Just 66 days after undergoing surgery for a thumb injury, Australian Team Jett Lawrence turned in an impressive winning performance at the weekend.
The Honda HRC Progressive rider finished 2-1 to take the overall win during playoff one of the SuperMotocross World Championship in North Carolina.
His moto two win coming after a late pass on moto one winner Eli Tomac, and it showed that Lawrence – the defending SMX 450 champion – has lost none of his trademark speed or competitiveness during his recovery process.
His elder brother Hunter Lawrence rode to 3-6 finishes for fourth overall in the same class.
Aboard their twin 2025 CRF450R race machines, Jett and Hunter Lawrence emerged from the split start second and third in the first 450 moto, and Hunter quickly moved by Jett to assume second place.
After trailing his older brother for several laps, Jett eventually got back around, and the brothers went on to finish in second and third.
Jett was again second off the moto 2 start and was quickly passed by Tomac.
He powered by Justin Cooper early in the race to retake second and began dogging Tomac, eventually taking over the lead heading into the sand section and going on to the moto and overall wins. Hunter rode the entire race just a few spots back, finishing sixth in the moto and fourth overall.
Jett Lawrence’s CRF450R was wearing the yellow number 1 on a blue background, highlighting his status as the reigning 450 SMX champ and Honda has the record for most wins of all manufacturers during past AMA Supercross, AMA Pro Motocross and SuperMotocross racing in the Charlotte area, at six.
Past premier-class Red Riders to have won there include Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle (twice), Jeremy McGrath (three times) and Chase Sexton.
Because riders carry a certain number of points into the SMX Playoffs from the regular season, and Jett missed most of the AMA Pro Motocross series with injury, his overall win at the SMX opener doesn’t give him the points lead in the postseason.
The Australian sits second to former Honda team-mate Sexton in premier-class points (45-41), with Hunter Lawrence one more point back, in third.
The next round is next weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I feel like I surprised myself more than anyone else today,” said Jett Lawrence.
“Practice and qualifying went okay, but it’s a lot easier to put down one fast lap than it is to do an entire 20-minute moto. In both races, I felt like my lines and flow were really good, but I just had trouble staying close to the leader in the first one.
“Hopefully we can build off of this one and keep improving. Race intensity is a lot different than practice, so it was good to get some real gate drops under my belt.”
SUPERMOTOCROSS CHAMPS RESULTS & STANDINGS:
450 Overall Results
- Jett Lawrence (Hon)
- Eli Tomac (Yam)
- Chase Sexton (KTM)
- Hunter Lawrence (Hon)
- Ken Roczen (Suz)
- Justin Cooper (Yam)
- Malcolm Stewart (Hus)
- Aaron Plessinger (KTM)
- Colt Nichols (Suz)
- Cooper Webb (Yam)
450 Championship Points (after 1 of 3 rounds)
- Chase Sexton: 45
- Jett Lawrence: 41
- Hunter Lawrence: 40
- Eli Tomac: 33
- Justin Cooper: 33
- Aaron Plessinger: 32
- Malcolm Stewart: 30
- Ken Roczen: 26
- Dylan Ferrandis: 25
- Cooper Webb: 24
250 Overall Results
- Haiden Deegan (Yam)
- Julien Beaumer (KTM)
- Levi Kitchen (Kaw)
- Jo Shimoda (Hon)
- Tom Vialle (KTM)
- Jordon Smith (Yam)
- Max Anstie (Yam)
- Cameron McAdoo (Kaw)
- R.J. Hampshire (Hus)
- Garrett Marchbanks (Kaw)
250 Championship Points (after 1 of 3 rounds)
- Haiden Deegan: 50
- Levi Kitchen: 42
- Tom Vialle: 37
- Jo Shimoda: 36
- Julien Beaumer: 35
- Jordon Smith: 32
- Pierce Brown: 26
- Max Anstie: 25
- Chance Hymas: 23
- R.J. Hampshire: 22
Photo courtesy Honda
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