2019 NASHVILLE SUPERCROSS, POST RACE REPORT

Eli Tomac upset the KTM train for a weekend at Nissan Stadium in Nashville Tennessee. After suffering a motor failure in his heat, the Kawasaki team had to push his bike up the ramp and out to the truck where they changed a motor in about 20 minutes.“When it broke, at least it happened there, in a straightaway. Not somewhere bad.”  When he returned for the Last Chance Qualifier, his bike was smoking, but seemed to run well. “It was running well, so I just rode it. That was all I could do. My advantage was that I kept warm all night. It was wild. The one time we have a mechanical it seemed like the truck was a mile away. Those guys had to push. But we made it. I just poured it on in the main. It felt good to do that.”

With Marvin Musquin’s crash and subsequent 6th place, Cooper Webb now has a 21-point lead with Tomac and Musquin tied for second. There are remaining rounds are in Denver Colorado, East Rutherford New Jersey and Las Vegas Nevada.

Blake Baggett was happy to be on the podium and shake off the performances of the previous two rounds, but he paid respect to Tomac’s night. “I had a couple of good spots but Eli . . . well, the best man won tonight, for sure. He just got away.”

Cooper Webb did what he had to do and rode like a man in the final races of a championship season. He said the track was unusually slippery and difficult, particularly the whoops. “These guys were obviously a lot better than me in the whoops. Tonight was a difficult track and the whoops were important to be good in. When you’re out front it was good, but I could tell they were catching me. I was struggling, but I wanted to learn, see what these guys were doing, keep on a wheel and maybe attack later. It obviously didn’t work out like that.”

Webb: “It was nice to get the holeshot and lead some laps in the Main Event. I made some mistakes and got passed by Eli and Blake – they were both riding really good tonight. I’m keeping the bigger picture in mind and a podium finish isn’t too bad, we were able to take away some points and extend the lead a little bit heading into the last three rounds.”

The news in the 250 class was the injury to Austin Forkner. He sustained a knee injury in practice and at this point, it’s unclear if he will return when the series picks up in two weeks in New Jersey. Martin Davalos was delighted to win, but revealed that he has had some severe physical trouble this season. “It was a tough off-season, breaking my neck last year, plus ACL, MCL reconstruction. I really didn’t think my neck was going to be much of an issue coming into this season, but the more I started riding, the more my arm was going numb. My wrist was locking up, I was pumping up. It was a terrible feeling. When you’re riding against the best in the world and can’t ride to your full potential, it’s frustrating. I went to a lot of doctors in California, and they put me under last Friday to try to calm my neck down a little bit. Its just a mess in there. I haven’t ridden Supercross since Indianapolis. It’s been a tough go for me. Tonight felt great. Those guys made a little mistake and I took advantage of it.  I know that I can be competitive. I know that I can be up here.”

For Justin Cooper, he admitted to a mistake when he took down Chase Sexton, but came just short of an apology. “Things got a little crazy in the heat of the moment. I didn’t want to give it up that quickly. It sucks to get passed that quickly. I went to block pass him in the flat corner and went to pull away, but it felt like our bikes were kind of connected at that point. It took us both down which is kind of a bummer.”

Chase Sexton is now the man first in line for the 250 east title if Forkner doesn’t return. “I felt like tonight was my night and I just made a quick pass on Justin and was honestly just trying to sprint away. I knew it was going to be a gnarly track. I clipped the rhythm section along the bleachers and he got inside of me and I didn’t have much to say about it. It’s a bummer that we both went down, especially on the first lap. It put us all the way back. I came back to second. I can’t ask for much more. I’m happy to make up points, but it’s a bummer that Austin wasn’t racing. It’s not how I want to make up points, but you gotta be there every weekend.”

For extended coverage of the 2019 Nashville Supercross, click here.

Results 450SX Class – Nashville 2019
1. Eli Tomac (USA), Kawasaki, 26 laps
2. Blake Baggett (USA), KTM, +11.644
3. Cooper Webb (USA), KTM, +13.808

Standings 450SX Class 2019 after 14 of 17 rounds
1. Webb, 309 points
2. Tomac, 288
3. Musquin, 288

Results 250SX East Class – Nashville 2019
1. Martin Davalos (ECU), Kawasaki
2. Chase Sexton (USA), Honda
3. Justin Cooper (USA), Yamaha

Standings 250SX East Class 2019 after 7 of 8 rounds
1. Austin Forkner, 151 points
2. Chase Sexton, 148
3. Justin Cooper, 144