Entering the 11th round of the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, Jett Lawrence sat without a moto win in at least six motos. The seventh round Spring Creek National was the last time Lawrence stood atop a moto podium, although he claimed the overall the following weekend in Washougal, Washington, with 2-2 moto finishes. Despite the “slump,” the 19-year-old still had the opportunity to clinch his second consecutive 250 Class title one round early if several different factors went his way.
Jettson came out and won the first moto of the day, ending his win-less streak before finishing third in moto two. The Australian did not clinch the title with one round to go as Jo Shimoda and his brother Hunter are both mathematically alive in the title fight with two motos and 50 total points to go, but the #1 did claim his class-leading eighth overall win of the summer.
Following the final moto of the day, Jett Lawrence joined the media in the post-race press conference to talk about his day and preview the finale set for Saturday at Fox Raceway at Pala.
Jett, how was your day?
Jett Lawrence: It was, I feel like, a pretty mellow day. Just trying to click in some laps, get good times in qualifying and ended up going P2. I was surprised. I thought the second qualifier was going to be faster, but it wasn’t as much faster. First moto, I had a decent start but was able to make my way to the front. Had a good flow there. Then the second one, I had a really good jump but then I got to the deeper, ripped stuff and the boys ended up going past me. I don't know if I might have missed a shift or something. We’re going to look at the data for that. The first few laps, I kind of struggled to get a flow. I actually went back a few positions, so it was not ideal. But we were able to make our way through and I got third. The boys were too far gone, so I just kind of settled in for there.
Talk about the track a little bit. Compared to years past, it looked like it kind of got hard-pack in some spots, and the ruts were real hooky. Talk about the track a little bit compared to years past.
From last year, I can kind of say it was definitely a lot rougher than last year. I feel like it was a little dry to start off with, and I feel like definitely today it was a lot gnarlier than the Ironman’s I’ve previously raced at. So, in the first moto the ruts still had some good moisture in it, and they all had hooks in it, so it was very much a pain in the butt. Then the second moto, it was funny. A few spots actually blew out and went to kind of crumbly. So, definitely different. Had some definitely harder, slick spots in a few spots. It was tricky, but it was good.
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Mitch Kendra
Looks like you’ve got a 41-point lead. Next week, good first moto finish you could wrap it up potentially a moto early. It doesn’t look like you’ve been on damage control or anything, or cruising this thing in, even though you’ve had a big lead. Talk about your mindset going into next weekend, knowing one good moto could do it for you.
Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. Just see what it brings me. Hopefully we can keep the “No losses out of overall wins” going at Fox Raceway. So, we’ll see how it goes. We’re just going to go in like each weekend. Come in with a fresh mind. Don’t really think much about points. Just do the best I can do and then see where we end up.
You’ve always been really good there [Fox Raceway at Pala]. Is there something about it you like or something maybe you can take back to how you grew up that makes you good there? Or is just one of those things, you just ride good there?
I don't know. I might be just getting very lucky, and my luck could be over this weekend. We have to wait and see. I could just have a very good flow there or something, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Jo and Jett, you guys have known each other for a while. Teammates for a little while. Seem like you’re pretty good buddies. How is that? You’re battling for a championship now. You guys have been racing together for a long time. How is it being good buddies with the guy that you’re battling in the championship?
On the track, we know we’ve got to do our job so we race was hard as we need to. We’re fairly clean. We respect each other enough. We’ll get close to each other or take a line, but we’re never going to really purposely take each other out. Off the track, we both know, whatever happens on the track, happens on the track. Depends how bad it goes. Off the track, we just talk smack the whole time. We get along pretty good. The first time I think we met was back in 2014, when he didn’t know any English at all. It was 2014 on 65s in Belgium. He didn’t know any English. I was just as talkative then. I was just talking to him, and he would just nod or shake his head. It was funny. When we came here in 2018 and I was going to be teammates with him, from there it kind of set it off being pretty good friends. It was very competitive being teammates on GEICO [Honda]. We’ve been good friends. We race each other always fairly similar speed that we kind of just got used to having that battle on the track, and then off the track we might rub it in a little bit. But most of the time, we just talk smack.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 525 |
| 2 |  Jo Shimoda | Suzuka, Japan  | 480 |
| 3 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia | 468 |
| 4 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY  | 415 |
| 5 |  R.J. Hampshire | Hudson, FL | 346 |
What about brothers battling for a championship? The High Point race between you guys was probably one of the best races I’ve ever seen. That second moto, that was full on the edge. There was no more that you guys push. But you were clean, and it ended up so close. Talk about the brother part of it.
I think if we got lippy to each other after the track, I’m pretty sure Daz would smash us. He kind of makes sure that whatever happens on the track, happens on the track. If one of us took each other out on purpose, we’d also get smashed. So, it’s a pretty simple rule from Daz. I think we’re pretty normal and we’re old enough now that on the track is work, and then off the track we’re both pretty calm people. Whatever happens, happens.
You guys practice together during the week and then race together on the weekends. You’re with each other all the time. Who’s faster in practice at home?
It’s definitely fun to watch when we’re both feeling good, because we know where each other are on the track, and we have our lap times on the same pit board. So, when one person goes faster and we see that, and then the other guy steps it up. So, throughout the moto, our lap times just keep inching down and down.
