There’s no doubt Jett Lawrence has struck a real chord inside and out of this little racing industry, the next “it” guy with a little extra pomp and circumstance compared to others on the track. Personally, I despise this “it” factor as a term, because as a journalist we try to call everything fair and use results, stats, and use what we see on the track as a true measure of a performance. Some things can be defined and explained, “it” factor cannot be. That’s annoying.
Still, even though sports will always tell you who is the winner and loser at the end of the night, not all athletes resonate the same as others. I think back to the 250 Nationals a decade ago, when Blake Baggett was the fastest rider and the points leader but Ken Roczen drew more attention, anyway. I could not explain it or understand it. I guess Roczen just had the “it” factor of a superstar even if Baggett was the one winning the races. Fans just wanted to ask about Roczen and talk about Roczen.
Jett Lawrence jumped into the moto mainstream once he won the first moto he ever competed in at the AMA Amateur National Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, and even though he didn’t win a title that year, he left the race with more buzz than the actual champion and AMA Nicky Hayden Horizon Award Winner, Jalek Swoll. Once Jett said he was only 15 years old, and flashed his unfiltered personality on the podium, it was on. A few months later he won the 250 Futures race at the Monster Energy Cup, and celebrated by eating donuts on the podium. That was “it.”
![Jett Lawrence at the 2019 Monster Energy Cup.]()
Jett Lawrence at the 2019 Monster Energy Cup. Rich Shepherd ![Huge donut guy.]()
Huge donut guy. Rich Shepherd
Since then we’ve watched the steady rise of Lawrence’s fame and results, pretty much in lockstep. As a racer, he’s done basically all he’s supposed to do. He won the 250 National Motocross Championship in his second full season last year, and now he’s taken the 250 Eastern Regional Supercross Championship. Recently we ran some numbers that show that Jettson, now holding both titles at age 18, is into the rare air of legends like Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, and Travis Pastrana.
While his resume grows, so does his status, and there’s no doubt the sport’s TV broadcasts and media types love to talk Jett. It’s further bolstered by the rejuvenation of his brother Hunter, who was high-profile for a bit, but lost some momentum due to a slew of injuries. Hunter is back on it, so now you’re getting the Lawrence brothers up front at every race, and the accompanying hype. While most fans absolutely love it, we’re also seeing the inevitable backlash. We’ll see the snide social media remark about the media pumping the brothers too much, or ignoring others that deserve the attention.
To that I say: get over it.
![Brothers Hunter and Jett Lawrence embrace after the final moto of the 2021 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship as Jettson clinched the 250 Class title.]()
Brothers Hunter and Jett Lawrence embrace after the final moto of the 2021 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship as Jettson clinched the 250 Class title. Align Media ![Jett and Hunter.]()
Jett and Hunter. Align Media
The results should nullify any type of controversy on this topic. Jett Lawrence is winning titles at a clip only matched by Carmichael, Stewart, Pastrana, and Villopoto. What more can you do to deserve the hype? Now that Hunter is back in the mix, we’re literally looking at a situation where two brothers, and teammates, might be the top two riders in their class right now. Two brothers might be the best two riders in the class! That’s nearly unheard of in this or any sport. In reality, and if anything, we might have actually been a little slow on the take up here, because even last year they took a second (Hunter, 250SX West) and third (Jett, 250SX East) in supercross points and then went 1-3 in Pro Motocross. That’s already an outstanding run, and they ramped ‘er up this year with Jett winning his supercross title, and Hunter being in contention to the end in his. They each won four races, combining to win eight of the 17 rounds. A Lawrence brother stood on the podium at 16 of 17 races, they also both made the podium at Atlanta.
Heading into this summer’s Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship campaign, the Lawrence brothers will be the default 1-2 favorites. Justin Cooper split them in 250 motocross points last year, but he’s on the mend from a foot injury so we will have to see if he’s back up to his normal speed. Christian Craig indeed topped Hunter for a supercross title but he’s racing a 450 outdoors. There are many riders who can get in there and mess up the Lawrence bro show (and surely they have relatives, agents, friends and others screen shotting this piece as motivation) but you can strip away all the hype, all the “it” factor, all the media and TV attention and just look at raw numbers: the Lawrence brothers are really, really good, as evidenced by what they’ve done on the race track, period.
Racing can turn in an instant and pre-season predictions are notoriously unreliable. Hunter Lawrence himself can tell you how quickly things can turn with bad racing luck. But for now, anyone who is upset that the Lawrence brothers are getting so much attention need only look at the results, the point standings and the scoreboard to understand the legitimacy. We’ve rarely, if ever, seen something quite like this before. Yeah, that’s going to get attention.
![Hunter Lawrence taking the Denver Supercross 250SX main event win.]()
Hunter Lawrence taking the Denver Supercross 250SX main event win. Align Media ![Jett Lawrence clinching the 2022 250SX East Region title at the Foxborough Supercross.]()
Jett Lawrence clinching the 2022 250SX East Region title at the Foxborough Supercross. Align Media
