Tomac wins in Nashville

AMA motocross champion Eli Tomac has won the latest round of the AMA supercross championship in Nashville, however it was Cooper Webb who came away to extend his points lead in the series and is looking hard to beat now for the championship.

Tomac won ahead of Blake Baggett and Cooper Webb, with Marvin Musquin down in sixth place. With three rounds remaining Webb has 309 points to 288 by Tomac and Musquin.

Husky riders Dean Wilson and Zach Osborne did well for fourth and fifth places in the main event.

Webb had a solid start to the evening as he finished second in 450SX Heat 1 to secure a favorable gate position heading into the Main Event. As the gate dropped for the main, Webb powered his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION to the holeshot and early lead. He led for the first eight laps before dropping into the second-place position. As the race wore on, Webb found himself engaged in battle for second with KTM-mounted Blake Baggett. Baggett eventually made the move around Webb and he charged his way to the finish, capturing third overall and banking points toward his quest for a career-first 450SX title. 

“It was nice to get the holeshot and lead some laps in the Main Event," Webb said. "I made some mistakes and got passed by Eli and Blake – they were both riding really good tonight. I’m keeping the bigger picture in mind and a podium finish isn’t too bad, we were able to take away some points and extend the lead a little bit heading into the last three rounds.”  

Musquin had a great start to the day in Nashville as he claimed the second-place qualifying position in the 450SX class. He lined up in 450SX Heat 1 where he battled through the chaos to take the early lead in the race. The race was red flagged early on and after the restart Musquin ran into a few issues that ultimately set him back to claim an eighth-place transfer into the Main Event. As the gate dropped for the Main Event, Musquin put himself into second place where he battled just behind teammate Webb early on. As he was positioning himself for a pass into the lead, Musquin hit a square edge in the whoop section and went down, causing him to drop back to 20th on lap two. He made a big charge through the pack to ultimately climb his way up to sixth, claiming valuable points in the championship chase. 

“Qualifying eighth in the heat race," Musquin said. "Kind of put me in a bad position for the Main Event but I was able to get a decent start in second. Unfortunately, I made another mistake in the first set of whoops and I went down. From last, I came all the way back to sixth-place, which is okay but the end result is not good so we’ll keep on fighting.” 

“I qualified third, so the speed was good today,” Wilson said. “In the heat race, I rode a bit tight and ended up fourth. In the Main Event, I got a good start and avoided some carnage early on and got into second. I got passed by a couple guys and from there I rode in a pretty solid fourth the whole race. Fourth is a good finish but the podium was so close, so I just have to keep pushing for that.”

“Progress is progress, even if it’s slow or small,” Osborne said. “I started off a little slow on the day but a third in the heat race and fifth in the Main Event definitely feels like we’re going in the right direction. I’ll keep plugging away and looking forward to outdoors.” 

In the 250 class Chase Sexton looks like he might get the championship as Austin Forkner pulled out with injury and will likely miss the next round. Justin Cooper is also in the mix for the East Coast 250 championship, but it was Martin Davilos who won the main event in Nashville.