Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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SUPERCROSS ROUND 14 / APRIL 7, 2019 NISSAN STADIUM / NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE P60 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS seemed content to let Baggett by for second and settle for third place on what could have been a disastrous day for his champion- ship hopes. Nashville marked the 25th 450SX Supercross victory for Eli Tomac, putting him two race wins away from tying one-time record-holder Bob Hannah at 27 on the all-time wins list. Tomac is the first racer to win an LCQ and main event in the same race since Ryan Dungey did it in 2014. "It's tough," Tomac said of hav- ing to race the LCQ. "You can use it to your advantage, or not, right? My advantage was it kept my body warm the whole night, and the front in the main event—moving from sixth to third in the first three laps—when Joey Savatgy (running second at the time) washed out his front end entering a turn. He went down just in front of Roczen and sent the Honda pilot over the berm without his motorcycle. Roczen got up almost dead last and was able to recover for eighth place, having set the fastest lap time of the main event. Roczen is due. THIS RACE SAVES LIVES Through Ryan Dungey, the su- percross community has stepped up in a big way the last few years to support Minnesota's St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, including donating the proceeds of "This Shirt Saves Lives" T-shirts to the charity. Supercross promoter Feld Motorsports took an additional step this year, declaring the all-new Nashville Supercross round to be the "This Race Saves Lives" event. The event promoted the St. Jude charity throughout the day and night, and racers participated by running St. Jude patient artwork on their gear and bikes, and the Geico Honda team even completely changed the look of their motor- cycles to reflect the importance of the event. Briefly... iii My Own Race: 73 MARTIN DAVALOS 1ST 250SX EAST Despite the injury to Austin Forkner, causing him to sit out the Nashville Supercross altogeth- er, his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team remains undefeated in the 250SX Eastern Regional Supercross Series with Martin Davalos stepping up to win the main event, deny- ing Forkner's championship rivals valuable points in the title chase. On the last lap, nervous about throwing the win away, Davalos basically rolled through the tough Nashville whoops as he headed to the checkered flag. "Everybody's talking about that!" Davalos said. "They're sketchy, man! It was a challenge to hit them, but I like that. It's technical for all of us. But I was managing my gap, and I saw Chase [Sexton] get into second, and I saw the white flag, and just there wasn't a reason for me to risk it. My first win in Atlanta a while back, I almost frickin' crashed the last lap. So, I was like, 'Hell; no, I can't do that,' so I frickin' rolled it. And my me- chanic was freaking out when I got off the track. He was like, 'Dude, you almost got passed!' and I was like, 'Calm down, dude.' [laughs]" 23 CHASE SEXTON 2ND 250SX EAST Chase Sexton topped qualifying, won the fastest heat race of the night, and then made a pass early in the main event on Justin Cooper to take the lead, only for Cooper to take both of them out almost immediately. "I got a pretty good start," Sexton said. "I had a really good gate, and I was just pumped to get out front. I really felt like tonight was my night, and I just made a quick pass on Justin and was honestly just trying to go and sprint away, because I knew it was going to be a gnarly track. And then I kind of clipped the rhythm section along the bleachers, and he got inside of me, and he just—I don't really have much to say about it. It's a bummer we both went down, especially on the first lap because it put us all the way back, but I came back to second, so you can't ask for much more. I was just trying to put my head down. Martin [Davalos] was riding good. He was a little too far out there, so I'm just happy to make up points. It's a bummer that Austin [Forkner] wasn't racing; it's not how I want to make up points, but you've got to be there every weekend."