Sexton completed lap one in eighth and began working his way forward, advancing to sixth at the midway point. He lost the spot with seven laps remaining and was seventh at the finish. Meanwhile, Roczen was pushed wide in the first corner and, after tangling with a Tuffblox cushion, he resumed the race in last place. The German made his way through the pack on the slick track but was only able to climb as high as 11th place by the finish. Sexton now sits third in the title chase, 18 points behind leader Eli Tomac, while Roczen is eighth.
Hunter Lawrence took a second-place start in the 250SX West main event and battled with Christian Craig for the lead before suffering a hard crash in the whoops section on lap 7. The Australian struggled to get up and was eventually escorted off the track to be evaluated at the Alpinestars Medical Unit. Lawrence sits third in title chase, with a five-week break ahead and four rounds remaining in the regional championship.
Ken Roczen #94
“Our weekend at Anaheim 3 was honestly a disaster. I was really uncomfortable all day. It doesn’t help that they’ve been building the track gnarlier than maybe even any other year, so It’s just a bunch of stuff collapsing and it’s just not good right now. Nonetheless, I'm going to continue working on myself and try to improve every weekend. We have to find a bike setup that works for me. It’s definitely not enough right now in order to compete with those guys out there. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we’re not giving up.”
Chase Sexton #23
"Anaheim 3 was a challenge all day. I didn't feel that great with the whoops section or the track itself; it wasn’t a good combination for me. I felt decent halfway through the main event and then made some mistakes, got squirrely a few times and lost ground. It was a frustrating night for me; I lost a good amount of points. I’m going to have to turn it back up when we go East. I’m going back to Florida this week, so I'm happy to go home and get back to a normal schedule. Hopefully we can crank out some wins. Overall, I’m proud to get out of here healthy with how treacherous the track was, and I look forward to Minneapolis.”
Hunter Lawrence #96
“It was obviously a bit of a scare, with what could’ve been something pretty bad, but it checked out to be all okay as far as my body is concerned. We were really going for the win, so we were laying it out there. Second place seemed like the easy option, as we had extended a pretty good gap on third, but I was pushing for the win – I felt like that was a pretty defining race in the championship, and I wanted to go for it. The whoops were super-gnarly, and going at full speed and pushing as fast as you can every lap, it’s how the sport can be sometimes. I’m thankful to the team for supporting me.”
Lars Lindstrom - Team Manager
“Tonight was rough for us. Hunter was riding amazing, and it looked to be his night to have a great battle with Christian for the win. He was doing everything he needed to do to keep Christian [Craig] honest in the main event, including get the good start with him, until the whoops ended up biting him. The track was tough tonight, especially the whoops; everybody was struggling in them, even the winners. It seems like when they’re built that way, the whoops only last for a certain amount of time and can’t handle the amount of riders during the day without getting completely destroyed. The 450 guys had the worst end of it, because the whoops were really bad at the end of the main event. Luckily, we survived the track, but the result was not what we were hoping for. Both riders had a tough time making it through the pack after bad starts. It was a hectic day, and I think we’re all glad to be heading East. We’ll keep working, and we’ll fight back at the next race in Minneapolis. We’re all excited to have Jett back in the truck and racing as well. Onward and upward.”