The Grand Finale

Hunter Lawrence’s career was derailed early, with constant injuries when he first moved to America. At one point he considered retirement. The constant time on the sidelines tagged him with multiple labels, first that he was merely “Jett Lawrence’s brother” and second that he couldn’t ride supercross. Because of these labels, Hunter’s actual ascension was missed even while it played out in plain sight. Yes, there were stories of bad days at the Honda test track trying to learn supercross, and he missed 2019 and most of 2020 with injury. He quietly finally snuck in a few races in 2020 only because COVID-19 delayed the calendar and let him line up three times in June. In two of them he faltered, in one of them he finished seventh. Few noticed. The very next year, repeat, the very next year, he finished second in 250SX East points and won a race. He was astonishingly consistent, carding just one race outside of the top ten in supercross through three seasons, 2021, 2022, 2023. He had already been labeled as one of those outdoor-hammerheads guys from the GPs who didn’t have the precision for supercross. Meanwhile, in reality, he wasn’t crashing much at all. The one race in three years when he did crash out? He tried going after championship-rival Cristian Craig in the whoops at Anaheim 2 in 2022. That track boasted probably the gnarliest whoop section seen on a supercross track in the last five years. You don’t try to match Craig in whoops on a 250. Hunter showed his heart and hustle by trying and paid the price. Every other race? Solid.

The “Jett’s brother” thing did the most damage, though. When Hunter graduated to the 450 class in 2024, he was coming off of the vaunted double-title 250 season, getting the #1 plates both indoors and out. Most riders would generate hype from that, especially since Hunter won seven races that year in supercross. But there was no hype, because Hunter graduated on the heels of Jett going 22-0 in Pro Motocross in his 450 debut. They jumped to 450 supercross together, but how could last year’s 250 champ possibly get the spotlight against his brother who was already a dominant 450 figure? He could not. Hunter Lawrence probably had the least attention on his 450 rookie campaign of any rider with his credentials. That’s the curse of being brothers and teammates with the phenom.

All of this has made for a great story now. The underdog, the overshadowed. Hunter has great people around him, but the feeling is that he did this on his own, hard-headed and stubborn enough to believe even when it wasn’t looking good, and of course believing it even when it actually was looking good and yet no one outside his circle seemed to notice. Hunter Lawrence has been better than people realize for a long time now. This supercross championship quest is just the on-paper proof of what has already been.

As it turns out, Hunter’s story remains overshadowed even right now, because while Hunter would be a feel-good champion, Ken Roczen would be the GOAT of feel-good supercross stories. No rider has ever raced this many years before winning a first title, and it’s not close. He’d become the oldest rider to win the title, which also means he’d be the oldest to win his first title! Roczen story goes well beyond numbers, though. Everyone knows why it took so long: horrific injury at the peak of his powers. Years of struggle trying to get back, multiple heartbreaks, and the eventually resignation that it wasn’t going to happen. All the while, Ken kept his chin up with the fans, staying cool and friendly and fun, taking them along for every step of the journey. Hunter Lawrence is an underdog only because people didn’t even notice his actual talent. Ken Roczen is an underdog because of much more obvious things: a Suzuki, a kickstarter, those big injuries everyone knew everything about. He even overcame a 31-point deficit this very year, making this of the largest comebacks ever even if you don’t take Kenny’s unreal career arc into account.

Hunter Lawrence as champion would make for a great story. Ken Roczen would make for the greatest.

That’s not what decides titles in sports, though. It’s may the best man win, not the best story. The AMA Supercross Championship very rarely comes down to this. Two men, one point, one title. There are some tie breakers in here, and Roczen has a one-point lead and if disaster strikes for both maybe that means something. Most, though, expect it to come down to rider versus rider in one Main Event for the win on Saturday. When the gate drops every January at Anaheim, this is all anyone could hope to see at Salt Lake in May. That day has arrived, packing racing situations and storylines most would only dream of. Right now, it’s reality. But for which rider?