Sexton’s Bootcamp Begins

Sexton believes he is still learning as he goes in such a fierce and demanding form of motorsport.

“Yes, always learning,” he said, “Always. I mean I’m 26 years-old, but I still feel super young, so I don’t know… I feel like I’m learning every time I get on the track, which is cool. I’m kind of on my own just as far as the training part. I have Levi Kitchen here with me. It’s just kind of Levi and I training. I do all the riding stuff kind of by myself. I like it that way. I’ve always been that way since I was young. I always rode and trained by myself. That’s just kind of how I like it. It’s fun. The team will be down here occasionally, but for the most part, it’s kind of on me in trying to figure out a new bike and that’s pretty much it. It’s the part that people don’t get to see, but for me, it’s the most fun part of the year because I do get to work on my weaknesses and try to just become better for the year ahead. It’s what we get paid to do and this is the fun part of the year for me, at least. It’s fun to learn new stuff and try new things. Like I said, it’s the only part of the year that we get to do that.”

So how is the adjustment going?

“Yeah, new bike, new team, and I’m back on Monster Energy, which is cool,” says Sexton. “Yes, it’s a whole new thing. I’m happy to be back on an aluminum frame, to say the least. It’s been fun so far. I’ve probably had about two and a half weeks or so of riding on the bike. It’s really refreshing. It feels a lot like my Honda did. Honestly, the first time I got on it, it took me a while to get used to it because I’ve been riding such a different bike for the last few years. It’s completely different, so I kind of had to bring back some of the old memories on the Honda and work from there.”

Sexton continued on to speak about the on-bike research and development he feels in adjusting to the aluminum frame of the Kawasaki KX450SR.

“I mean… It’s just different because every rider is different and every rider likes different stuff. For me, it was just so polar opposite of what I’m used to. It took me so long to get used to it. I kind of had to change how I rode for the bike, which is kind of a normal thing. It was just very different from what I grew up on and what I always rode. I really had to kind of hone-in and just kind of fix some of my riding for the bike. Like I said, getting back on an aluminum frame, I had to go back to how I did stuff before. It’s definitely different. So, getting back on an aluminum frame, it feels like more high performance, which is good. I feel like it’s easier to go faster on an aluminum frame, which is good for me.”

Thus far, Sexton is quite pleased with his new home. After two years with Red Bull KTM, he hopes this time he’s found a place to stay.

“I want to be here at Kawasaki for a while,” he says. “It’s kind of a different mindset for me. I just kind of want to find a home and work around really good people and I feel like I’ve found that. It’s still early, obviously. It’s still the honeymoon stage, but I think for me, it’s off to a really good start. It’s been fun so far. We’ll see at Anaheim. The team is really cool. They’ve been around for a while. They have a lot of knowledge and that’s something I kind of lean on and trust in. I have Theo Lockwood as my crew chief and then Rango (Jason Motoya) as my mechanic. They came to Hawaii with the bike and stuff for the team photo shoot, so I got to spend some time with them there away from the track. They’re really good people and trustworthy, so I’m really excited. It’s a good change. I think everyone loves change. You see the same guys on the same bikes for so long. I think everyone likes the KTM I raced, but for the most part, it seems like everyone wants to see me get back on a Japanese bike. That’s kind of the same for me. Everyone is stoked on it and how it all looks. For the little part of time that I’ve ridden on the bike, I feel looser on the bike and just kind of open. I feel loose and I can move around more on the bike, which for me allows me to go faster. That’s something that I didn’t really ever find at KTM. I felt like I was pretty stiff on it. I kind of want to get a little more open and more loose on the bike.

“I really want to work on the stuff that I need to work on and come back stronger for next year and kind of reestablish myself as a winner. That’s kind of the mindset. I think me and Kawasaki both have that mindset. They haven’t won in a while. They had a rough year last year. We’re both looking to improve this year. I think that’s a cool atmosphere to be in. I have one goal and that’s to win. Like I said, Kawasaki hasn’t won a championship or even a lot of races in the last few years, so it’s kind of an all or nothing kind of thing. We also want to do it smart and to not be too aggressive at the beginning. We want to kind of let it come to us and do the work in the off-season and come into Anaheim prepared.”