What We Noticed: Arlington
February 27, 2025
Back to the 250W, and another Triple Crown! Here’s What We Noticed.
- Sexton Struggles
Last week we had this title with a question mark… no question mark this week. It’s obvious and is the clear talking point leaving Arlington: what’s going on with Chase Sexton? We’ve seen him make mistakes before, but this is 3 weeks in a row of costly mistakes. He started the season so strongly… but now he has lost a ton of valuable points to Webb.
We asked Chase about his thought process in deciding to charge forward in Race 3 despite having the overall wrapped up. His answer: he knew he had the overall, but he wants to win. He clearly was shook up and embarrassed about it all… I’m very curious what type of Sexton we see in Daytona. Luckily, he still have lots of racing left to make up points and win this title. No doubt he is the fastest guy, but can he stay mistake free?
- Webb Winning
And it continues for Webb! This is exactly what he excels at: being consistent and apply pressure late in races. So far he has gotten the best of Sexton, and now he has a 5 point lead in the championship. Webb was barely the second best guy in Arlington… yet he somehow leaves with the win and points lead. Kudos to him for being him.
- Sucks for Smith
NOOOO JORDON SMITH! He was looking so great leading Race 1, but Smith did a Smith thing and he had a nasty crash in the whoops. He was well-positioned to battle for this title; instead he will watch it from the couch (maybe he’s back soon, we don’t know yet). It sucks for him… he gets older, his competition gets faster, and his chances of winning one of these elusive titles gets harder. 2025 was looking promising for him... alas, not this year. Hopefully he comes back soon and is fully healthy for outdoors at least!
- 250W Title
Well… there goes an exciting title right? Beaumer is still close, and Davies is not that far back, but Deegan just made a big statement: he’s clearly the title favorite. Hopefully Beaumer’s shoulder is not too bad and he’s back to 100% by Indy, but I highly doubt that. Deegan is looking better than ever, and surely is feeling very confident now to win this title. Part of me thinks most of the 250W title talk so far this year has been hopeful: “Beaumer looks good”, “Smith is better than ever”, “Davies is the real deal”. Sure… all of those things were right, but Deegan is and always has been the title favorite in this class; it’s harder now than ever to question that.
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Sand Sections
We’ve had a sand section in EVERY SINGLE RACE so far this year. It’s fun for a fan… deep sand is challenging, causes crashes, is a good passing place, and simply exciting to watch. For riders it’s a nuisance. The sand section in Arlington was perhaps the most challenging we’ve seen yet: riders were entering it with a lot of speed after the start straight and it was very unsettling to the bike; so many crashes there all day long.
