While last year’s 450 fight in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship was defined by Jett Lawrence’s perfection—and making it look easy—this 2024 season turned on its head once Jett went down at Hangtown. He’s been winning again ever since, to the tune of three-straight overall wins, but the races have been anything but easy.
Southwick’s second 450 moto illustrated that, as Jett, his brother Hunter, and Chase Sexton all had their moments. Jett led Hunter early, while Sexton attacked from third, getting around Hunter and pressuring Jett, only to get re-passed by Hunter. Then Hunter blasted by his brother to take the lead!
For a bit, it looked like Hunter Lawrence was headed to 2-1 scores and his first-ever 450 overall win, as Jett wasn’t catching him and Sexton had dropped nearly eight seconds back in third. But Southwick is brutal, and fatigue started to play a factor.
“Just fatiguing mate,” said Hunter of all of the mistakes he started to make down the stretch. “The track is so gnarly, it’s not like a traditional sand track where you can get a flow. Like Chase was saying, there’s a weird way you have to ride the track and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I was going for it, I passed both of the boys, and I was trying to break out. Then I had, jeez, like five or six moments that were pretty big. My inside leg was stuck in my rear wheel after the finish line, I hit a water sprinkler, yeah, I was just fatigued mate!”
That’s about the same time Sexton caught fire. In the first moto, he had nothing for the Lawrences. For a while it looked the same in the second moto. He came to life in the final 10 minutes, even posting a 2:16 lap, which was nearly as fast as his best lap. Everyone else had dropped way off the pace.
“Yeah, we made a few bike changes [after moto one] but honestly I needed to ride the track better,” said Sexton. “I acknowledged that mid first moto, but I just couldn’t figure it out. This track has never been my absolute favorite for some reason, and I had to put that behind me. First moto I was not having any fun, and second moto, I was kind of in the same state, but I was able to change some lines and start jumping around the track and make it more fun. When you’re having more fun, you’re going faster. I didn’t want to override the track, because although it is a sand track, you can have some big get offs. I didn’t want to push past the limit. I was just riding within myself, kinda.”
In a way, that paid off for Sexton, because he was still fresh for the stretch run. As for Jett Lawrence, well, his shoulder still isn’t right since Hangtown, and that leads to using his legs to compensate for his lack of upper-body strength. He was asked about the injury after the race and tried to brush it aside a bit. Did it come into play?
“Not too much, not as much as I thought it would, but I think your body is aware that that’s its weakest spot so it kind of over compensates on the other half,” he said. “I was just using my legs so much more than usual and then they got extra tired. But it is what it is, we’ll go back and work harder.”
Sexton found his groove and passed Jett, Jett fought back once, but didn’t have enough to keep the battle going.
“Yeah, I was kind of off the pace a little in both motos,” said Sexton. “I mean, I was kinda good at the beginning of the second moto, but then I would just lose the pace. I just wasn’t riding the track how it was meant to be ridden, but I finally started to get a good flow toward the end of the second moto and it all came together for me. Better late than never. I just started picking different lines and it all started coming together for me and I finished strong.”
For Sexton, finishing strong has become the hallmark of his season. From his all-time effort at Hangtown from last to first, to nearly pulling off the second moto win at High Point Raceway, to this, he’s been the strongman of the field thus far. Everyone is trying, but it’s tough out there.
“No [I was not thinking about] the points lead, I could care less out there, and when you’re 27 minutes into the moto, I think no one really cares about that!” said Hunter Lawrence, who does still lead the standings. “You’re hurting and trying to push forward and if you saw how many moments I had, it’s safe to say I was pushing and gave it my all. Yeah, just did all I could and just came up a little short.”
The trouble for Sexton has been the first motos.
“It seems we miss the mark first motos for some reason, be it me or the bike, it’s kinda been both,” Sexton said. “We’ve got to figure things out because we can’t be giving away points like that. And then your back is against the wall in the second moto where you have to make it happen. But we’re heading to some fun tracks and I’m really looking forward to that, I’m pretty sure everyone likes those tracks and it’s going to be some good racing.”
Southwick, then, becomes a very interesting round of the series. Hunter is still the points leader and Jett emerged as the overall race winner. But Sexton, with that strong close, is a winner in his own way, as well. Perhaps Honda HRC Team Manager Lars Lindstrom summed it up best:
“You can tell we’ve been having a lot of success when, after a great weekend like this one, we aren’t satisfied with the results, even though we won!”
Plus, this shoulder issue keeps dogging the defending champion.
“Um, we’ve kind of been discussing what it [the injury] actually is,” said Jett Lawrence. “At first, we thought it was maybe bruising or something like that, or maybe just pulled the muscle, but for how long and slow it’s taken to heal, we might get an MRI or something. Could be torn or something like that, we’re not 100 percent sure what it is. We’re gonna use one of these breaks to get an MRI, or maybe even do it after this one. Just because we’re not 100 percent sure what it is. We thought this break might help it, but every time I go train and ride or use it, I just go back to that same spot. Then I would heal up and then drop a bit. So, it’s been a bit annoying. But no excuses, we still got an overall win. But it would definitely make it easier if I was 100 percent.”
What’s the plan for this week? Even he can’t yet say.
“We’re still riding and trying to stay in touch with the bike,” said Jett. “Who knows, maybe this week we might not? We’ll see.”
