In a few weeks, we’ll really know how big this win for Hunter Lawrence really was. Nashville sure looks like the place where the Honda HRC Progressive rider officially pulled it out of the mud, regaining sole possession of the points lead that he lost with his big crash in Detroit two weeks ago. Eli Tomac, after 5-6-12 finishes in the last three races, is further behind Lawrence now (15 points) than he was before Lawrence’s Detroit crash (down 9 at that point). Ken Roczen’s resurgence with back-to-back wins has stalled a bit, as Lawrence was able to catch and pass him in Nashville. Was Lawrence’s Nashville win the clutch moment that will define Lawrence’s championship?
We’ll find out in a few weeks. Not surprisingly, Lawrence isn’t looking that far ahead.
“We’ve still got four more race and that’s a lot of racing,” he said. “I’m just trying to get as many points and make up for the past two weekends and that’s honestly it.”
Hunter never gets too high on the wins or two low on the losses. We know this.
“I’ve said it before, even when he wins, he’s not even that excited!” said Honda Team Manager Lars Lindstrom. “We’re like ‘C’mon man be pumped!’ When he loses, also. It Detroit, he didn’t freak out. I was worried coming back to the truck that he would put a hole in my nice new hauler. He was introspective and trying to set a new goal, a new path for the next weekend and the rest of the series. His mental strength is something I admire.”
When Hunter went down, it served as a quick reminder of how hard it is to stay clean with 17 races in 18 weekends. This is the first full season, so far, for Hunter in the 450SX class, as he missed one race in his rookie year with injury and then most of his sophomore campaign last year. For many, the Detroit crash would have been a heartbreaker. For Hunter it was just perspective.
“Hindsight is a great thing, you look back at Detroit and you say, ‘Maybe you should have settled for third,’" he said. "Maybe I wouldn’t have crashed and I’d have a double-digit points lead. Looking at the last few weekends, it puts such on emphasis on how important it is to come into each round healthy. It’s my first year making it to all the races, touch wood. The 450 class is no joke, the schedule itself is extremely tough. I have a new found respect for the boys that have been doing this for years.”
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 270 |
| 2 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 260 |
| 3 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO  | 255 |
| 4 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC | 242 |
| 5 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | 213 |
After that, it was just therapy on the wrist. Hunter didn’t ride much in the week leading up to Nashville.
“I’ve been rehabbing my wrist as much as I can,” Lawrence explained. “You know when you get home on a Sunday and you’ve got to fly out on Thursday, it’s only a three or four day week at home so you’re trying to do as much as you can. Ice it, red light, hyberbaric, everything you can, recovery wise. I tried to rest it. I rode a little less this week, I tried to ride a little more last week and it wasn’t quite ready. You can only heal the body so fast sometimes.”
“They have a really good situation at home, they’ve invested in a hyperbaric chamber, red light therapy and all the stuff you can do,” said Lindstrom. “Unfortunately last week’s track was the worst track you could ride with a bad wrist. It wasn’t a great combination. To get on the podium was amazing.”
Hunter even said his mentality didn’t change when he found himself in second behind the streaking Roczen. His goal always is just to do his best. In Nashville Hunter started tripling in the sand and then diving to the inside in the next turn, that alone was worth over a second per lap over Roczen’s outside line. He couldn’t make the pass, though, and then Roczen caught onto that line and switched to it. It took a few more laps for Lawrence to figure out his next area to attack, and he closed back in. They battled again and when Roczen bobbled and couldn’t triple, Hunter had an opening. Through the next rhythm, Hunter tripled in, which was a slightly quicker rhythm than Roczen’s double-in. It was enough for Lawrence to get the lead, and from there Roczen, who was not feeling as sharp as he was the last few weekends, was more than happy to settle for a podium.
Was it more impactful for Hunter to have topped a championship rival in a straight-up fight? For some riders that could be the case, but Hunter didn’t see it that way, of course. Remember what he said:
“We’ve still got four more race and that’s a lot of racing. I’m just trying to get as many points and make up for the past two weekends and that’s honestly it.”
In four weekends we will know how big Nashville really was. Was it the final reset Lawrence needed to control the series to the end?
