Most Likely: Jett Lawrence Provides Update on His Recovery Ahead of Pro Motocross

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Jett Lawrence has never lost an overall at Fox Raceway in his Pro Motocross career. He’s a perfect 8-for-8, including double overall wins in both 2021 and 2022 when it hosted two rounds of the championship.

But in 17 days, when the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship kicks off at the Southern California venue, Lawrence may face his toughest test there yet.

In December, Jett fractured his right ankle and foot in a training crash that robbed him of a second straight Supercross season. While Jett has remained mostly quiet publicly throughout the recovery, multiple reports have suggested this rehab process has been significantly more difficult than the ACL injury he battled through a year ago.

In early May, Honda HRC Progressive team manager Lars Lindstrom said Jett had been on the bike for almost a month and “from what I’ve heard, Jett’s already starting to go Jett speed.”

Now, with the start of Pro Motocross just weeks away, Jett has finally spoken. In a recent sit-down with NBC Sports, he opened up about his recovery, where he’s at physically, and what to expect heading into the opener.

“It has been an interesting and very painful process,” he said. “Missing having a fully healthy ankle and not waking up in the morning with a stiff ankle until I get full range of motion back, I think it’s still going to be still a year or so. If I can just get it where its no pain, I think I’ll be okay.

“But it definitely crosses your mind. When you’re laying in bed at night, your mind loves to play games with you and think, ‘Will you be able to ride the same? How long will it be painful for?’ All the questions you have to answer yourself. I dislocated my ankle and the tibia smashed the top of my talus and that is what really broke my talus into three. I ended up getting 11 screws and four pins then I had to go in for a second surgery and get a screw taken out. And also, one of the fragments rose up and then healed like that and my tibula was hitting it, I had to get that shaved down because I wouldn’t have been able to ride if I had that.

“Kind of a scary moment for me, because we improved and improved and then hit a wall. So, you have those times where its a little bit of doubt. The biggest thing is the team around me that I have is so good. That’s sort of plan and action. You have to have that strength in that joint to be light a little bit with your feet. And riding lightly my left leg is taking most of the landings, braking, my right foot is a little difficult because it doesn’t have that full range downwards. So little things like that where it’s like, ahh, you just wish it could speed up a little bit.”

After a perfect season of Pro Motocross in 2023 as a rookie, joining James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael as the only riders to achieve the feat, Jett’s title defense was derailed by injury in 2024.

A torn ACL sidelined him for most of the 2025 Supercross season, but Lawrence returned in time for the Pro Motocross opener at Fox Raceway and immediately went 1-1 on the day before eventually securing a second 450MX crown.

This year, though, the focus feels different. For Lawrence, simply lining up and being healthy enough to compete may matter more than the result itself.

“I just want to be there for outdoors because I know if I can start with them. Even if I don’t win the first one, all my mind is going toward the championship. There’s another side where I really want to win the first round because it’s Pala and I have lost there yet, overall wise. But my body and health is more important than winning one race at the start of the season.”

Jett has proven he can come back from injury and still compete at the highest level. In a few weeks we’ll find out if this time is different.