Commanding Performance by Team Honda HRC at Spring Creek
Spring Creek MX Park
・Jett Lawrence extends perfect season, with 14 consecutive moto wins
・Chase Sexton shows great speed, going 2-2 for second overall
・Hunter Lawrence collects 250 overall win, retakes points lead
In what has become the norm this summer, Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence ruled the 450 class at the Spring Creek AMA Pro Motocross round, leading every lap of both motos and extending his points lead, while Chase Sexton went 2-2, earning second overall for the third time this season. Meanwhile, after experiencing misfortune at the previous two rounds, Hunter Lawrence was not to be denied in Millville, Minnesota, where he dominated the entire day and took the overall win with 1-2 moto scores in the 250 class.
In the first 450 moto, Jett and Sexton were third and fifth after the start, and both quickly began moving forward. Jett was in front after the first lap, while Sexton was sixth despite an early tip-over. Highly motivated, the AMA 450 Supercross champ went on a tear through the pack, taking him back up to third three laps in. He advanced another position on the next lap, then set about reeling in his young teammate. Sexton showed his MX form from 2022 and managed to pull up to Jett’s rear wheel about halfway through the moto. Jett was able to step it up, with the two riders routinely lapping about four to five seconds per lap faster than the riders behind them. Chase hounded Jett until he unfortunately dropped his bike again on the final lap. He ended up 12 seconds back, but nearly 40 seconds ahead of third place. The next race saw Sexton lead Jett out of turn 1, but Jett took advantage of a small slip by his teammate a few turns later to take over at the front. Sexton pressured his teammate for the first part of the race, but another fall allowed Jett to ride pressure-free to the end for the win, with Chase taking an easy second place.
The first 250 moto saw Hunter suffer a poor start and complete lap 1 in eighth place, but he rode impressively as he set about passing some of the class’s top riders, moving into the top five on lap 4 and taking second place two laps later. Even though he had a large gap to the leading Jo Shimoda, he was able to close the distance and, with two laps remaining, he moved into the lead, crossing the line with a two-second advantage. Hunter then made life easier on himself with a moto 2 holeshot, and he set about establishing an advantage. Unfortunately, an encounter with a lapped rider caused a last-lap crash, but a resulting second-place moto result wasn’t enough to rob Hunter of the overall win or the points lead.
NOTES
Chase Sexton took part in media day on Friday at Millville, getting some track time and taking part in interviews.
Moon Motorsports, a Honda dealership in Monticello, Minnesota, had a pop-up activation booth in the Team Honda HRC pits at Millville, where they exhibited a CRF450R and a CRF110F and engaged with customers.
Team Honda HRC dominated morning qualifying, with Jett Lawrence topping the 450 times ahead of Sexton, while Hunter Lawrence was the fastest 250 rider.
That trend held true in the motos as well, with Jett and Sexton going 1-2 on the 450 lap-time sheets in race 1 (the rider with the third-best time was another 3 seconds slower), and then reversing the order in moto 2. Hunter turned in the fastest lap times in both 250 motos.
This was Jett’s second victory at Spring Creek, as he went 1-1 in the 250 class last year.
Through Millville, Jett has led 206 of 222 laps in the 450 class this season, an astounding 92.8 percent. The only stop at which he didn’t lead every lap in both motos was round 4 at High Point Raceway. Since then, Jett has led the last 105 laps which, according to MX Reference, puts him second on the list of consecutive laps led since 2004. According to Fowler’s Facts, Jett and Sexton set 45 of the 50 fastest laps at Millville.
With his success this weekend, Jett moved Honda into first place on Spring Creek’s all-time moto-win list in the 450 class (formerly 250).
Jett joins other Red Riders to have won in that class at Spring Creek, including Bob Hannah (twice), Ron Lechien, Ricky Carmichael (twice) and Eli Tomac. In the 250 class (formerly 125), Hunter joins past Honda-mounted overall winners including Ron Lechien, Micky Dymond, Steve Lamson (twice), Andrew Short, Trey Canard, Eli Tomac (twice) and Jett Lawrence.
In the 450 title chase, Jett’s points total is now at a maximum-possible 350, putting him a massive 81 up on second place. Sexton moved up two positions to fifth (despite missing three rounds due to injury), while Hunter engineered an impressive 18-point recovery in the 250 class, going from five points down to enjoying a 13-point lead. The Lawrence brothers will both run the red number plates at the next race.
All three active Team Honda HRC riders participated in the post-race press conference at Millville.
The Team Honda HRC semis now head west to Washougal, Washington, for the eighth round of the AMA Pro Motocross series, after which the squad will get a well-earned two-week break.
The track was quite a bit different from previous years. I felt like it favored Chase’s technique—that muscle, bulldog kind of style, whereas I kind of have to time it. It was another good day. Qualifying was good, and in the first moto, Chase was pushing and I had to go hard to keep him behind. In the second moto, he got the start on me, and we were battling for the first few turns. He ended up losing traction in a turn and I was able to capitalize on that. It was another good weekend.
In the first moto, I fell on the first lap but had a really good charge to get onto the back of Jett, and we went to battle. The second-moto start was almost perfect—a drag race between Jett and me. I got in the lead and then got on the gas a little too hard and slid out, so Jett got around me. After the finish line, he made a mistake and I thought he was going to crash, and then I ended up crashing two corners later! From there, it was pretty much over. I fell three times today, which is not ideal, but I think that’s just from trying to up the pace. My riding is getting better, and I’m not going to quit—I’m going to throw everything at it. The rest of these tracks are kind of my style, and I’m looking forward to some more battles.
It was a good day. In the second moto, I was tired at the end, and I think I had four lappers in front of me. They’ve got their own stuff going on, as I do, and I made a last-minute decision to miss them and washed the front into the face of the wall jump. It wasn’t ideal and took me a bit to get up because I was winded. I didn’t know Jo was right there and kind of heard him in the last section and thought, ‘Crap, I have to dig again!’ It was close, but all in all, a pretty good day.
It was another great day for the team, snagging the best possible result possible with wins in both classes and P2 in 450 as well! We needed to rebound in the 250 class after a few unfortunate races, and Hunter was able to do just that, stamping his authority in that class and sending a strong message to the rest of the field. I’m super proud of him for his positive attitude after the adversity we have faced, and he never lost any confidence in himself and the team, which means so much to us. The 450 class was a pleasure to watch, and for a while it looked like Jett’s perfect streak was in jeopardy, with Chase absolutely ripping! Next weekend is a super strong track for Chase, and it’s not Jett’s favorite, so it should be an exciting one!
