half the field. He was 25th. By
lap two, he was 18th, and by
the midway point of the 17-lap
race, Sexton was already in sixth
place but now among the elite
of the field. You could say he
was also "in the zone."
A few laps later, he made a
surprise pass on Jett Lawrence,
who was running in fifth after he
had been running a remarkable
second for a while. With three
laps to go, Sexton got around
Cooper and had just one more
rider ahead of him—Plessinger,
who had several seconds on
Sexton. But it wasn't enough.
On the last lap, Sexton had
caught Plessinger, who had
enough for one day, plenty more
would come. It started when
Sexton slid out on his own in the
first turn and picked up his KTM
to finish in 40th place, officially
dead last. "It was the dumbest
thing I could have done," Sexton
said of the fall.
At the same time, fan favorite
Plessinger passed Justin Coo
-
per for the lead and was riding
well. Plessinger looked moti-
vated for the win, and Sexton be-
gan his charge through the field,
no one thinking he had much of
a chance of finishing in the top
five, let alone getting the win.
By the end of the first lap, Sex
-
ton had already passed nearly
Jett was the only rider do-
ing this jump, which just goes
to show how difficult the jump
was, and the risk-to-reward
proved detrimental for Jett, who
rejoined the race in last place
and with a fresh gash in his leg.
He finished out the moto, hoping
to salvage some points, but to
no avail. He finished three posi
-
tions out of the points.
Meanwhile, Sexton made the
most of his main rival's misfor-
tune and came away with the
moto win. After completing the
first lap in fifth, a pass on race
leader Hunter with three laps to
go secured the victory.
If Jett's crash wasn't drama
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P65
