“It felt fine and then in the main my foot slipped out third lap and it hit the ground. That one kind of spooked me,” said Craig. “That kind of made me tense up a little bit, but I’m not going to blame my ride on my ankle. I finished fifth and I had a podium position right in front of me. I was stuck with those guys all race and I’m pretty frustrated of how I finished. At least the ankle injury is out of the way. It’s just going to get better, so I don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Jeremy Martin continues to campaign the 450SX class for GEICO Honda on the CRF450R. His tenth was impressive since he got tangled up in a first-turn incident.
“Felt good all day on a very tough technical track that became very rutty,” said Martin. “Qualified sixth fastest in practice. Got out of the gate good in my heat race but made a couple rookie moves in the next two sections to slide back to tenth before settling in sixth spot when the checkered flag flew. Got a great jump from the outside on the main but [Cooper] Webb bashed the side of me and we both went flying off the track in the first turn. Came from last to tenth place for the main.”
All three riders return to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California this Saturday for round three of the championship.
GEICO Honda Results
250SX
3. Chase Sexton
5. Christian Craig
450SX
10. Jeremy Martin
