Nashville is one of the most popular rounds of Monster Energy Supercross. A tourist destination, oftentimes these “two trips in one” cities bring crowds from all corners of the United States. After all, what’s not to love about a night of honky tonkin’ after watching the world’s best supercrossers go head-to-head? Nashville was also one of the most pivotal rounds of the series last year as Cooper Webb’s heat race crash marked the end of his series. Justin Barcia and Jason Anderson also suffered injuries in the section right before Webb’s mishap. Let’s hope 2024 is a bit kinder, eh?
The start for Nashville spans nearly the length of the stadium before bending into a long left hand 180. A rhythm section of seven similarly built jumps greets riders immediately out of the first corner and I would expect a 2-3-2 execution here.
A bowl berm sends riders down the sideline of Nissan Stadium, consisting of a small double and supercross triple.
Upon landing the triple, riders will fire into a long sandy right-hand corner. Hopefully two lines will shape up here, but this section screams one-lined as riders will stick to the inside.
The next section is identical to Birmingham as riders will awkwardly bend to the right then back left. The next 180 is ripe for block passing and is the same setup where Deegan blasted Coty Schock into Tuscaloosa.
After the 180, riders have a couple of options. Going outside in the corner could open up a triple-on step-off as riders head toward the finish line. That outside is precarious, though, opening up the block pass. Sticking to the inside in the corner, riders will either have to roll, step-on step-off or double and table-to-single. Both of these present challenges as the roll option is very slow initially while the table-to-single will likely send riders far higher than they would like (tabletop faces are often very steep). In each of these lines, there are pros and cons, so let’s see what plays out as the go-to.
After the finish line, riders will rail a netted bowl berm to the right and embark down a stadium-long rhythm section. There are two main options as I see it. First, riders can triple out of the corner (preferable) and either triple or quad. If they can pull the quad (iffy), they could then go 3-1 to exit the section. If they are forced to triple, they would then go 3-2 to exit. The quad would get them over the taller, steeper five-footer and allow for more speed through the section.
If riders can only double out of the corner, they will then go 3-3-3 or 3-3-2-1 if wanting to stay to the inside line for the next 90 degree right.
There are three singles as riders cross the start straight and mechanics’ area before diving into a tight right hand 150 degree corner.
The next section is exactly like the Indy layout with a wall single leading directly into a whoops section. There is a slight curve in the mix, too, adding to the difficulty. Watch for riders to piece this together similarly to Indy as they size up a double-into the whoops. As the whoops may be harder and more suited for blitzing, they may opt for staying low and tight over the wall and then accelerating down the backside.
The whoops will dump into a hard left (opposite of Indy’s hard right) and into the first corner for lap two.
- Supercross
- QualifyingLiveApril 20 - 1:30 PM
- Night ShowLiveApril 20 - 7:00 PM
- Night ShowLiveApril 20 - 7:00 PM
- QualifyingLiveApril 21 - 1:30 PM
- Nigh Show (Re-air)April 22 - 1:00 AM
Who’s Hot:
Haiden Deegan grabbed the Foxboro win and turned momentum back his way a bit. He’s still 13 points down but feels like he clawed his way back into contention.
Cameron McAdoo extended his points lead to four and stayed consistent along the way.
Levi Kitchen has been red hot on the West Coast and looks to prove he’s the best on any coast.
Cooper Webb has fought back to even steven in the points and has gone 1-2-1 in the last three rounds. He has momentum on his side as we wade into the late stages of this series.
Chase Sexton rode arguably the best main event of his season while en route to a runner up finish last weekend. He doesn’t have the top end speed of 2023 but he is progressing.
Who’s Not:
Jett Lawrence has given back his 21-point lead but it’s not because he’s forgotten how to go fast. His first lap positioning is leaving him vulnerable to mistakes and other people’s poor judgment. If he can get back to holeshots, he can get back to winning.
Justin Barcia has had a rough 2024. There’s no way around it. This has to be the most outside-the-top-10 finishes of his 450 career.
Bold Predictions:
Cooper Webb changes his intro song to Blink 182’s “Take off your pants and jacket” theme.
Haiden Deegan thanks Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and Mother Theresa on the podium.
Jorge Prado holeshots the main event from the far outside gate in Belgium.
