This is what should have happened in Philadelphia.
A week after Monster Energy AMA Supercross visited the City of Brotherly Love, two brothers got out front and battled for a premier-class win, and then Jett and Hunter Lawrence marked the first 1-2 finish by a pair of brothers in the 50-year history of the series. While this race in Denver, Colorado, will now become an answer to a trivia question and earned a spot in the record book, it also makes a larger statement about where this sport is going. Lawrence brothers 1-2? This is likely not just a trivial piece of trivia, because it’s sustainable and repeatable. So, from something that had never happened before, Denver might just be the kick off to something that might happen over and over again.
In the post-race press conference, Jett Lawrence was asked about tying fellow countryman Chad Reed’s rookie win total of eight victories in 2003 (and, just to make everyone feel old for a moment, we remind you that this actually happened a few months before Jett was born).
“It’s awesome, we always looked up to Chad when we were in Australia because he was the one legend we had at the time, although I wasn’t always watching the races back then!” he said. “It’s an awesome accomplishment for me to get the eighth win in a rookie season, but also I feel like the biggest accomplishment of tonight is Hunter and I going first and second in the premier class, first time that’s been done. More psyched about that, to be honest.”
While trailing his brother, did Jett consider settling for second?
“Yes it was the first thing crossing my mind to be honest,” said Jett. “After I felt Eli wasn’t there anymore [Eli Tomac crashed while running in third] Hunter was holding a good pace, he wasn’t holding me up especially and a few laps he gapped me out after I made a few mistakes. It did cross my mind to stay there. But once I got a little bit closer, it would be nice to have those extra points as a cushion for next weekend. It opened up pretty nicely with a little bit of yelling, also, at Hunter so he would know I was there and stuff! It was cool to follow him. Felt like we were at home, at Dog Pound doing laps. But settling for second definitely crossed my mind quite a few times.”
![Hunter leading Jett.]()
Hunter leading Jett. Align Media ![]()
Align Media ![]()
Align Media ![]()
Align Media ![Hunter and Jett post-race.]()
Hunter and Jett post-race. Align Media
For the good of the collective family unit, it was more beneficial for Jett to snag the three additional points that come with the race win.
“It’s easy to say,” said Hunter Lawrence. “Obviously I’m not going to race him pretty hard, even though tonight [a win] would have been awesome, but this championship is not all about me. I’ll have my time next year as well and maybe even next weekend. Great night overall, glad to execute the starts, that’s what we’ve been struggling with in the main events on other weekends. Happy to just put it all together.”
While Jett, who won the season opener at Anaheim 1, has clearly been rolling since the day he jumped on the CRF450R, Hunter has been more of a quiet build into the podium, and that’s how he expected it to be.
“I’m more of a rider that gets confidence and mental strength from doing the work,” Hunter said. “I have to put in the laps and I have to put in the work to be able to go ‘Yeah I should be able to win because I’ve done everything possible.’ I’ve been like that most of my career. Everyone’s career path is different. But I get to chase the #18 around during the week and I’m playing catch up after years of injuries. He’s the best in the world right now, so I have a great base to keep learning and training off of. If Jett wasn’t here, I’d probably be a great candidate to say I’ve had a great rookie season, but number 18 has stolen that one well and truly! [Laughs] I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was able to help him when we were younger and stuff, and now the tables have turned the last three odd years, and I’m chasing him. Which is cool.”
For Hunter to apply his normal strategy of logging laps and collecting data, simply getting through his rookie season healthy was job one.
“For sure, you flash back to Daytona,” said Hunter, who went down at the superspeed way with a shoulder injury but was able to return to racing soon after. “Super grateful I was able to bounce back as quickly as I was. Being able to get through the full season healthy is the first big box you’ve got to be able to tick if you want to be in the championship or be in the fight. Then, learning how the 450 is in supercross. I didn’t forget how to rider supercross from last year, but the 450 is different, you’ve got to sack up and ride it and trust it and learn.”
All of this led to the chance to make some history in Denver. For Jett, the night was huge for the championship, with an ailing Cooper Webb back in fifth and ceding more points. That really wasn’t what he was thinking about, though. All he was worried about was securing the Brotherly Love 1-2 finish.
“Seeing the white flag, I knew Hunter was right there, I was like ‘Oh please nothing go wrong.’ Because if we finish like that we have a chance to make history. So, I was like ‘Let’s get through it safely, ride the safe lines I can hit and take some risk out and stuff.’ And then looking down the start straight, I was looking back making sure Hunter was there and I was already getting amped up.”
| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | 23 Laps | 54.428 | Landsborough, Australia  | Honda CRF450R | |
| 2 |  Hunter Lawrence | +1.802 | 54.561 | Landsborough, Australia | Honda CRF450R | |
| 3 |  Jason Anderson | +5.404 | 54.437 | Edgewood, NM  | Kawasaki KX450SR | |
| 4 |  Justin Barcia | +12.175 | 54.707 | Monroe, NY | GasGas MC 450F | |
| 5 |  Cooper Webb | +22.017 | 55.201 | Newport, NC | Yamaha YZ450F |
Just to add to the tale, teammate Jo Shimoda scored the 250 victory on the evening as well.
“Jo’s an awesome rider and we knew he would win a main event eventually on the Honda, just because of his technique, we feel it suits the Honda,” said Jett. “Like we’ve been saying all this year, a start is such a big thing. Him executing two good starts in the heat and the main really helped his chances. It’s awesome for him and for HRC Honda, too, an awesome thing for us to go 1-2 and to also win the 250. It’s red all over.”
“Yeah, it’s awesome for the team more than anything,” added Hunter. “And for Jo, he’s been having a tough go of it at the beginning of the season and stuff, so awesome for him and stuff and the team. They work so hard, they’re traveling, they’re away from their families and stuff. They live, sleep, eat and breathe this stuff so this is like the ultimate thank you to those boys.”
With so much success for the brothers and the team, it brings up an interesting dilemma, or, perhaps, an even better solution. It’s often tough for a team to balance having two riders that want to win races, and hence beat each other. How to insure both riders feel they’re getting equal and fair treatment? With two brothers working together, most of those worries are erased.
“I mean yeah we both want to beat each other pretty badly but yeah we’re basically on an almost identical bike,” said Jett. “At the point now it’s down to the rider more so, almost, and Dazzy keeps us in check and makes sure there’s no favorites with the team. But yeah, it’s cool, I’m not sure many teams have had an experience with both boys being up there in the premier class, so it probably makes them sweat! And I feel bad for B-Dub [Brandon Wilson, of Honda] writing the [bonus] checks out after this weekend, it’s gonna hurt for him! It’s like, you won but at what cost! [Laughs] But I think it’s just moreso awesome for the team and all the work they put in.”
“My dad has raised us our whole lives on equal, fair bikes in anything we did, and put the pressure on the athlete to make the difference,” said Hunter. “That’s how he raised us. There’s no need for that, the better athlete will win and obviously as of now Jett is the better athlete and he’s doing what he’s doing. And I’m just trying to catch up…. but I will say the team likes me better just between you and me!” [Laughs]
“As far as the team liking Hunter and being the favorite brother, I’m not sure because he still leaves his food in the truck and doesn’t throw it away. I think he does it on purpose,” joked Honda HRC team manager Lars Lindstrom.
“With them, they’re really a team and part of the team,” said Lindstrom. “Darren Lawrence is part of the team, a lot more involved than most fathers are. But it works, sometimes it doesn’t but in this case it really does. For them being able to ride a similar setting and test and get the bike better, we’ve just created this environment that really works for us.”
