Nashville

A carnage filled race with Marvin Musquin going down in the whoops on lap 2 while trying to pass the leader, Cooper Webb. Joey Savatgy took over second place but then tucked his front end and injured his wrist. That fall sent a close-trailing Ken Roczen backflipping over a tuff block and all the way to the back of the pack. Eli Tomac, who finished the first lap in 11th, was in the lead just seven minutes into the race (lap 9 of 26). Tomac left Nashville 21 points behind Webb (3 rounds to go) and tied for 2nd in points with Musquin.

23-year-old Australian Hunter Lawrence won his 7th race of the season and wrapped up his first championship in the U.S., ending a long injury-filled slog that began in 2019 when he first started racing in the States. “Everyone that is with me now was with me at my lowest of lows. I can’t say I dreamed of this as a kid because I didn’t know it was possible. I’m choked up. This is just surreal.”

Chase Sexton won but this race will be remembered as the one that eliminated Cooper Webb from contention. Webb was 11 points behind Eli Tomac coming into the race but he dropped from the round after falling in 450SX heat 1 while leading Tomac. It wasn’t the fall that caused the concussion, it was his head being run over by Adam Cianciarulo. In the main event, Tomac led early but was passed by Sexton at the halfway point. Tomac didn’t fight; he let Sexton go and left Nashville with an 18 point lead. Justin Barcia was injured early in the main event and missed the rest of the series.