As good as Jett was, it wasn’t exactly complete annihilation. Chase Sexton, fresh off his 450SX crown, was the clear second-best guy on the day. He qualified second fastest, finished second in both motos, and now sits second in the standings because of it. But aside from a odd first half of moto one where he took a little while to get going and get around Dylan Ferrandis, Sexton was every bit as fast as his young teammate.

In what ultimately was a Honda sweep just like the 2022 Fox Raceway 1 National where Sexton and then teammate Ken Roczen went 1-2-1-2, Jett Lawrence really spent the day just in front of Sexton. The entire second moto at Fox Raceway was really a battle that seemed inevitable but never materialized. After Lawrence grabbed the holeshot, he had Sexton hot on his tail and quite literally never broke away. So much so, Sexton got very close to making the pass in the final two laps only for Jett to just hang on to sweep on his debut.

So despite Jett Lawrence being the storyline, Chase Sexton coming straight off championship success into second place at the opener is nothing to scoff at. Often, we see a “supercross hangover” of sorts and if that’s what it is for Chase Sexton, who even crashed heavily in qualifying, things could be very different within weeks.

“I thought maybe if I get close enough, I could make a move,” said Sexton. “I tried my hardest and I got close. I made a little bit of an attempt with maybe 10 minutes to go and kind of messed up a little but. I was just trying to pick my spots where I thought I could make a move and Jett was obviously riding really good. We were pushing the pace and it was a fun moto. It felt a little bit like last year and I’m looking forward to a good season. I have some experience racing Eli [Tomac] last year and I plan to put that to the test this summer.”