Double Podium Finishes for Team Honda HRC at Seattle SX

・Third in 450SX for Jett Lawrence despite a crash on the treacherous track
・Hunter Lawrence takes seventh in second race back from injury
・Jo Shimoda overcomes poor start to finish third in 250SX East

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 also heads to round 12 with a decent 16-point lead 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 1. After the first lap, Jett and Hunter sat eighth and 12^th, respectively, and they maintained those spots after another lap. At that point, Jett rocketed his CRF450RWE 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 5 and took over third on lap 10, but his charge was balked when he went down while trying to pass Cooper 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 11^th, 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, Shimoda exited turn 1 in about eighth place, and he sat in seventh after the first lap. He held that spot for five laps before a fall contributed to him dropping back to eighth at the midway point, but then he found some speed and mounted a charge. The Japanese racer overtook one rider per lap until he made it to fourth, and he moved into third five laps from the end, then held it to the finish for his second podium result in a row.

NOTES

・Seattle was the fourth consecutive race where the track has been significantly affected by rain, either on or leading into race day. To minimize damage to the damp dirt, the free-practice sessions were canceled, 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.
・South Bound Motorsports, a Honda dealership in Lakewood, Washington, manned a pop-up activation booth in Team Honda HRC’s Seattle pits, where they showed off Honda powersports products and engaged with fans and customers.
・As has become the trend this season, Jett Lawrence turned the fastest 450SX lap in timed qualifying, with Hunter Lawrence sixth-best. Jo Shimoda was the third-fastest qualifier in 250SX West.
・The first 450SX heat race saw Hunter Lawrence get a great jump out of the gate and exit the first turn in second place. He took advantage of a lap-3 stall by Chase Sexton to assume the lead, which he maintained to the finish despite a strong late push from Eli Tomac. That set up the possibility of a heat-race sweep by the brothers, and Jett Lawrence delivered in heat 2, overcoming a so-so start to take the lead three laps from the end (having moved by Benny Bloss, Vince Friese and Aaron Plessinger).
・Jo Shimoda began the second 250SX West heat race with an impressive holeshot aboard his CRF250R, and he led most of the race. Unfortunately, a fall on the final lap resulted in a second-place result. SmarTop/MotoConcepts Honda rider Carson Mumford finished two positions back.
・Jett Lawrence also had the fastest lap in the 450SX main event, an amazing 1.394 seconds better than the next-fastest rider.
・Although his three-race win streak was broken, Jett only lost five points to his main rival in the title chase, so he now sits 16 ahead of Cooper Webb, with Chase Sexton another seven back.
・Six rounds remain in the AMA Supercross series, with St. Louis up next this Saturday. It will be the season’s final Triple Crown race.