The 250SX class at the 2023 Tampa Supercross provided us with a thrilling battle for the win as Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence caught Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher on the last lap of the race. Thrasher tried hard to defend against the move but Lawrence snuck up the inside in the last turn and blocked Thrasher. The still were nearly side by side over the finish line jump but the nod would go to Hunter Lawrence who clipped the timing loop 0.134 seconds before Thrasher did. It was Lawrence’s second straight win to start 2023 and he was elated with the effort. Thrasher, however, was dejected.
After all was said and done, they both sat down next to each other in the post-race press conference and dissected it all.
Hunter Lawrence | 1st in 250SX
Hunter, Cooper Webb was talking about lapped traffic and how that affected him. I think that came into play for both you and Nate Thrasher. I want you to take us through that last second pass, fraction of a second. Two tenths or something like that to take the win here, your second win of the season.
Hunter Lawrence: I think my mechanic was saying, there’s going to be a lot of mechanics that hate me in pit lane after that one, because he was just yelling at other guys like, get out of the way and stuff, because they’ve got their own battle going on further down the pack. They’ve got their own stuff to worry about, and then we’re coming through. Wild. Obviously, I didn’t plan that. It was just kind of a Hail Mary lap, and it ended up working out, but pretty close.
At what point did you feel you could catch Nate? Was there a point where you felt, “I can really challenge for this win?” Talk us through that last lap as well, last half lap. It was nip and tuck the last couple of corners. What was your decision making in those last two turns as well?
Very, very little decision making. Just trying to be where he wasn’t on the track. That’s plain and simple. My starts weren’t the best. I could kind of see him coming into the last turn. I saw him on the other lane and just kind of head down, bum up and just try and do my best, give the best 15 minutes I can. Where we’ll be is wherever we’ll be. If I catch him, awesome. If not, I don’t. That’s just how the race was going to unfold lap by lap. Just felt good. The bike was working good. Just kind of got in the zone. Didn’t even realize it was raining as much as it was, which is cool because when it starts raining normally it’s like the first thing. You’re like, “Damn, this sucks.” So, it was good to not really notice that. Super stoked.
Is this one of the best wins you’ve ever had in your career?
Yeah, I was saying it’s probably the most hyped I’ve been after a win. My first ever supercross win I was more emotional and stuff, but this time it was pretty cool. It was special, especially at home. I got half my neighborhood here, so I didn’t want to look like a dork as well because you go home and they’re like, “You got smoked!” There was a lot on the shoulders.
At what point during that four or five-second deficit did you realize you could make up enough time and this was actually possible? How many laps to go without a mistake from him did you think, I could do this legit by passing him?
Tough to say. I think I was still behind Max [Anstie], and it was like seven seconds, or something. I just kind of knew I was fast in the whoops and good in the sand and just had a really good flow going. I was just trying to save the tear-offs I had because I did notice the rain on there. I’m just trying to save them for when I need them, not knowing how the race was going to unfold. The last few laps my mechanic let me know how many laps to go, how many minutes or whatever it was. Just kept pushing, just kept believing. Just try and get close and have a shot at it. That’s all you can tell yourself in that situation.
That was like a Tokyo drift into that last corner. How close were you to just taking you both out into the third row?
No, I was more close to just washing myself out. There was a split second where I’m like, “Oh, I’m going down.” It was tricky because in that little section of the track, no one really rides on it, so it was greasy. Thankfully none of us went down. Didn’t have to do anything silly at the second round.
Obviously, a lot of talk about the last couple laps there, the last turn pass, but I want to actually go back to the battle that you had with Haiden [Deegan] and Michael [Mosiman] early in the race. You caught them quick and then got stuck behind them a little bit. It looked like you got them both, but then they both got you back. Just kind of take me through that back and forth.
Yeah, I can’t really remember much of it. All I can remember is I was behind Michael, and I was definitely faster. I felt like I was being pretty respectful and pretty nice and giving him his room, and then he’d done something similar earlier in practice today where I was kind of like, “What are you doing?” Then I was like, “Alright, so now I’m going to have to pass him and force the pass.” I’m not trying to clean anyone out for, what was that position, fifth or sixth? It makes no sense. So, obviously didn’t really want to put him on the ground. I didn’t mean to, by any means. Nothing really crazy to talk about. Just coming through. Not really tired or anything. Was still under ten minutes into the race duration, so just kind of dissecting it, not trying to make any silly moves, like putting a wheel in where it’s not needed and wash the front on a greasy surface or something like that.
One other piece, with Mosiman early in the race, watching you guys battle, it just seemed like you guys were kind of ending up in situations where he wasn’t where you expected him to be. Is that kind of what you were touching on, where he was ending up on the track versus where you were at? Was it just kind of in a sense driving you nuts? Things weren’t playing out as you would expect?
Yeah. So, as far as race strategy goes, when you’re behind someone and maybe you’ve only done a few laps and there’s still 12 minutes left on the clock and you’re trying to catch, surely, he’s not just out there trying to defend sixth place. Surely, he wants to win. So, we’re both trying to push forward to the front. Like Nate said about clean racing, it’s good to race with someone that has that respect. We’re not going to clean each other out, but when one guy starts to go out of his way and slow you down just to cat-and-mouse and keep you behind, we’re in sixth place, like what are you doing? So, that’s kind of when it brings out, I would say, more of an aggressive pass. You have to force the issue, kind of stop their momentum that you can get away, because it’s just kind of same nature of the beast with that guy. You pass him clean, you’re going to get your front guard sawed off in the next turn. The same thing happened in practice. Second lap of practice down the start straight. I was on the inside out of the sand and then come down the straight and he’s on the inside, so I backed off. Then he does the whole braking thing to stop you at the bottom of the berm. It’s like, bro, it’s the second lap of practice. Are you good?
I appreciate you expanding on that. I think sometimes from whether it’s people in the stands or even watching on TV, sometimes it’s hard to see the momentum difference if a rider is racing forward or racing backward. Sometimes it’s more obvious than others. Thanks again for explaining it.
For sure. We’re going to be racing each other for the next 10 to 12 years. Why be a dick to the guy and then start a tit for tat kind of thing, like you see with Barcia and Anderson. It just doesn’t end good for either guy. It just gets into like an ego match.
Early in that main event for you, using the inside through the sand and ending up on the other side of the track, was that just you searching the sand for different sections, different lines? Or was that kind of scary for you?
On the inside of the sand and going out over the thing, no that was just me trying not to crash in there. That stuff is so deep. I went in in free practice or first quasi and crashed in there, just from following it around because it’s such a slow corner speed. It was just like, don’t crash.
Nate Thrasher | 2nd in 250SX
Nate, congratulations for your almost win today. Besides the start, which was the key today to get this big step up versus the past races of this year?
Nate Thrasher: I would say mainly the start, like you said, except that. Last weekend I felt good all day. I qualified good. My heat race was good. Didn’t get a great start in that either, but my lap times were good all day. It just came down to crashing in the main event. You just can’t go down that early in the race. Just buried back. Then I was charging back through and coming back up. I should have just stayed where I was at. I kept charging and over-riding a little bit and went down again. After that, it was just kind over for me. I did the best I could with what I had. I felt the same this weekend. I felt good all day. Just executed better. That’s what it comes down to. I have the speed. Just got to execute a little bit better.
On the last lap in the last corner, which position, why did you take the outside line instead of the inside line just to block Hunter in the last corner?
Yeah. It is tough. Things are coming at you so fast. You’re trying to make the best decision you can, trying to win the race. You can look back on it now and dissect it, maybe I should have done this, maybe I should have done that, but I gave it everything I had so I can’t be too mad about it. We’ll go back to the drawing board and just got to be a little bit better next weekend.
Throughout the race, when it started raining, did you think that was going to help you with the time lead that you had over Hunter?
No, honestly. I was just kind of locked in. Didn’t even really know it was raining that hard. Just was kind of pulling tear-offs, a little rain here, a little rain there. I wasn’t really focused on the rain. I was just trying to lock my laps away. I felt like I was keeping him pretty good. He was catching me a little bit. I was getting stuck behind a couple lappers, and he would catch me a little bit, but I felt like the pace was good. Just the lappers, it’s always harder when you’re going through them first. That’s kind of what it comes down to. They don’t know you’re there. They’re in a race of their own. It’s not their fault, but it’s just when you’re going through them first, they don’t know at first, so you kind of surprise them. The lappers didn’t help me tonight, but you just got to be a little bit better. If I had another second lead, that wouldn’t have happened. So, we’ll just go back to the drawing board, just try to get another second. The starts were good, so that was a big positive. We worked really hard this week on that. So, we’ll come out next week swinging.
How important was it for you, Nate, after the race he came to you and basically shook your hand and he was okay with being beat straight up?
Yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallow. You lead 17, 18 laps or whatever that is and don’t win the race, but we’ve raced together for a while now and he’s a good, clean racer and I feel like I am, too. We always have good races. If you’ve got to get beat, at least he didn’t clean me out.
Watch the full post-race press conference: