Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence won the Daytona Supercross on Saturday in the 250SX class for his third win of the season. However, the win was met with some criticism after he put Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher on the ground in the sand on the first lap. The block pass bump and run worked for Lawrence who passed Tom Vialle for the lead on the second lap and never looked back to claim the win. Afterwards, Lawrence was elated to win at the World Center of Racing but also had to answer about his early contact with Thrasher. He spoke about all of that and more with the media in the post-race press conference.
Hunter, you are now half of a brother duo who have won Daytona. I believe no brothers have ever done that before. Much like other records that are being set, are you proud of it?
Hunter Lawrence: Yeah. I didn’t know no other brothers won. It’s cool. It’s not really anything that we talk about with any venom in our words, but you always rub it in whenever we’re joking lightly. With Jett, it was triple crowns. This year I missed out on a triple crown, so it was like, maybe triple crowns aren’t our thing. It’s fun.
Early pass on Nate Thrasher. From where I was standing, couldn’t see if there was contact. A little aggressive early, or no?
Yeah, it depends how you look at it. I was coming out. He went outside. I was inside. I’m getting roosted pretty bad. The sand section roost is gnarly. Just kind of dove to the inside. So I didn’t feel contact. Obviously, it’s not the ideal scenario, but you just kind of see a shot and you’re making split decisions on the spot. So, sometimes you’re going to make wrong decisions and sometimes you don’t. It was just I went to the inside, getting roosted. That was the option that presented itself and just kind of didn’t look back. I kind of feel like looking back at last week, whenever I’m in front, it’s going to be hard racing. That’s just what kind of comes with having the red plate. When you look back at previous years with guys that have had the same thing, it’s part of it. So, it is what it is. Obviously sucks that he went down. Not what I wanted to happen.
With this somewhat hybrid-style supercross track, any changes to the bike to make it better today?
We went one click stiffer on the shock, which I thought would be a rebound call just because of the high-speed rhythm lanes. You’re hitting them a lot faster. But honestly, not. I feel like the past few years, just from leaning on the team’s experience. They come to Florida, we do the whole Daytona test and then we come to the race, and we end up racing on our normal stuff. It’s cool when you can just trust in your setup and you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel because it feels bad or whatever. The bike was great. We didn’t really change anything. Just some mapping stuff throughout the day for the humidity, but all good.
There are only four guys now with more wins on a Honda in the 250 class than you. Does that feel pretty good to be one of the top all-time riders on that red machine? What does that mean to HRC?
Hopefully pretty good. I didn’t know that stat you just fired off. I didn’t know Brian [Deegan] had two podiums, either. I think he’s going to have your record here pretty soon, sorry to say [pointing at Haiden Deegan]. I could care less. I just want to be the best version of me when I ride and do well for the team. Obviously, they’re stoked and happy. Jett is doing well on the other coast, so it’s a cool time right now.
