Hunter Lawrence isn’t winning yet, but that doesn’t bother him one bit. Four-straight seconds have vaulted him to the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship lead heading into this weekend’s race in Seattle, and this kind of 450SX success feels like a big box checked, even if it’s still without a victory.
“Happy to have the red plate,” he said following the race. “It's cool in the 450 Supercross Championship, I couldn't say it enough before the season opened. I got the first supercrosses [accomplishments] circled on the calendar for this year. Motocross and SMX, we have sorted okay. So, yeah, this [supercross] was the one.”
Hunter has been a fighting second at these races for the most part, getting right to Eli Tomac’s wheel late in San Diego, keeping Chase Sexton in sight late in Anaheim 2, and very nearly getting the overall at Houston’s Triple Crown if not for an early race fall. Glendale was a little different, as Ken Roczen got the better of him early, and Hunter wasn’t able to apply pressure in the latter laps.
“I just felt a little flat,” he said. “Normally, I feel like I get to the 10-minute mark and kind of just, all right, we're on and just really start feeling really good. I just couldn't quite get into that tonight. So, I tried to make a push at the end with Kenny and just closed a little bit, not enough, a little too late.”
As he explained last week, nothing will change when it comes to strategy on getting these race wins. Hunter’s starts have been amazing of late, so if he keeps putting himself in position to do well, one of these weeks he will win.
“I think it's just my consistency. Everyone’s talked about it,” he says. “I think you need to force it and get a win whenever you can, right? But at the same time, the first thing I focus on is a start and get around the first turn. There's 40 different outcomes that can happen in that first turn out of my control. I could have a holeshot and someone comes together with someone behind me and hits me from behind. We've seen that happen before. So, that's the first thing that I focus on.From there, you’re analyzing every second of the race. Obviously, I saw Eli [Tomac, who held the points lead] down when we came back on the start straight. I'm like, ‘All right, that's obviously in my favor for points wise.’ But just focus ahead.”
Hunter's ultra-pragmatic and relatively emotionless approach is what has gotten him here. You don’t hear him talk about having to prove anything to anyone. He doesn’t need a win for validation or for his ego.
“I mean, I have a competitive ego out there for sure that pushes me and gets me out of bed every single day, but at the same time, it's more like an evaluation,” he said of his approach, always focused on process instead of the actual result. “I care, but I don't really care. And I feel like that's an effective method for me: if I win, I’ve still got to come back and race next weekend and the weekend after. I don't really think the ego is what kind of pushes me [to win].”
In fact, even having the red plate doesn’t really do that much for him. Nice box checked, but not even close to the whole thing.
“It'll probably sink in a little later,” he says. “I don't know, I just want the red plate at the last round. That's plain and simple. We've seen guys in the past have it for a round and two. I just want to keep it, but the last one is the one that I want it the most.”
Hunter has been working on early-race speed, and he looked to have some of that early in Glendale, when he led Roczen and even pulled out a few bike lengths of a gap. Then, in one sand turn, it was gone.
“I thought the outside, they kind of like dozed up the exit of that turn. Majority of the day, that was a better run into that double, triple. So, I thought, kind of going around there and carrying more speed [on the outside was better], but I just hadn't gone inside yet in the race and I didn't realize how good it actually was. That's literally all it was, honestly. I didn't realize how good that inside was. And then yeah, sure enough, after I got past, I went inside for the rest of the race. So, yeah, that's on me.”
No matter, Hunter’s not too stressed. Focus on process, as usual.
“Yeah, we're trying to get the bike better and just kind of fine tune it to more, more to what would help me trust the bike a little more in the first 10 minutes,” he says. “I kind of get going after 10 minutes when I know exactly what the bike's doing everywhere. I'm not willing to kind of take the risk and have it do something that I'm not ready for or something like that and throw it away. We’re working to get the bike where ultimately I feel I can be unbeatable on it.”
Unbeatable? That would mean a win. Coming soon, most likely.
