Team Honda HRC earned its second win-sweep of the 2023 AMA Supercross season this weekend in Atlanta, and this one was particularly sweet for Chase Sexton and Hunter Lawrence. This one was even better than the first, as Sexton and Lawrence both dominated their respective races, and both improved their chances to win titles. Their timing was also good, as the event was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway, just down the road from Honda’s Powersports headquarters, with scores of Honda associates in attendance, along with top management.
Sexton was third across the holeshot line in the 450SX main event, and he put his CRF450RWE into the lead just a couple of turns later. From there, it was smooth sailing, as the Illinois native rode flawlessly to a seven-second victory. Meanwhile, despite struggling with illness all day, Nichols rode well, advancing from 13th after lap 1 to an eventual ninth-place result.
In the 250SX East main event, Lawrence exited turn 1 in second place and quickly muscled his CRF250R by Haiden Deegan. A Lawrence miscue allowed Deegan back by, but by lap 3, the Australian had taken permanent possession of the lead, and he ultimately stretched his advantage to over eight seconds.
In recent interview with RacerX Chase Sexton said:
Okay you said you made more bike changes. You also have said you’re only doing long motos during the week, and not even doing qualifying or heats. Is there something you can pinpoint now and say, “We’re good now?”
Yeah, like I said last week, I’m just focusing on the longer motos. I also think I’m gonna do a day of outdoors this week. I just try to always focus on the longer races and longer motos. That’s what you get paid to do. So this week I was like, “I’m not focusing on anything except the main event.”
So, I think you’re 17 points out?
Yeah. Win out. That’s it. Gotta win the rest of these races and I’ll be good. Or if Cooper and Eli get into it, it might give an opening for me.
Well, they didn’t even get on the podium yesterday.
Right. Anything can happen. 17 points is a lot but it’s definitely doable. We’ve seen crazier stuff happen.
So you’re thinking about it, at least.
Yeah. All I can do is go out and try to win. I’ve put myself in a position where I have to win races. [Laughs] Those guys are racing more each other, I feel like. I’ve kind of gotten that vibe. So if we can get Justin, Kenny and Jason up there, it could be interesting.
You can read the whole interview here
