Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence had a very strong year in 2022, picking up four wins in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and several podiums in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. But in both series, the ultimate goal of winning a title was just not on the cards. Now as we head into 2023 and Hunter’s fifth season racing in the USA, he’s hungrier than ever to finally be the one holding the trophy at the end of the season.
We caught up with Hunter on Friday to see how his off-season is going as he gears up for the coming year of racing.
Racer X: If we reflect on 2022 a little bit, the ultimate goal wasn’t achieved, but I feel like maybe you checked off some personal boxes. Is that fair to assume?
Hunter Lawrence: Yeah, absolutely. We wanted two titles. We fell short of them, but it was actually the same results as 2021, funnily enough. But I feel like it was achieved a lot better. We were on the box pretty much every weekend, which was a big goal of mine. Qualifying did get better. Starts, we’re improving on as we speak. So, we were a lot better at Nations. My starts were better. From the last round, my starts were the worst and we’ve worked on them a lot from there to now. Every day I do like 30 starts. We’re feeling good.
How has the off-season been? What kind of things have you already started to work through that you’re happy about the progress of so far?
Just honestly the compounding of coming off of ’21 with no injuries, another solid year with no injuries. That for me is the biggest. I don't know if I’m proud of it just because of all the shit I went through. So, each pre-season, each off-season now, ’21, the ’22 off-season just started, a step better, a little better, and then so is this one. This one we’re picking up where we leave off better than where we start. So, that I think is the biggest thing and just ironing out the wrinkles. Just figuring out what mindset I do my best riding, my best laps in and stuff like that. Start bits and pieces. Testing has been easy. As far as from what we’ve done in the past few years, it’s not done yet but a little easier than previous years. The bike is in a great place. We’re in a great place. Everyone is feeling good.
Like you said, with the consistency of remaining healthy, how has the grind of it been? Obviously, it’s a long season to begin with, but now consecutive seasons in a row where you’ve done everything, you’ve stayed heathy through it all, you’ve been in the fight through it all. How are you feeling?
Good. If you’d only known the places where I’ve been after injuries and stuff. If you’re a little tired after the season, you can recover. That’s fine. It’s not as big an issue or problem to fix as we’ve had in the past. So, I’m fine.
We heard today that you’re going to be racing east. You did like the east series before, and now you’re going east again. How exciting is that and the switch up to do that again?
It’s cool. It’s funny. We raced ’21, my first full season, we raced West Coast, and I raced Daytona. So, I think that’s the first time anyone has been able to say that. The West Coast Daytona round was fun. It’s good. I like the East Coast. Some cool stadiums along there. Some that I haven’t been to, so that will be really cool. Back to a normal schedule. When I was there last time, it was the three-day stint, which was a little… You have a good race, and you want to be able to build on it throughout the week and stuff like that. So, it will be cool.
Ultimate goals for you this year of course are going to be the titles. Is it really a thing where if you don’t win either title, you’re going to be really disappointed?
Obviously, it will suck, but it’s not the end of the world. The 250 class is a building tool. It’s the premier class, that’s where it all matters. There’s been guys that haven’t been amazing in 250s and set the world on first, but then go on and pick up their strides in the 450s. So, they’re two goals that I strongly believe you have to tick that box on the way. All the guys that have picked up those titles generally go on to grab one in the big boys’ class. Some of them do, some of them don’t. But those are the goals we’ve set for myself. Obviously, Jett set the bar pretty solid, so we’d like to do the same.
This past year you signed an extension with the team, so you have years ahead of you still to go with this program. Is it kind of relaxing in that sense that you have someone behind you and there’s not going to be any changes in the coming years, too?
Honestly, not at all. Where I’m at in my career, fortunately I’m not worried about job security at this point. We’re on bigger things, we’re after some big goals. So, it doesn’t really matter.
Lastly, we heard that the 250 point-out rule changed. I don't think that would have affected you too much this year, but it may next year. Obviously, you want to win the titles and point out anyway, but has that been a little bit nicer to see that that is maybe not going to force you out of the class early, in that sense?
Yes and no. I think if I have a great year again in ’23, I think if I completed the ’24 year, then I would have pointed out for 2025, which is anyway already too long, I believe, for what my goals are, for what my plans are and how I ride a bike. I need to be on a 450 then. That’s our goal, ’24 to debut on the 450.
