Five rounds into the AMA Pro Motocross Championship and a Lawrence has won every race so far (though it was close this weekend with Jorge Prado). Coming into RedBud Hunter and Jett each had two wins, with Hunter winning the last round at High Point very convincingly. For RedBud Jett came in with the red plate, with Hunter trailing by two points. But Hunter carried his momentum onto a very difficult RedBud track after monsoon style rains on Friday afternoon.
In moto one Hunter was third off the start while Jorge Prado led the first few laps. Eventually Jett made his way around Prado into the lead, while Hunter stayed patient, something a rider can do when they know their fitness is there. Hunter passed for second about halfway and made his way to Jett, making the pass with three laps to go. Jett, who was struggling with his injured ankle in the deep ruts, knew he didn’t have anything for his older brother, and it looked like Hunter was going to ride away for the win when he went down on the last lap. He described the crash in the post-race press conference:
“Gee, how many people have tracked down Jett and made the pass and put a gap on him? That in itself, I was extremely happy with. To have “won” the moto (first moto) and the thing that happened, I thought the bike stopped but a bunch of sand got blocked in the chain guide. On the live broadcast you could hear me get into the corner and get on the gas and then the rear wheel just stopped and cut out. That’s just the conditions were so damn tough. It could have happened to anyone with how deep, how heavy, factory 450 and second gear is lugging in a majority of the corners. Yeah, it was good man, just proud of it and happy.”
It was a big win for Hunter, maybe the most dominant of his 450 outdoor career so far. The second moto he was around sixth off of the start and made his way through the pack making up an over ten second deficit.
"I was super gutted after that first moto, I felt like I did everything right and to not get that win was a bummer. I was like, ‘I got to make it right in the second one and go out and do it.’ I didn’t get the best start but just kind of let it come to me, the track was extremely difficult this weekend. It was like, no flow, I don’t even know how to describe it. It was sandy, sloppy, muddy, hard packed, slippery everything in one. It was tricky."
Yeah, the track was extra tough after all that rain. The reward was sweet, though.
"It was probably the coolest RedBud for me," he said. "It was July fourth instead of it being on Friday or Sunday in years past, it is also America’s 250th birthday, man it's epic.”
It wasn’t smiles all around for the Lawrence camp. For Jett Lawrence, even though he was the fastest qualifier, he struggled with his ankle injury during the motos.
“Normally I really like these conditions, and I can ride them well, it's not like I lose it just out of nowhere," Jett said. "I just struggled with my foot today and trying to be balanced, especially with these ruts. Just muddy sand that just pulls you in and obviously I have all my weight on my left foot so it just makes it more drastic instead of being even, so I just struggled a lot with my balance and stuff. I gave my foot a few good flicks and stuff like that so, just a rough day in the office. But we’ll go back and get better and try to be a little bit better for Southwick.”
Jett explained further how the injury stops him from riding to his full capabilities, “Normally I weight the rear quite a lot and I am struggling to do that with one leg right now when I really need it and hold that rear end and I can’t get my knees back and brake as well. It's been a bit of a struggle on my behalf. It's difficult because I am trying to work it out myself, but the team is trying to help and make the bike that’ll make it a little easier on me as well. It’s a bit difficult trying to race with one leg.”
The frustration fans saw after the first moto where he won, was not about him being a sore loser as some on the internet are speculating, but about the frustration that comes when one’s body doesn't allow you to ride to your full ability.
“Everyone knows my records of wins so it's not like I need to go out there and prove something to everyone. It’s just more racing for myself, it just sucks right now. Because I normally love riding and right now it's been a pain in my butt with my foot, so it's taken one of the things I love doing. It’s just a struggle and obviously that first one, Hunter he deserved that one. He caught me, passed me, I was just kind of not having a really good flow. And he had a bit of bad luck with getting a rock stuck in the chain which stalled the bike. It's just like, you’ll take it but deep down you just say, ‘Yeah, I won that first one, but it just got gifted.’”
Just watch the guy walk when he gets off the bike and it's obvious he is in a lot of pain. His ankle could probably handle some extra time off, but the word “quit” is not in Jett’s vocabulary. “It's hard with the mental because it's just like I’m doing stuff on the track and I may have a good flow, but I always go in the back of my head, ‘Imagine if I had another good ankle. I could be going so much faster.’ It could be a lot easier because I am just having to work twice as hard almost… We’re in a bit of a pickle but we’re just putting up with it really. I’ve come this far I can’t obviously say, quit here or whatever. Where I have been able to maintain and be able to work around it. Just today was not an ideal track for it.”
Jett’s injury is coming at the exact time as Hunter is finding his form. Is this the changing of the guard? Or simply how it is going to be until Jett’s ankle is feeling better. Hunter now has a three-point lead heading into Southwick, where the track will be rough, but the sand usually develops berms and not deep ruts. Will Jett be able to rebound in the sand?
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 227 |
| 2 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia | 224 |
| 3 |  Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA  | 176 |
| 4 |  Jorge Prado | Lugo, Spain  | 164 |
| 5 |  R.J. Hampshire | Hudson, FL | 157 |
