2023 Nashville Supercross | Race Report & Results

2023 NASHVILLE SUPERCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE

The Monster Energy Supercross Championship made its return to Tennessee for the 2023 Nashville Supercross, round fifteen of the nationwide tour. The time in Nissan Stadium was eventful, as rain in the days leading up to weekend and lots of race laps in the afternoon sun made the already challenging track even tricker to navigate, which left little margin for error when making split-second decisions and resulted in mistakes made by some of the best in the field. 

250 Heat One

As the first race of the day left the gate, Jordon Smith was off to the early lead with Haiden Deegan in tail. Chris Blose sat behind the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha teammates in third place after a great start. Tom Vialle came around in fourth place on the opening lap. 

Marshall Weltin, Cullin Park, and a few others collided in the section behind the starting gates. Tom Vialle then jumped on a red-cross flag in that section, which ultimately docked him two positions after finishing in fourth place. Cullin Park managed to work his way back into a transfer position after getting hung-up in that early pile-up. Despite a late-race charge from Deegan, Jordon Smith held onto the race lead for the entirety of the heat and snagged the victory.

250 Heat Two

Max Anstie led the second 250SX heat race out of the first turn with Caden Braswell in tail. Hunter Lawrence then dove inside of Braswell after the whoops to take over second place. Jeremy Martin sat just in front of Jo Shimoda, who rounded out the top-5. Max Anstie made a few mistakes on the second lap, which allowed Hunter Lawrence to make the pass for the race lead. 

Jeremy Martin made the pass on Braswell just after the whoops for third place. Jo Shimoda followed just a few sections later and took fourth place from the privateer rider. While running in a transfer position, Talon Hawkins went down and dropped back to last place. Jo Shimoda hugged an inside rut too tight and clipped a tuff-block, ending his chances at a third place finish. 

Hunter Lawrence snagged the heat race win and was one step closer to claiming the 250 East championship. 

250 LCQ

The 250SX LCQ was off, as Talon Hawkins led the field out of the first corner after an amazing start from the far outside. Hoffman trailed in second place, but Michael Hicks made a quick pass for second and immediately challenged Hawkins for the lead. Henry Miller then made the pass on Hoffman for third place.

Bryton Carroll now pressured Hoffman for the final transfer position but then nearly went down off of the dragons back. Henry Miller made the pass on Hicks for second place before Talon Hawkins collected the LCQ win to advance into the main event. 

250 Main Event

The gate was down for the 250SX main event and Hunter Lawrence was off to the early lead with Jordon Smith in tail. Jordon then ran Hunter high in the second corner and took the lead as he entered the whoops. Jeremy Martin trailed in third place and had Jo Shimoda pressuring. Jo made the pass after two laps and began pulling away from Martin. 

Haiden Deegan then reeled-in Jeremy Martin and began challenging for position. While leading, Jordon Smith drifted wide in the sand and blew off the side of the track, handing Hunter Lawrence the race lead. Back to the battle for fourth place, Max Anstie joined the fight as he latched on to Deegan’s rear wheel. After a better run through the whoops, Deegan pulled past Jeremy Martin and secured fourth place. 

Max Anstie then passed Jeremy Martin a lap later, shuffling Jeremy back to sixth. Late in the race, Jo Shimoda made the pass on Jordon Smith for second place. Hunter Lawrence crossed the checkered flag to collect the win in Nashville and claim the 2023 250SX East championship. 

450 Heat One

Eli Tomac led the first 450SX heat of the day out of the first corner with Cooper Webb in tail. Cooper Webb then made a quick pass on Eli to take control of the race momentarily. Though, just a few moments later, Eli took Cooper Webb high in the corner after the whoops. Cooper lost his front-end after drifting wide and went down, which left Adam Cianciarulo with nowhere to go but over Webb’s down body. After being struck in the head and back, Webb was unable to re-join the race and was taken out of the stadium in the medical mule. 

That incident left Eli Tomac with the race lead and Adam Cianciarulo in second place. Justin Hill benefited from both a great start and Webb’s incident, as he now sat in third place. Colt Nichols trailed the top-3 in fourth place. Before collecting the heat race victory, Eli had a few close calls in the whoops but managed to keep his YZ450F going straight. 

450 Heat Two

The second 450SX heat was off and Ken Roczen was off to the early lead. Justin Barcia trailed in second place, while Benny Bloss and others were down hard in the first rhythm lane. Chase Sexton clipped the rider next to him out of the gate and nearly went down, but managed to hold onto it and exit the first turn in fourth place. While in third place, Jason Anderson cross-rutted in a transition and was sent into the ground, ending his heat.

Chase Sexton now sat in third place, while Barcia continued to challenge Roczen for the race lead. Justin Barcia jumped inside in the corner before the whoops and took the race lead. Ken tried to fire back in the following corner but pulled-back and settled for second place. 

A few laps later, Chase Sexton replicated Barcia’s move and jumped inside of Ken to take second place. Chase Sexton then went after Barcia and the race lead but ran out of time, as Justin Barcia collected the heat race victory. 

450 LCQ

Jason Anderson looked to have the early lead in the 450 LCQ, but Marquier rounded the first corner tighter and took the lead. Jason then made passes on both Cros and Marquier to take the lead over. Joshua Cartwright then advanced past Cros and secured third place. Simonson then jumped past Cros with just a few laps to go and secured a transfer position. Jason Anderson collected the win and moved on to the main event. 

450 Main Event

As the 450SX main event left the gate, Eli Tomac shot into the race lead with Kevin Moranz in tail. Justin Hill snagged another great start and sat in third place. Chase Sexton advanced past Colt Nichols on the opening lap and sat in fourth. Justin Hill then passed Moranz to claim second place, as Sexton passed into third just a few moments later. 

Justin Barcia advanced into fourth place after a few laps, while Sexton continued to pressure Justin Hill for second. Chase Sexton finally made the pass for second place after a faster run through the whoops. Up front, Eli Tomac held just over a four-second lead on Sexton. Ken Roczen made the pass on Nichols to take over fifth place. 

Justin Barcia caught Hill and then made the pass for third place after little Hill made a slight mistake. The track continued to break down and become more technical, as Grant Harlan went down hard in the whoops – ending his race. After going down off the start, Adam Cianciarulo was charging through the pack and was up to seventh place. While running in third place, Justin Barcia went down hard after endoing off the dragons-back – ending his race. 

Up front, Chase Sexton caught and passed Eli Tomac after a sneaky cut down in the corner following the finish jump. Jason Anderson made a late race pass on Dean Wilson to claim sixth place. Chase Sexton crossed the checkered flag over 10-seconds ahead of Eli Tomac to collect the win in Nashville.