News 29 Apr 2023

Sexton overcomes Tomac for Nashville victory

Honda rider takes over second in points after heat race crash for Webb.

Chase Sexton beat Eli Tomac in the 2023 Nashville Supercross

Image: Octopi Media.

The 2023 Nashville Supercross was somewhat limited in close racing, but a motivated Chase Sexton found enough momentum to charge past Eli Tomac en route to his fourth Monster Energy Supercross win of the season.

A solid start for Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) saw the points leader control the race early before the surging Team Honda HRC rider swiped the lead and ran away with the win.

Sexton’s margin of victory was 14.513s.

Contrary to Tomac’s, an unideal start for Ken Roczen forced the Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki rider to move forward to reach the podium, in which he was successful. Roczen rounded out the podium, more than 15s back from Tomac.

Sexton’s Team Honda HRC stablemate Colt Nichols scored his best finish of the year with a fourth, beating Justin Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports) to the checkers by 5.521s.

Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki recovered from two significant crashes throughout the day to finish sixth, leading Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda), Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Kyle Chisholm (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance), and Josh Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports) to complete the top 10.

A shock malfunction for Shane McElrath (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance) ended his race early, while crashes also took Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) and Grant Harlan (Rock River Yamaha) out before the end. Barcia appeared to have sustained a broken collarbone but updates about his condition are still to come.

On a related note, Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) had a simple fall at the beginning of the first 450SX heat race but was struck while on the ground by Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki). Webb struggled to get to his feet after the incident and was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

The premier class will return to the track May 6 in Denver for the year’s penultimate round. Sexton took over second in points, displacing Webb, and is 18 down from Tomac heading to Colorado.

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