In his first Triple Crown event in AMA Supercross, Hunter Lawrence came away with the overall win. The Honda HRC rider finished 2-1-2 to beat out Christian Craig’s 1-4-1 finishes. After the win he paid homepage to fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo (his Alpinestars gear was collaborated with the F1 driver), with a shoey, where he poured his champaign into his race-worn boot and drank directly from it. With the win, Lawrence gained three points on Craig in the standings as he sits eight points down to the Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing rider after five rounds. The #96 joined the media afterwards during the post-race press conference.
Hunter, take us through it. You won the race.
Hunter Lawrence: It was a wild night. It was exciting, the three races. It was my first ever Triple Crown. But at the same time, I thought it was going to be tougher, more endurance side of things. It was really just three sprints. So, I had no idea what to expect going into it, because like I said, it was my first one. It was cool. Felt like three mini heat race, main events, whatever you want to call it. It’s weird. It’s weird when you 2-1-2. Right after, I didn’t even really feel like I actually won it because of the moto scores. Crazy night, obviously.
You’ve talked about getting a better start for the night’s racing and maybe being a little bit more aggressive. Timed qualifying you looked awesome. Obviously, that got you a top spot. What about the race? One out of ten, where are you at in the season right now with your capability?
The day show was really good. It was one of my best ones yet, which was awesome. Great to try to carry that momentum into the night show. It’s tough because I feel like not anyone, but majority of the top five guys, can sprint at qualifying pace for ten minutes, and the breaks are long enough where you can kind of regroup yourself. If you’re not super fit and whatnot, it wasn’t really something where someone that’s done the hard yards really comes out. There’s guys falling apart. You know, how you think it was. The starts were better to an extent, but they weren’t holeshots. Christian had pretty much three holeshots. So, there’s still that to work on, for sure. So, we’re going to go back and keep working, for sure.
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Do you think you’ve made some gains on putting your claws a little bit into Christian? Maybe giving him a little bit of a warning that you’re there?
Me, not really, but Vince maybe. It wasn’t really me tonight. I’m not going to sit here and say it was. First one, when I got into second he had a good gap. I was kind of like, save it. I’m not likely to pull five or six seconds back in on this short time. Then second one obviously happened. Then the last one I was pushing and sprinting. It was tough. Everyone was really similar in speed. I just did the best I could, and it worked out tonight.
That start you got in the third moto, I don't know how you came out third after that jump to get off the gate. That was a horrible jump, but you somehow came out third in the first corner.
Thank you. It did suck. Yes, it did.
Your consistency and poise this season has been super impressive. I just wanted to know how nice does it feel to finally see that pay off with an actual win?
For sure. It’s cool. It’s such a unique night because anything can happen, and it's like an extended outdoors day. Two moto go towards three, except it’s three motos go towards one. So, it’s crazy. It didn’t feel like a traditional supercross for me just because I’m so used to the one main event, the one start, the one shot. So, I’m looking forward to next weekend. Obviously, I want to do it on a proper night as well. I want to get a holeshot. That’s my little goal. That’s what I want.
Glendale - 250SX West
February 5, 2022| Rider | Hometown | Motos | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 2 - 1 - 2 | Honda CRF250R |
| 2 |  Christian Craig | Temecula, CA  | 1 - 4 - 1 | Yamaha YZ250F |
| 3 |  Jo Shimoda | Suzuka, Japan  | 5 - 3 - 3 | Kawasaki KX250 |
| 4 |  Garrett Marchbanks | Coalville, UT | 4 - 6 - 6 | Yamaha YZ250F |
| 5 |  Vince Friese | Cape Girardeau, MO | 3 - 10 - 4 | Honda CRF250R |
First main there were a few times I saw you go double, double, double in that long rhythm section. Was there a reason that you decided not to go triple, triple? Was it just track conditions? I didn’t see it every lap. Just talk about that.
No, it wasn’t by choice. Double, double, double is so painful. It just feels like it’s never-ending. That turn was getting tricky. I was stupid because the rut I was taking was getting really choppy, but I was just too stubborn to try a different one. So, I’d not get the drive and I would come up short or I would just back out at the last second. So, that wasn’t good.
You did the Australian traditional shoey on the podium there, out of the boot. From your reaction of when it actually hit your mouth, there must have been a lot of sand in that boot. It didn’t look like it was much fun.
The dirt was actually the enjoyable part. The champagne tastes so bad. I don't know if it would taste much better out of a glass. It wasn’t really pleasant. Daniel’s gear, obviously it’s his tradition. Every time he’s on the box, he always does a shoey. I thought, Why not? We got the win, so what better time than then to do it. That one was for Daniel.
I’m sure you saw the crash with Christian and Vince. When you’re in second and third going for that pass, does that play with your head at all? What are your thoughts making that pass?
I’m not sure what you mean. There wasn’t really a move for me to make the pass, because I just watched it unfold literally right in front of me. From my perspective, it was easier obviously because you didn’t have to pass anyone.
I meant more in the third race. When you’re following Vince, after you saw the crash…
Yeah, you’ve got to be strategic with where you pass him. Anyone else that’s really aggressive, you try to make the pass in an area where there’s not a retaliation spot in the next turn, or there’s somewhere that maybe you know you’re a little faster than them. So, the pass does become more strategic, for sure.
Watch the full 250SX post-race press conference below:
