Slaw
Hunter Lawrence knew he needed to halt his brother’s momentum heading into Round 4 of Pro Motocross at High Point. With Jett Lawrence riding a four-moto win streak and coming off back-to-back overall victories, the championship tide had begun to shift. Jett had seized control of the points lead, and Hunter needed an answer.
He delivered one in commanding fashion.
Hunter swept the day with 1-1 moto scores, controlling both motos at High Point to secure his second overall victory of the season and close to within just two points of Jett in the championship standings.
“I mean me and Jett are two and two against each other in the first four rounds, so it’s good,” said Hunter after the race. “I really wanted to tie that up and kind of stop the momentum. I feel like in Thunder Valley, my riding was good enough and speed was good enough to win.”
As the series heads into its first break of the season, the opening four rounds have belonged to the Lawrence brothers. With the championship battle tighter than ever, Hunter reflected on his High Point victory, stopping Jett’s surge, and much more following the race.
That was an excellent day to say the very least of it. Talk to us about maybe your feelings going today. Were you ready for incredible rides like that?
Hunter Lawrence: You always show up and try to do your best, but we had something that we tried during the week and came into first qualifying, hoping it would give me what I was looking for, and it didn’t. I said, no, screw it. Give me back Pala settings. I want to go back to base. And then that was what I was after and gave me the feedback and connectivity and trust that I needed. It was good. Happy with that.
So you were on Pala settings for here, is that correct?
Yeah, we just call it that; It was back to base. We kind of had a few things we were trying to achieve from base for the second and third round and just kind of wasn’t quite there and I just was like, nah, just give it back to me.
Notwithstanding that it was your brother, what was it like? The first moto, you rode away from the field and the second moto you got a chance to ride away from the guy who has been the dominant rider for the past couple of years. How did that feel and what does that say about what you’re doing this year?
It was good. I mean me and Jett are two and two against each other in the first four rounds, so it’s good. I really wanted to tie that up and kind of stop the momentum. I feel like in Thunder Valley, my riding was good enough and speed was good enough to win. Didn’t quite have the trust in the bike I needed and ended up having some very uncharacteristic crashes throughout the day that were just frustrating because I don’t make those mistakes normally.
Do you have anything you’re going to work on now after this week? You said you circle back to base, are you going to keep trying things? We have a two-week break, are you going to settle down and work on other things? With the performance you put on today, is there anything you can really walk away and be like, yeah, I could have been better here or are you very satisfied with it?
There’s always things that I feel like I could have done better, and you always review a race day and really pull it apart from a standpoint or a point of view where the result is doesn’t matter, but you just look at it purely on riding laps. I did what I needed to do good enough to win, right? But, there’s always things we’re working on. I’ll go back and just keep working, come back the next four stretch of things. I have another goal for those next four ones. So yeah, just keep on working. The work doesn’t stop.
You’re very calculated, as we know, and it seems like you digest all the information. I think 2019 was your first 250 moto win here. You and Jett split the motos in ‘22 her. When you come to a track that you’ve either done well at or haven’t done well, do you have mental notes. Do you actually write physical notes down of things you could work on when you come back, or things that you did well? You are always looking ahead, but do you ever look back and think what did I do well here at this track or this venue?
I would say that we would probably look back on, if we look back at a previous year would be, ‘hey, this line formed up this way’ even though you don’t think it’s going to be faster, it races in and ends up being the good line or a few little bits and pieces. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head right now, but that’s about it. Every time we come to a new racetrack, or sorry, not new racetrack but rack up a new year, it’s just a whole new day and just go out and I know what I’m working on through the qualifiers and where I need to be and then execute the start. Then from there the whole game plan unfolds after the first box that needs to be ticked, which is execute the start.
With the weekend off coming up. I know we’d normally joke with you and ask about golfing or car meet ups or something of that nature, but what is something in the upcoming off week you would personally like to do to reset or unwind?
It’s tough because I love a good cars and coffee, but that’s normally every Saturday morning and then on off weekends, when we’re not racing, we cycle. I generally miss those even during the season, but go for a little rip in the cars, dinner with friends and family, and just kind of the weekend off honestly just being at home but still training. It’s amazing how much the weekend off when you don’t have to travel on a Thursday or Friday. It’s amazing how much your body actually recovers with those two less travel days.
Photos: octopi.media
