Australian Jett Lawrence still managed to finish third after crashing at round 11 of the 2024 AMA Supercross Championships and that was enough for him to maintain his series lead in the USA.
While the Seattle Supercross was tinged by a sense of “what could have been” for Team Honda HRC, it was hard for the squad to be disappointed with the actual result – podium main-event finishes by Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda (in 450SX and 250SX West, respectively), and a solid seventh-place finish by Hunter Lawrence, all on a track where errors were frequent and potentially consequential.
Importantly, Jett Lawrence (pictured here) also heads to round 12 with a decent 16-point lead over Seattle race winner Cooper Webb (Yamaha) after 10 of 17 rounds in the championship chase.
Following a 450SX heat-race sweep by Hunter and Jett Lawrence (a career first for the former), the main event kicked off with both brothers mired mid-pack in turn one.
After the first lap, Jett and Hunter sat eighth and 12th, respectively, and they maintained those spots after another lap.
At that point, Jett rocketed his Honda through the pack, leveraging a couple of smooth moves he was able to consistently pull (leaping over a wall jump and doing a triple-triple in a rhythm section).
He sat in fourth place by lap five and took over third on lap 10, but his charge was balked when he went down while trying to pass Webb for second.
He was able to get back to third place rather quickly and cut the gap down to the leaders dramatically again, only to be stopped in his tracks by a lapped rider who was stuck on the difficult track.
From there, he rode to a safe third-place result. Meanwhile, Hunter spent the first half of the race in 11th, but the second half saw him pick up momentum and climb to seventh, setting his fastest time on the penultimate lap.
In the 250SX class, Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen took the top step of the podium, and he now leads the West Coast series by a scant eight points over Husqvarna rider R.J. Hampshire after five of nine rounds.
Seattle was the fourth consecutive race where the track has been significantly affected by rain, either on or leading into race day.
To minimise damage to the damp dirt, the free-practice sessions were cancelled, but deep ruts still quickly developed once the riding started. By the time the main events kicked off, getting around the course was something akin to navigating an obstacle course.
Photo courtesy Honda
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450SX Results:
- Cooper Webb (Yam)
- Chase Sexton (KTM)
- Jett Lawrence (Hon)
- Aaron Plessinger (KTM)
- Ken Roczen (Suz)’
- Eli Tomac (Yam)
- Hunter Lawrence (Hon)
- Justin Cooper (Yam)
- Justin Barcia (Gas)
- Jason Anderson (Kaw)
450SX Championship Points (after 11 of 17 rounds):
- Jett Lawrence: 230
- Cooper Webb: 214
- Chase Sexton: 207
- Ken Roczen: 192
- Eli Tomac: 190
- Aaron Plessinger: 180
- Jason Anderson: 177
- Justin Cooper: 134
- Justin Barcia: 122
- Malcolm Stewart: 115
250SX East Region Results
- Levi Kitchen (Kaw)
- R.J. Hampshire (Hus)
- Jo Shimoda (Hon)
- Garrett Marchbanks (Yam)
- Carson Mumford (Hon)
- Michael Mosiman (Yam)
- Julien Beaumer (KTM)
- Anthony Bourdon (Suz)
- Nate Thrasher (Yam)
- Cole Thompson (Yam)
250SX East Region Championship Points (after 5 of 9 rounds)
- Levi Kitchen: 131
- R.J. Hampshire: 123
- Jordon Smith: 110
- Garrett Marchbanks: 105
- Jo Shimoda: 94
- Anthony Bourdon: 79
- Julien Beaumer: 78
- Carson Mumford: 75
- Mitchell Oldenburg: 67
- Nate Thrasher: 63