You don’t often see at this stage of the year: the 450 field is getting deeper than it was at the start of the season! In the last few weeks, several riders have returned from the sidelines with injury, others have solved issues with their bikes that plagued them earlier, and overall the fight for the podium might be tougher now than ever. A few examples are Malcolm Stewart, after fighting back from injuries suffered in the very first lap of the season, taking a podium two weeks ago in Detroit. Or Chase Sexton returning from injury to podium there and take fourth in Nashville. Jorge Prado started the year with a bang, missed a few races with injury, and is back and still surprising folks with his supercross skills. Justin Cooper’s slow start to the season is history, as evidenced by his runner-up finish last weekend in St. Louis. Garrett Marchbanks is now consistently in the top-ten fight in his rookie 450 season. Ken Roczen is adamant he’s not fading, Cooper Webb is still fighting…the list goes on and on.
Now add two more to the list in Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team's Dylan Ferrandis and Team Tedder Monster Energy’s Justin Hill. Both logged their best rides of the year in Nashville and were battling for the box.
“Last week was one of my worst races of the season, I felt terrible,” explained Ferrandis to Steve Matthes. “So this week we had a big test with the team in Florida. We figured out the bike and we improved it so much, best it’s been all season. I have the setup I’ve been looking for. I felt so comfortable today.”
The first major change to the Ducati is a new Akrapovic exhaust the team had tested during the off-season, but needed enough pieces produced so they could have backups at the races. That exhaust changed the power delivery of the bike so much that they were able to make other changes, including gearing, but only now has Ferrandis felt they have the right combination dialed in.
“The exhaust was something that changed the power or the bike and allowed us to change the chassis,” he says. “But what we changed was actually a little too much. Then Daytona I hardly got to race the main event, I crashed and got hurt. Detroit I was just coming back, wasn’t 100 percent, and last week was a challenging track so we realized something was wrong with the bike. We realized we went wrong on the chassis change.”
It’s a big relief for the veteran from France on a first-year effort with Ducati.
“You have no idea. It’s been a long time,” he said. “Last week I was fighting to be in the top ten. I had to bust my ass to finish tenth, then I change the bike and we’re fighting for the podium.”
Ferrandis was moving forward and into a potential podium battle with Hill and others when he went over the top of a sand berm and off the track. This let Sexton get around him, and Ferrandis was later penalized one spot, from fifth to sixth, for going off track (AMA rules require a minimum one-position penalty if a rider cuts the track, even if the rider loses positions while off the track).
“I was disappointed with the penalty position,” said Ferrandis. “I was in fifth or maybe fourth and I went to pass Kenny [Roczen] for the podium position and I went over the berm. I had no way to come back [onto the track] and Chase [Sexton] passed me when I was off the track.”
Also in this battle was Hill, who got his first good start of the year and reminded everyone, again, that his supercross skills are on par with the elite. He ran second for quite a bit of the main event after Ken Roczen fell.
“Starts, that’s the main thing,” Hill told Matthes. “I’ve been trying, banging my head against the wall. Really the first nine races I was just dead last. Dead last! I’ve been making progress, I feel like it’s not a riding thing, but the starts are bad. I proved to myself that I need the start, terribly. I feel like my setup is as good as it has ever been and I feel strong.”
Hill has always had speed. He still believes.
“My overlook on the year so far is that I should banging on the door for podiums. I feel like I’m riding that well, but those dudes are gnarly. That’s the first time I had any experience up there, at the front, in three years. It takes a lot of mental strength. You’ve got the three time champ absolutely trying to grind your rear wheel off!”
Eventually Hill got caught up in a battle with that three-time champ, Cooper Webb, and finished fifth.
“The reason I started losing so much ground is I quit getting that three on near the finish,” he said. “There was a good line there and it blew out and I wasn’t comfortable with it. I should have invested in railing the turn, two, table over one. But I just couldn’t make up my mind! I started falling apart there, and you know how it is, it’s a domino. One thing, then it screws your mindset. You know, ‘Oh now I’m getting caught.’ And I wasn’t getting caught! Until then.”
Nashville - 450SX Main Event
April 11, 2026| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hunter Lawrence | 52.323 | Landsborough, Australia  | Honda CRF450R Works Edition | ||
| 2 |  Cooper Webb | 53.320 | Newport, NC  | Yamaha YZ250F | ||
| 3 |  Ken Roczen | 52.411 | Mattstedt, Germany  | Suzuki RM-Z450 | ||
| 4 |  Chase Sexton | 53.398 | La Moille, IL | Kawasaki KX450SR | ||
| 5 |  Justin Hill | 53.249 | Yoncalla, OR | KTM 450 SX-F | ||
| 6 |  Dylan Ferrandis | 52.578 | Avignon, France  | Ducati Desmo 450MX | ||
| 7 |  Justin Cooper | 53.129 | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | Yamaha YZ450F | ||
| 8 |  Garrett Marchbanks | 54.040 | Coalville, UT | Kawasaki KX450SR | ||
| 9 |  Colt Nichols | 54.248 | Muskogee, OK | Suzuki RM-Z450 | ||
| 10 |  Shane McElrath | 54.163 | Canton, NC | Honda CRF450R |
Other riders had bad mains in Nashville, front runners like Stewart and Joey Savatgy crashed together, Eli Tomac’s struggle was well-documented. It’s all over the place in this class these days, Hill and Ferrandis are just part of a huge group that expects top fives and believes that could lead to a podium.
Hill summed it all up best.
“450 class is a tough racket right now.”
