NASHVILLE SX TEAROFF
Photo: Matt Wellumson / @mxmatt
Nashville Supercross is done and dusted! Lots happened in the Music City and we are here to break it all down with our thoughts from round 15 of the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series.
First off, I think Nashville is an awesome city to host a Supercross! The city is tons of fun and your within walking distance from the stadium to downtown Nashville. I’m hoping the series makes Nashville an annual stop and my opinion, if we can’t go back to Las Vegas for the season finale. I think we should use Nashville as the new last round of Supercross just because of the downtown scene, how close it is to the races, and it’s not called NashVegas for a reason!
Now on to the races, let’s start with the track! Rain was in the forecast for the weekend and looking be another mudder so the Dirt Werx crew covered and sealed the track early in the week. It did end up raining later in the week but when they peeled off the tarps for Friday’s track walk, it was bone dry with soft, wet spots in the transitions of the jumps and whoops. Then, Saturday kicked off. Track seemed to be in prime condition for practice and qualifying. Good lines were developed and track got faster as the day went along. Unfortunately, the track claimed a few racers in practice like Jason Anderson in the whoops and few more but was setting up for a awesome day of racing!
250 CLASS
Factory Honda’s Hunter Lawrence had a hefty points lead in the 250 East heading into this round but we wondering which Hunter we would get? Race-winning Hunter Lawrence or championship conservation Hunter, which all he had to do was start in the main event and he was champion. Hunter grabbed the holeshot but got passed by Jordon Smith in the second corner. Hunter kept calm for the first 5 minutes until Smith make a mistake thru the sand section and going off track which gave Hunter the lead. He then managed his lead the rest of the race and picked up his 7th win of the season. Hunter would claim the 2023 250SX East Championship and hold up that AMA number 1 plate for the first time in his young career! Congrats Hunter!
Video: Motorsports on NBC YouTube
Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda also benefited on Jordon Smith’s mistakes moving up to second place and keeping tow with Lawrence. Shimoda picked up his first podium of the season in his third race coming back from injury. The #30 looks to be close to top form and will be a title contender come outdoors for the Pro Motocross season in the 250 class.
Jordon Smith did rebound after his near crash in the sand section and finishing the race on the 3rd step of the podium on his Star Racing/Yamaha. It’s been a great comeback season for Smith after a few years of setbacks and injuries which has been awesome to see!
Star Racing/Yamaha rookie, Haiden Deegan puts in another top 5 performance in what has been amazing season for him as he keeps clicking off the laps and gate drops in the Pro ranks. I wouldn’t say this is an out of reach prediction but I see him as a possible title contender in Pro Motocross.
In other notes from the 250 class, Minnesota’s own Jeremy Martin finished 6th after running in the top 5 majority of the race. He took East Rutherford off after a bad crash in Atlanta. Martin continues to keep building this SX season with gate drops and I think we will see vintage J-Mart come outdoors! Fellow Minnesotan, Henry Miller once again clicks off a top 10 finish in Nashville with a 9th on his TiLube/Storm Lake Honda. We’re also working on a upcoming Block Pass Podcast with Henry so stay tuned on that!
450 CLASS
The 450 class has been all out war since the Easter break between Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb and it’s been very exciting to watch this season! In 450 heat 1, we saw the two championship contenders go head to head. Tomac got the early holeshot with Webb in tow. Cooper took Eli high in the next corner and no contact was made but made the pass. They both went thru the whoops side by side with Eli on the inside coming into the corner and nicely returned the favor in that corner and Cooper had nowhere to go besides high in the berm then his front tire washed out over the top of the corner causing him to go down.
Video: Motorsports on NBC YouTube
Unfortunately, Adam Cianciarulo ran it to the back of Cooper Webb and that is the end of Webb’s 2023 Supercross season with a concussion which shows anything at any moment in time can happen in this sport. Now the question is when will we see Cooper on the gate again? Outdoors? World Supercross? Next season? And will it be on KTM or a different brand? We will have to wait and see but in the mean time best wishes and a speedy recovery to Cooper Webb!
Chase Sexton picked his 4th win of the 2023 season in Nashville. Sexton seems to have finally turned it around from his early season mistakes and is running flawless the last few rounds heading into the final two. Once Tomac got the holeshot in the main event and started checking out up to a 5 second lead with Chase running in 4th behind Ken Roczen, Justin Hill, and Barcia. Once he got around those guys he sprinted showing his raw speed once again catching Eli which I was impressed by! Of course he wasn’t going to put up much of a fight with Chase he didn’t need to beat him for championship. Once Sexton got around Tomac, he kept chugging comfortably along to a 15 second lead never looked back til the checkered flag. Its hard for me to bet against that Chase Sexton will win these last two rounds of Supercross while Eli just manages to be ok with second place the next two weekends to win the 2023 championship but anything can happen as we’ve seen the last couple rounds. FUN FACT, this is also the 3rd time this season that Honda HRC doubled wins in the 250 and 450 class in the night. Detroit, Atlanta, and Nashville.
Video: Motorsports on NBC YouTube
With Webb out and Sexton 18 points back, its almost a for gone conclusion that Eli Tomac will be your Supercross champion but we can’t rule out anything just yet! Either way the Star Racing/Yamaha rider has done what he needs to wrap up his 3rd Supercross championship. Will he be able to wrap it up in his home state of Colorado this weekend in Denver?
Photo: Matt Wellumson / @mxmatt
Ken Roczen continues to trend upwards here in the second half of the Supercross season on his Progressive/Ecstar/Suzuki with 3rd place finish in Nashville. It’s been very exciting to have Roczen on a Suzuki up in mix for podiums and race wins this season. Kenny rode a smart, clean race and now with Barcia out with injury, is he a shoe in for 3rd the next two weekends?
Props to Honda HRC’s Colt Nichols and Team Tedder’s Justin Hill with their first 450 top 5’s of the season! Nichols started out the season with a 6th at Anaheim 1 then it has been up and down season since and recently just coming back from an injury so this has got to feel good for Colt especially as a fill-in rider. Hopefully someone sees the potential and picks him up for Pro Motocross or at least the 2024 season! As for Hill, he’s been slowly building into this all season after not racing at all for 2 years, becoming a cop, and coming back. He was in 3rd majority of the race until Roczen caught him got caught up with a lapper to send him back to 5th where he finished. Good job Justin Hill! He’s another one that needs to be looked for a ride in 2024!
Video: Motorsports on NBC YouTube
Of course, I want to send a shout out to Justin Barcia. Bummer he went down over the dragons back in the main event which resulted in a broken collerbone. Sounds like he will be 100% for outdoors but dang! He was have such a good second half of the season since Daytona and saw as a threat to win these last 2 rounds! Get well soon Justin!
Photo: Matt Wellumson / @mxmatt
NEXT UP DENVER!