Image: Octopi Media.

Despite the requirement to finish only top 20 in order to become the 2023 250SX East champion, Hunter Lawrence was far from complacent as he finalized the title in the best way possible with a win at the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross visit to Nashville, while Chase Sexton also turned fastest qualifying honors into the main event win in the premier class.

The Nissan Stadium round marked the ninth 250SX East race of the year and the seventh that ended with the 23-year-old Team Honda HRC rider at the front.

Lawrence settled into second behind Jordon Smith (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) off the start, but a mistake for Smith sent his Yamaha YZ250F off the track and promoted Lawrence to the lead.

The young Australian was never challenged from then on, ultimately winning the race by 3.857s over Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) and finalizing his title as the champion on the Eastern region.

Smith was 1.448s back from Shimoda at the checkers, while his teammate Haiden Deegan was an almost equal distance behind as he finished one spot off the podium.

Max Anstie (Fire Power Honda) came home fifth ahead of Jeremy Martin (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM), Chris Blose (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Henry Miller (Ti-Lube Honda Racing), and Cullin Park (Phoenix Racing Honda) in the top 10.

The Eastern division of the 250SX class will conclude its season at the year’s second East/West Showdown at Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium on May 13.

Image: Octopi Media.

The 2023 Nashville Supercross was somewhat limited in close racing across both classes, but a motivated 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.

Detailed results