Slaw
It is bound to happen. Maybe, it already should have happened. But, it feels closer than ever now.
Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence has won at every stage of his career. Pro Motocross, SMX Playoffs, 250SX, Motocross of Nations, MXGP and yet one still eludes him: A victory in the 450SX Class in Monster Energy AMA Supercross.
He’s right there, though. Through four rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship he has three runner-up finishes—in a row. And his fourth at the opener could have been more.
At Houston’s Triple Crown an uncharacteristic first race mistake—where he crashed late in the race—cost him. But, there is still plenty for Hunter to be happy about as he sits just four points back of series leader Eli Tomac.
After Houston, Lawrence spoke with the media about Houston and more.
What you’ve been doing, it’s impressive in the fact that it’s been repeatable as well, even more impressive. I want to go back to that first race. I believe there was an off on the motorcycle. How did you reset in order to just come back swinging for this position overall?
Hunter Lawrence: Yeah, it was a bit of a bummer in the first one. I just kind of got a little twitch and kind of sent off the track. It wasn’t really a crash, but then as soon as I went off the track there where it meets the concrete, it’s just so slippery and it’s pretty much like… If you can save that, I think that speaks more about your riding than racing on the track. So just reset off for that one and I think we did pretty good.
How important is the start in a Triple Crown? And then kind of a double question is you winning that second one, you don’t really have time to celebrate. You got to stay in race mode. How difficult is that?
Lawrence: Yeah, honestly, the short turnaround from first to second is I find easier than the last one. You’re kind of waiting around a little bit longer. I feel like that is the longer wait is almost tougher because it’s like starting fresh again, which I don’t know why for some reason just is harder for me rather than just like logging in the duration. But yeah, the start is everything. I believe that even in a normal main event, conventional 20, it just makes your night so much easier as it does in outdoors. I mean, you see the chaos that goes on and I’ve been on the other end of that before, so I just try to give myself the best shot into that first turn. And then that’s the first race and then the rest of it, they’re two different races almost.
It’s getting closer and closer to that overall win and supercross. We got to Race 2 win tonight. What is that next little step that you need? It’s so close and it’s right there, but what do you feel like it is that one thing you need?
Lawrence: Last moto, basically like that one rhythm lane. I didn’t get that and then that gave Eli the inside and that was where that race was decided, I think. I still tried to push and get a rhythm and stuff. We were both pushing a good pace. And at the same point in my head, sitting behind him, I’m like, “Yeah, I know the race win.” The night win was there and I needed to get him, but I also seen he was 13th, the moto before or something. So that kind of factored in a little bit just on where my closest championship rivals were. I think if I just keep giving myself the best percentage play every weekend, if I can put myself in the top five around the first turn and click off good laps, good things are going to start happening and I like my chances over the umpteen races.
It kind of leads into what you just said. I was going to ask how you come in here after being on the bike 15 minutes ago, 180 heart rate or whatever, and be so calm and content. And I think you kind of answered my question. Walk everybody through how you kind of keep such a level head about your whole situation and waiting for the win to come.
Lawrence: Yeah, just like I’m knocked off for the night, so work’s done, so it’s easy to wind down and yeah, just go to work. I work on weekends, so it’s just another work day for me. I put in the work during the week and honestly, I just enjoy it, but at the same time, I’m going to line up again next weekend and the one after that. So we work from every weekend from January through to October, and that’s my job. So that’s what I do.
Unique part of course with Triple Crown is the fact that you’re adding up scores. You’re doing a little mental gymnastics during the race while trying to still hit everything on point. Can you talk a little bit about the final race, like how aware you are of your situation, how much of it is listening to mechanics and just being aware of where you are on the track and how it is to process all that?
Lawrence: I don’t know. It’s weird. I’m not really doing math out there on where guys are. You kind of just see where guys are and just kind of like ChatGPT’s in your head and you’re like, no. So yeah, I don’t know. Someone asked me today like, “What are you thinking about when you’re out there riding?” I’m like, “Oh, it probably sounds cliche, but I’m not really thinking that much. I’m just out there doing, if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t, but it does to me.”
We’ve grown accustomed to seeing a little more chaos in the 250 class. Maybe because of the Triple Crown tonight, there was a little more back and forth, up and down chaos and 450s. Does that speak to what the Triple Crown is or to the intensity of the competition in this division?
Lawrence: I think a bit of both. I think the Triple Crown is just that perfect recipe. It’s a normal main event. You got a heat race and then one 20-minute moto with one go of everyone going into the first turn. Now we have three main events, three times you roll the dice coming into the first turn. Anything can happen, someone can hit you from behind. So yeah, it definitely is. And everyone knows the importance on these Triple Crowns because they’re just chaotic. They are really interesting. But yeah, I don’t know. There’s a lot of chaos going on in both classes. It’s interesting.
Photos: octopi.media
