“Yeah I’m pretty happy,” said Hunter Lawrence after getting his first 450 win in Monster Energy AMA Supercross. “It’s cool. we have a lot of racing left but happy to check that little box.”
Check that little box? For reals? That’s all that a first 450SX win means to Hunter? Ah, should have expected it from the man who always thinks process first, end result second. If Hunter wins the Monster Energy AMA 450 Supercross Championship, you might get some emotion. For now, a win is just an ends to a mean. Another step toward a bigger prize.
“Even coming off the track, he wasn’t even like that stoked, you know?” said Honda HRC Progressive Team Manager Lars Lindstrom. “I’m freaking out, and he’s like ‘Yeah whatever.’”
You can’t have one without the other. Hunter is doing well because he has taken the emotion out of his program.
“Hunter’s mental strength is his greatest attribute,” says Lindstrom. “There have been guys in the past that weren’t able to break through to the next level in the sport, and they were great riders, too, but he just has a ton of belief in himself and, obviously with his family and the help from them and this team and the hard work he puts in to be at this level, it’s just amazing, you know?
“It’s amazing he’s able to be that calm in that moment,” Lindstrom explained. “He’s got Cooper Webb behind him just revving at him coming into a turn, and a lot of people that might get in their heads, but he just keeps calm and keeps going. His 250 career was a lot like that.”
Hunter’s first victory was indeed hard earned, a race-long battle with three greats. There’s well over 100 combined 450 victories between Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac, and they each played to their strengths. The early-race pace of Roczen, the Texas magic of Webb, the late-race intimidation of Tomac. He’d already made a pass on Webb when Webb made a mistake trying to get around Roczen. Hunter then had to figure out how to get Roczen while also hold the ever-crafty Webb at bay. Kenny actually admits, in a Suzuki press release, that he “tried to be a roadblock as long as I could.”
“I mean it's like just chess out there,” Lawrence explained of his side. “He would make a little mistake and I'd try and get there, but then he'd have the inside for the next corner and it was really cool. I think that racing is fun to watch and to be a part of it is really cool. Honestly, it's like don't miss, you're playing defense, but you're playing offense. It's cool. I really enjoy that because it is such a tricky spot to be in, but man, it feels good when you pull it off. I think that's one of those very high stakes pressure moment, which I don't know, I just love that. It's so cool and so fun.”
It actually seemed like Hunter was more pumped on being in the battle than winning, which makes sense since his focus is always on the process not the end result. After, he rode off and left the trophy behind on the podium, literally.
His thoughts on the last lap while headed for the checkers? Any special emotions?
“No, it was just like one more lap, just hit my marks, don't do anything stupid,” he said. “I need to get across the finish line. That's honestly it.”
And now that he has that elusive win following four second-place finishes this year? Does anything change?
“I mean, not really any different, honestly,” he says. “I feel like I've been doing the same thing for every round this year and I feel like it's been doing well. So I think just keep doing the same approach. Don't need to change a bunch of stuff and just kind of stick with it because I've been getting good starts and I’ve been riding well in the main event. I just need to keep doing that.”
It’s that simple. It’s that effective. Keeping it that way is the hardest part, though, and that constant execution of the same simple plan has reaped massive rewards. Hunter has proven that even in the biggest moments, he sticks with his approach. Then the results will follow.
