Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac have been trading wins for the last four races. Lawrence took over the points lead in Glendale, only to get fourth the following week while Tomac won and closed in the points gap to only one point. But in Arlington, Lawrence was able to get his first ever 450SX win, came second to Tomac in Daytona and then won again in Indy. Every time Tomac closes, Hunter has an answer.
After that first win (which felt like it took forever as he went 4-2-2-2-2-4-1 to start the year), the second one came easier, or at least quicker only two rounds later. Hunter spoke on his second win during the post-race press conference after Indy and also his disappointment last week in Daytona:
“It's really cool, honestly," he said. "Keep the red plate, that's what I wanted to do. I felt like last weekend, I just was really frustrated with my result and what I felt like what could have been. So, yeah, me and the team knuckled down this week, and we put a lot of work in, and so it's cool to see that pay off."
With Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen now 25 and 28 points down in the championship, it looks like this is coming down to the two riders at the top, who keep swapping wins. When speed is so closely matched, it is Hunter’s consistency which might make him lethal in the championship chase. A pair of fourths are his worst finishes so far, and that is impressive considering how deep the field is and how hard it is to eliminate mistakes. Still, he had a close call in Indy when coming up on lapped traffic.
"I mean, any win is difficult, you know?" he said on the comparing his regular format Arlington 450SX win vs this Triple Crown overall win. "I mean, all the guys are so good, especially the first main, like you're racing, I think these Triple Crowns, you're racing more guys that, you know, they get to showcase their strengths more, you know. Like the guys that are maybe stronger in heat races generally do really well in the first main, then you know your main event guys in the second and third. So, it's like it's tricky. There's three times the risk. I mean, Vince [Friese] almost killed Eli and then I had my own scenario in the second one where Cole Thompson and Vince were racing each other and I was in the middle and just got sandwiched and ended up sending Cole off the back of the berm. [Laughs] And I don't know how I stayed on my bike, honestly, super fortunate, honestly. I just think I just got lucky, honestly. Like there was some carnage out there."
Hunter may seem to keep his composure off the bike, but on the bike, he definitely isn’t messing around. He commented on his pass on Jorge Prado in the second race where the two swapped paint for a couple of turns.
"No, I mean, he pulled aside for Eli, and then he tried to, like, not brake check, but slow me down on there," Lawrence said. "And if he's just coming back to get in the way, then yeah, I'm going to give him some body English. You know, maybe Jett will come back and do the same."
While there is still a lot of racing left (eight more rounds) it is starting to become crunch time for the two riders upfront. The best thing Hunter can hope for is for Roczen and Webb to get in between him and Tomac to stretch out the points and give him a little bit of breathing room. But if not, could we be in store for another winner takes all situation at the finale in Salt Lake City?
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 332 |
| 2 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 331 |
| 3 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC  | 297 |
| 4 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 275 |
| 5 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | 251 |
