2024 Nashville Supercross | Kickstart Recap & Gallery

Little details. Nathan Alexander wraps a small piece of clear plastic around the frame spar so the zip-ty holding the wiring harness doesn’t rub against the metal.

Anstie is one of many that have added the Lawrence Wings to his CRF. Squeezing the bike with your legs is a big part of the new wave riding style, and as you can see, there’s plenty of grip tape to connect to. Fire Power Honda has mounted Racing Time’s hydraulic clutch system to the small-bore engine.

Fire Power Honda’s pre-race press release said that the Lightning McQueen and Sesame Street graphic kits designed by Yarrive Konsky and SKDA were “aimed at bringing joy to the children,” but they also made a lot of adults walking through the pits crack a smile, too.

Wash bay. Eight electric units at $125 MSRP is $1000 at Home Depot, protection plan extra. If you want a big business story to read, look up history of Westinghouse, categories the company expanded to from its start in the 1880s, and what’s become of the many subsidiaries.

Hate to see it. Trevor Colip has done well in his rookie season as a SX racer with the TiLube Honda team, but a hard crash in the first Timed Qualifying session resulted in a broken clavicle and premature end to the weekend. Feel better, Trevor.

To the minute. AMA officials know the importance of keeping the show on schedule, and the cue to start each Timed Qualifying session comes from the scoring tower…

And down to John Starling, who sends the riders off for their hot laps.

Bussin’ With The Boys. Heartbeat Hot Sauce/Team Solitaire/Yamaha worked out a deal with the Barstool Sports program for the Nashville round, which included special graphics and a photo shoot at the nearby studio.

RJ Hampshire’s last pass through the sand in Session One made our jaw drop. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider got up on the edge of the soft stuff, right by the Tuff Blocks, and held the throttle wide open to get through Segment Five in 18.931 seconds. We’ll have to ask RJ if he remembers the lap when we see him in Denver…

The paint department at TLD blended up some bold, chrome PPG paint and laid some classic speed bubbles, diamonds, stripes, bold letters, and color blocks to the SE5 helmets worn by Justin Barcia, Pierce Brown, and Ryder DiFrancesco. Future production model? Fingers crossed.

Alpinestars and Gibson Guitars teamed up for another run of special kits for the Lawrence brothers. Slash was used as the inspiration for Jett’s gear, which included the number 18 in a snake font, a nod to the GnR guitarist’s love for reptiles.

Hunter’s setup was based on artwork by TOOL guitarist Adam Jones, with current trends like geometric lines and numbers in the dark red colors. Did you know that Slash, an icon of 80s hard rock, and Jones, a leader in 90s alternative metal, were both born in 1965, and that Jones is actually older? Total mind blow.

The AMA brought Andrew Short to Nashville to try a new role as rider liaison. The officiating group is making a big effort to improve dialogue between all parties, and having someone like Short, a former pro who knows the importance of safety, competition, and communication, will help a growing group that includes tenured industry pros like Jeremy Albrecht, Dean Baker, and Dana Wiggins.

Nissan Stadium or Corona Clay Company?

The sand really gets everywhere.

Theodore Pauli is determined to make it through the final rounds of Supercross, shoulder injury be damned. The leader of the MADD Parts Kawasaki team didn’t make the 40-rider cut in Nashville but will try to finish out the season as a competitor and then turn his attention to fielding Freddie Noren through the Nationals.

Another red flag. Officials seem much more willing to throw the silk out and re-rack riders during motos than they used to be, as we’ve seen it a few times this year already and dozens of times over the last five years.

Riders seem to be more familiar with the restart procedures, too, and everyone seems to have the bugs worked out when it comes to a staggered, single-file send off. Wonder if this is being practiced at the training facilitates?

450 Heat Race One started as a duel between two riders that can crank out a quick lap, as Ken Roczen and Justin Cooper went at it for the top spot for a few moments until a stall by KR and a mistake by JC changed the running order tremendously.

Grant Harlan told us he’s still far from full strength. The Gizmo Mods/Rock River Yamaha rider missed months of riding after his hip injury at the MXON last September and jumping into the 450 Class midway through the Supercross season hasn’t been an easy endeavor. When does last year’s breakout rider think he’ll be back at his best? Midway through the Nationals is what he’s aiming for, and he hopes it’s followed by a strong offseason of Troll Training that will lead into 2025. Grant, do your stretches.

Like many, we were hoping Adam Cianciarulo could hold onto the top spot all the way to the checkered flag, but he didn’t want to be given the win. “I want everyone to race me heads-up, and if I’m not good enough to win or better than the next guy, it’s fine,” he told us in HWYW.

Finish line fist pump style check with winner Hunter Lawrence…

And runner-up Adam Ciaciarulo. Who did it better?

Poor Justin Rodbell. Scroll down to see how the Next Level Racing rider got boxed out down the straightaway.

A difficult day and a few tumbles might have brought Jared Lesher’s season to an end. No, the two-stroke rider isn’t hurt, but hitting AX and SX isn’t cheap and not making a Main Event took a toll on the budget. “All in all it was a fun season of Arenacross and Supercross. Came up short on our goals, but we had fun, put on a show for the fans, and kept the 2-stroke dream alive another year. This all wouldn’t be possible without my amazing sponsors that help me do what I do, and huge shoutout to @lectronfuelsystems for being the face of the program this year, @hpracedevelopment for giving up a rocket ship of a bike, and @malcolm and @themendid for coming into my program when we needed it the most, and keeping me looking fresh each weekend.” Lesher might not be done, though, as it sounds like the privateer might team up with another rider like Justin Starling and split expenses.

We’d like to throw a suspension data logger onto Malcolm’s dreads to measure how many times the locks go up and down during a lap around the track.

Do you blip it like a two-stroke or will that kill the battery? Donnie Emler and his son, Ethan, got to take part in the KTM JR SX Challenge at Nashville, a father-son moment that was shared by multi-time GNCC champion Kailub Russell and his boy, Krue.

Apparently JuJu is an earplug guy.

A split-second before the championship-changing chaos between Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki riders Levi Kitchen and Cameron McAdoo.

Kitchen will have a few days to get over the pain, as an overnight stay at the hospital showed no serious injuries, but McAdoo has now declared that the broken scapula will be the end of his title fight in the East Region. Heal up and hope to see you soon, CM.

We liked the sherbet colors Fox Racing used for Jo Shimoda’s Nashville setup. The Team Honda HRC rider is very involved in his look and per the gear company, he picked out the hues for the pants and jerseys.

Haiden Deegan didn’t mince words after Nashville, as the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider declared he’ll put up a fight and make things interesting in the 13-point battle with Tom Vialle for the top spot in the East Region. Given the actions and remarks both riders have made towards each other this season, we cannot wait to see how this plays out in Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. Who’s your money on: the two-time MX2 champ or the defending SMX titleist?

The eyes and mouth crack us up. Kachow.

RJ Hampshire’s Showdown win amid Levi Kitchen’s troubles propelled him to the top of the point standings in the West Region, and he now leads by two points with two rounds to go. Will the veteran clinch his first pro title, a must for his future promotion to the 450 Class, or can Kitchen claw himself back into the lead at Denver or SLC?

Has to be hard to breathe with a mouth full of blood. Respect.

See that small outline on the lens? That’s “a clear adhesive seal around the bottom tear-off to seal between lens and tear-off stacks. This is done to prevent any water and debris from entering between the lens and the 7 stack tear-offs. This also helps prevent your lens from scratches in all conditions with a true seal.” For years this was offered only to high-level racers with access to SCOTT rider support, but now the special sheets are available to the public. Two stacks of laminates (14 tear-offs total) costs $30.

Dirt Studios hit the Alpinestars’ archive for Jason Anderson’s Nashville gear, which was a take on the Tech 4 boot of the early 90s. There’s a big demand for the look to be made for the masses, be it the boots, the pants and jersey, or the casual threads that went along with it.

Gibson-Red Bull-Alpinestars-Jettson by AirTrix.

The matchup we’ve all been waiting for. Jett and Eli found each other at the front in the 450 Main Event, and for thirteen laps, we got to see the two generational icons hit the big lines, find the fastest way around the track, and make a key pass when the opportunity presented itself. Sounds like we could have a few more chances to see this again in the months to come.

Josh Hill is the man. The journeyman racer showed up at Nashville in a motorhome with a modest YZ450F (PC pipe and enzo suspension, of course) and made the cut for the Main Event against a deep, competitive lineup of former champs and current stars. Big Hill went 22 laps and finished 20th place.

Chase Sexton’s case and crash over the start straightaway was wild. We saw the Red Bull KTM rider out of the corner of our eye when he left the face of the jump, and the resulting slam was one of the harder hits he’s had this year. Fortunately, the defending champion was unharmed and he will be back on track this weekend in Pennsylvania with hopes of closing the 33-point gap.

Sexton’s reign of “wildest wreck of the season” was short lived, as Ken Roczen’s shock explosion in the whoops happened only a few moments later and showed us the importance of dampening and rebound over the whoops. The Progressive/HEP/Suzuki rider will miss the rest of the SX season with a broken tibia plateau, foot, and toe. Feel better, Ken.

Fredrik Noren told us that he’s dealing with a broken fifth metacarpal in his foot from STL, an injury that caused him to miss Foxborough and has hampered his riding, but the ever-upbeat rider says he’ll manage it through the next few weeks and hopes to be at full strength for the start of the summer.

That’s six.

Making sure the energy drink label faces forward, the mark of a true pro.

Good to see Eli spray the suds. Earlier this year we saw a dejected Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider pour the bottle onto the ground, frustrations from a podium finish when he wanted a win, but the hard-fought runner-up result deserved a celebration.

Yeah, Hutch. Thanks for reading.