Hunter Lawrence has trademarked an emotion-free, calculated approach to racing, and it's served him well through years of struggle with injuries, and the heartbreak of close championships (like taking second to Ken Roczen in a winner-take-all showdown two months ago). The world saw how much he cared last weekend at RedBud, though, when sand locked up the chain on his Honda HRC Progressive CRF450R, and he tossed away a moto win. Under the tent behind the podium, both Lawrence brothers were angry, Hunter from the crash, and Jett for giving up the lead to Hunter, while trying to adapt with his stubborn, injured foot. The Lawrences are usually pretty loose, but not right after another battle.
This week, Hunter explained that those post-race emotes are a pent-up reaction, because during a race, a rider has to stay locked in.
"There's never that emotion on the bike," he says. "I think that's why you might see an athlete or an elite athlete in any sport have that initial blow up once they cross the finish line. Because to be elite, you can't have that blow up on the bike. You have to control those emotions. As soon as we get off the bike, if there's a time we're going to explode, that's the time because you come off max heart rate, just gave up points, money, whatever it may be."
Most of the day, the riders are trying to take the emotion out of the process. You'd be absolutely shocked how loose the atmosphere is at most of the race trucks before the motos. Everyone is trying to ignore the pressure and the nerves. After the race, though, you see how much it really matters.
"It means a lot for people that think maybe we don't care as much about the sport and we have too much fun on this," says Hunter. "There's a clear example of how much we care about this sport, both of us."
This week was similar, actually. The brothers were going at it again and Hunter held a gap. Then he hit neutral on accident, and he tossed it away again.
"A bit of a bummer, obviously, how it finished," Hunter said. "We were pushing. I felt like I got a bit of rhythm, put a good lap in the prior lap and yeah, just bumped the gear shifter into neutral. And that was enough in the sand as soon as you chop the throttle a little bit, let alone completely no throttle. It just grabs. You saw how it went. I would just kind of went straight over the front and kind of like half winded myself, which at max heart rate in that heat in that moment, it feels like you're going to die. So needed a lap to kind of gather myself a bit and thankfully had a big gap from I think fifth-place. And then, just kind brought it home. That was it.
"This one today was, the bike's moving around a lot when I'm jumping in or wheeling into corners on sand rollers and I go from the balls of my feet to the arch of my feet to get ready to change gears on the exit of the turn and the bike's moving a lot in the air," he explained. "Just rider error. That's all it takes to click it into neutral with our boot and everything. You try to be perfect in every aspect and that's what's so unique about our sport is a million different outcomes can happen anytime you step foot on the track."
Hunter ended up 1-4 on the day, and Jett's 2-1 powered him into the points lead. The boys have been pretty much even all year, but as they reflected, the jokes returned. Jett was asked if he would maybe play golf against Hunter to prove who is truly better, since they both tossed away moto wins at Southwick with crashes.
"We might do rock, paper, shoot on Monday. Who knows?" said Jett.
"You see he didn't say yes for the golf!" said Hunter. "Yeah! Maybe he didn’t want it on the golf course?"
Jett says battling Hunter is keeping him going.
"It's tough, but I think it's fun," Jett says. "I think it's what's keeping almost me going with my foot a little more. I don't know. I like it. I wouldn't want to be battling with no one else but Hunter. I think it's cool. And I expected us to go what we've done so far. I know my game and where we're at and I know where he's at and it's I feel like the top of our sport right now. Battling with your brother for a championship is really cool because not a lot of people get to do it."
As Hunter continues to improve and Jett is still dealing with injury, the Lawrences are as closely-matched as ever. Hunter's progression to this point has been a long, slow process.
"The miracle didn't pop up in the last year or two," he says. "It's honestly been compounding from the end of 2020 and it's just compounding, snowball effect every year. The past, ‘24 and ’25, we had some minor injuries in the Supercross season, but then finished off Pro Motocross. Those weren't major injuries. We're talking a couple weeks off the bike opposed to months off the bike, which I believe is just a huge thing. When you're showing up racing every weekend, the race pace, racing is the best training in my opinion. So consistently showing up to the races. Flash back to when Jett went from just getting on the 250. I went through about a year and a bit of just string of injuries after injuries and then he kind of took over the guard just from riding nonstop for that whole period of time when I was having time off. That's what my biggest help is."
Now they're on to Millville. Hunter would like to get that point lead back ASAP, but all he can do is minimize damage on the bad days and try to capitalize on the good ones.
"Just the simple, obvious one that everyone says, just stay in it till the end, right?" he says. "You've got to be in it every race and there isn't really just one particular thing. Every race, I'm using all of my racing years of experience and knowledge to execute and try and make the best decision every lap, every corner. I wish I could give you an easier answer, but I just can't."
Back to the emotionless approach. Over time, it's worked well for him.
