The first 2024 Monster Energy AMA 250SX East/West Showdown took place in Nashville, Tennessee on April 20 and saw Triumph Racing’s Jalek Swoll race to a solid fifth place for his best finish of the season.
With the two 250 championships meeting for the first time this season under the stadium lights, it was an absolutely talent-stacked field to present the Triumph TF 250-X with another tough challenge in its debut year. The event also saw the return of the annual Love Moto Stop Cancer race, with the teams and riders sporting special liveries to honour the brave young patients at the nearby St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
With six rounds under his belt, this season has shown us that Jalek builds momentum over the course of the day and the event at the Nissan Stadium was no different. Taking 10th position in Qualifying 1 and 2, Swoll finished up with the same position in the combined East qualification going into the heat race. With speed in hand, Jalek came out of the gate strong in the East Heat, but lost a lot of momentum while avoiding the crash of Haiden Deegan, regrouping to finish sixth at the flag.
Along with the special graphics for the event, a new logo on the Triumph Racing TF 250-X for Nashville was that of the Francis Crick Institute, an independent charity established to be a UK flagship for discovery research in biomedicine that has been long supported by the Bloor Group, the parent company of Triumph.
The East/West Showdown Main Event scores the riders for where they finish – no matter what championship they’re riding in – and can provide the opportunity to put a lot of points between a championship rival. With Swoll keen to put the disappointment of eighth at the previous round behind him, the recently turned 23-year old came out of blocks of the Main Event on a mission.
Using the excellent starting performance of the Triumph TF 250-X, Jalek rounded the first corner in a strong position and avoided some of the chaos of the opening lap. As the race settled, Swoll progressed from fifth to fourth in the combined competitive field but was ultimately beaten to the flag by Jordon Smith to place fifth, whilst being the second home of the East Coast riders.
The result with 17 points moves Jalek up a further two positions in the overall standings to seventh. The 2024 Monster Energy AMA 250SX East championship returns for Round 8 of 9 on April 27 at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jalek Swoll (#33)
“That’s the East/West Showdown done! It’s been a really cool event, we’ve had some fun and just been building on things with the team. I felt really good on the bike in qualifying, even if I didn’t make the perfect lap. The Heat Race was good to get the jitters out and I was feeling good for the Main. I made a decent start but definitely lacked some intensity in the opening laps and was a little tense at the end, which cost us fourth.
“These East/West events are gnarly and only one East guy finished in front of me, so we’re second on the night in a way, which is really positive and we’ll just build on that for the next round.”
Bobby Hewitt – Triumph Racing Team Principal (US)
“It was a great night. There was only one East Coast rider ahead of us and we’ve moved up to seventh in the standings, with a top five overall still within reach. With Jalek, he’s a slow starter during the day but has the ability to turn it on in the Main. We’ll be working harder to increase his intensity through practice and the heats to make it easier for ourselves in the Main. But Jalek did great, the crew did great, and I’m really happy and looking forward to Philadelphia.”
Results 250 Supercross East/West Showdown Main Event – Round 7, Nashville
1st RJ Hampshire (Husqvarna) – West
2nd Jo Shimoda (Honda) – West
3rd Tom Vialle (KTM) – East
5th Jalek Swoll (Triumph) – East
250 Supercross East Championship after Round 7 of 9
1st Tom Vialle (KTM) – 136
2nd Haiden Deegan (Yamaha) – 123
3rd Cameron Mcadoo (Kawasaki) – 107
7th Jalek Swoll (Triumph) – 72
