After posting a calculated fourth-place result at last week’s season-opening AMA Supercross, Honda HRC Progressive rider Hunter Lawrence was more aggressive at San Diego’s round 2. The Australian led much of the 450SX main event before taking a close second-place finish, showing that he has the pace to match anyone, particularly in the late stages. Lawrence’s teammate Chance Hymas showed strong form at times during the day, but a close call in the 250SX West main event meant he ultimately had to settle for sixth.
Lawrence nailed the holeshot in the 450SX main and led the first portion aboard his CRF450RWE. He fended off repeated challenges from Ken Roczen, with Eli Tomac soon joining the battle, and the racing between the top three was aggressive but clean. Roczen and Tomac both got by Lawrence on lap 8, but the Honda rider regrouped and stayed in contact. As the race entered its final quarter, Lawrence mounted one of his signature late surges, passing Roczen before the whoops with six laps remaining. He then reeled in the leading Tomac and attempted a last-lap pass before finishing just 1.6 seconds behind. Also impressive was Quad Lock Honda’s Joey Savatgy, who finished a solid fifth.
Hymas was third across the holeshot line in the 250SX West main event before running fourth early on and challenging Cameron McAdoo for much of the race. Both riders picked up a position when Max Anstie went down, but Hymas made a mistake over a jump; while an amazing save kept him on two wheels, the Idaho native lost three positions and held on to cross the finish line in sixth place.
Hunter Lawrence 96
“I definitely feel more confident on the bike; we tried a lot of things during the week to help where I felt like we struggled [at Anaheim]. That’s one thing I pride myself on: being able to show up in the main event when it counts. We were close, it was a good race. I feel like the first 15 minutes was just trying to get it under my belt, as I feel like the last five minutes is where I can make up that gap. Honestly, for me the heat race is the hardest race of the night—it was just a frustrating one—but I shook that off and put all the chips on the main. I really love what I can do in 20 minutes and just hit my marks. All day, I look forward to the main event.”
Chance Hymas 29
“It was a little bit of an up-and-down day for me; I just felt a little bit off all day but had some really good showings for me. I just made a couple of mistakes in the main, but overall blessed to be okay. We’re five points down in the championship—not too bad after this weekend—so we’ll regroup and go after A2.”
Lars Lindstrom – Team Manager
“We had another relatively smooth weekend, and as a team I think we executed well. We definitely seem to have a better idea of what direction we should be going with Hunter and his bike setup, which is encouraging. I don’t think we had on our bingo card that Hunter would do what he did in the main; he wasn’t exactly stoked on himself or the bike during the day, but it was awesome to see him lock in and show up when it mattered most. That’s a quality not all athletes have, but I feel like the elite do, and I couldn’t be prouder of him for that. Chance was so close to having the red plate, which would’ve been awesome, but he was a bit too nice to McAdoo, and probably could have picked up on a few things in the main that would’ve helped him out. Still, to only be five points down in a turbulent class is great, and I expect more great rides out of him.”
