What We Noticed: Nashville
April 22, 2024
Hot chicken and country music… here’s What else We Noticed from Nashville.
- Jett Proves a Point
After 3 disappointing rounds in a row, the momentum had shifted in Webb’s favor. No one ever doubted that Jett was the fastest on the bike, but he needed to turn things around results-wise. Well, he did exactly that in Nashville. As Webb mentioned in the press conference, it seemed like Jett came into the weekend with a point to prove: qualified fastest by far, dominated the heat, and then caught and passed a very fast Tomac to easily grab the main event win. Jett is crazy fast, and if he can get good starts and ride error free this championship is definitely his to lose.
- Defeated Webb
I’ve said this before… Webb seems defeated when it comes to being able to straight-up beat Jett. He straight up mentioned last night that he was hoping for a mistake from Eli or Jett in order to beat them. Don’t get me wrong, Webb is a confident guy and is still VERY much in the championship. But I think everyone knows that Webb is in it strictly by being able to capitalize on Jett’s mistakes. If he can continue doing that, this thing might be interesting come SLC. He needs those mistakes… but with 3 rounds left anything can happen.
- Wild Crashes / Indestructible Sexton
Nashville once again claims a lot of people. I think it’s just coincidence (no, Nissan Stadium is not cursed), but wild to see vicious crashes from both Sexton and Roczen. Unlike last year, both of those crashes appear to be bike-related via malfunctions. Luckily both of these guys appear to be relatively okay… Roczen hurt his knee but no major damage, and Sexton slammed himself hard but got up and walked away. How about that… we haven’t seen many huge crashes from Sexton recently but wow, he never gets hurt. Somehow, he takes these brutal slams and is fine; indestructible.
- Poor PC
I tweeted earlier in the day that PC was down to just 2 riders across both coasts but luckily had 2 red plates. At the time, I honestly felt like adding on “feels like they’re hanging on by a thread”… I didn’t add that to the tweet, but kinda a premonition right? Turns out, McAdoo hurts his shoulder in a silly qualifying mistake. He opts in to race the main, but then proceeds to collide with his teammate Kitchen and take both of them out (this was just a racing incident). Horrible luck for the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team… they now have lost 2 red plates. McAdoo appears to be out of this championship (regardless of injury status he is too many points down IMO) and now Levi has to contend with a confident Hampshire with only 2 rounds left (he may also be dealing with broken ribs). PC championship woes continue… why does this happen?
- Bad Racing Track
Same thing as last weekend right? For the most part, just nowhere to separate these guys; boring rhythm sections and the whoops were jumped right away. During the heat races, it seemed next-to-impossible to pass: Gage Linville legitimately hung up Deegan for 3+ laps! Luckily in the 450 main, Tomac, Roczen, and Jett started pulling out some faster jumps that were cool to see. Unsure if that helped with passing cause they also happened to be top 3 from the start, but at least we got to see something different finally… that triple in before the whoops was massive!
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Hot Chicken
You can get Tennessee BBQ (don’t), listen to country music (try it once; be aware of massive crowds on Broadway), but the real thing to do is Nashville Hot Chicken! The city is teeming with fried chicken places that specialize in a hot spicy seasoning added to it. Maybe avoid this on race day though… it can fuck up the stomach. Also, Nissan Stadium is right downtown and a cool spot to hang. The Titans (the Nashville NFL team that own the stadium) are building a new covered stadium with an expected opening in 2027… who knows the cost of hosting a race there, so get out to Nashville while you can!
