Lawrence on Making the Pass Stick and Jetting Away: “I Don't Have Any More Mulligans”

Lawrence was able to make an effective pass that slowed Anderson up just enough for him to run away. Now, Anderson said last week he was sick and was dealing with that illness, but he was damn good still tonight. Jett really needed to make a pass before Roczen and/or Sexton made a pass on him and he did just that.

“Yeah, I was behind Jason in both of the heat and main, and I got to learn his lines,” Lawrence said in the post-race press conference. “And obviously the main was completely different to the heat. We know…we're pushing the pace in the heat race because we had traction. But once we got to the main, once it was Jason and I like 12, I kind of like, All right, let's just try and find the safe lines and not throw it away cause it would be worse to not get a podium after crashing or something.”

“But yeah, I just tried staying there, staying there, and this one lap I couldn't really find anywhere,” he added. “So, I'm just like, Gosh, I guess I just got to balls up and just send it through the whoops. [Laughs] And I think we both got sketched through [them] that lap and through that line, but was able to make a pass and get through the second set too.”

Anderson himself commented on the battles with Lawrence.

“Yeah, it was good,” he said. “Like I said, I even told Jett after the race, I was like, I'll talk crap off the track, but when we're in those battles I think it's really cool to…yeah, I'm gonna keep it real, you know. I even like, he always has raced me really well and, yeah, he got the better of me, but it was fun racing and being able to do that upfront is cool for all of us.”

On a night where Eli Tomac looked damn good but was about 20th exiting the holeshot line, Chase Sexton nor Cooper Webb were not able to get to the front of the pack/podium, it was a big pay day for Lawrence. He gained 10 points on Tomac and seven on Sexton, and 11 on Webb tonight.

After everything that has gone on with learning the new generation Honda CRF450R, the tough opener, and the mid-week drama from their camp heading into this weekend, it was a much-needed win for the Australian, both in terms of mental headspace and championship wise.

“No, we're happy,” he said. “A good rebound, I guess, from A1, which is also nice. So, yeah, just trying to get that points gap just less and less, but heading in the right direction, thankfully.”

And without directly addressing what happened this week, Jett mentioned he was focused on himself through all the adversity so far in 2025.

“Yeah, I just, honestly, I just focused on myself with the bike,” he said. “That's all I've been doing the past few weeks. I think going back to Florida and having a nice reset, seeing my dog, my two lizards, and just some friends and family again to kind of reset, you know. Sadly, I'm not a big fan of California with driving hours to the test track and back, you kind of lose your whole day. So, it was just nice to get a reset.”

“I only got to ride one time, but just that going back and kind of being in your own bed and that stuff would just helped me just kind of focus back on myself and I got to focus on the championship,” he continued. “I don't really have time to try and focus on during the week drama. I have a very good agency with Wasserman and my manager, Jacob [Hayes] and Travis Clark. So, they handle that stuff for me. I don't need to worry about that. I'm focused on racing dirt bikes, what I get paid to do, and I'm gonna do that the best I can, you know, I don't need, uh, any other drama outside, you know. So, I just focused on riding my bike, getting that better, getting myself better, and just keep my head down.”

After finishes of 12-2-1 to start the season, Lawrence (57 points) sits tied for third with Eli Tomac in the championship standings behind Ken Roczen (62 points) and Chase Sexton (59 points). Was he worried after how the season started at A1?

“No, I wasn't, I wasn't too worried personally,” he said, “because I know, like, the first round was a bit of a bike thing. But also if I didn't make the second mistake of crashing, I mean, I was in front of Eli, so I could have been fifth or fourth, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. So, it was just kind of a decision thing. Like, my riding's good, I feel good on the bike. It was just kind of those helping the bike help me out more, you know? Like, obviously, I'm human, I can make mistakes. I'm not gonna be picture perfect always. We try our best to, but we can always make silly mistakes that are uncalled for and that you don't mean to make. But setting up a bike really good obviously helps that a bit.”

“So, the first round didn't really help that a lot, but, yeah, we've always just kept looking at the bike and ourselves, and we're not always like, “It's only the bike's fault.” There's also things that I could be better on, exactly like I said on the first round. Like, that wasn't so much a bike problem, like the second mistake of me crashing, that's a me mistake. It just helps motivate me more, it just puts me in a challenging position where I just gotta make sure I kind of focus. I don't have any more mulligans anymore, so I just gotta make sure I get to each race and focus and execute.”