Double Podiums for Team Honda HRC at St. Louis Triple Crown SX

・ Hunter Lawrence notches career-first 450SX podium overall result
・ Jo Shimoda second in 250SX West, his best finish of the year so far
・ Despite strong riding, bad luck limits Jett Lawrence to eighth in 450SX

Despite the frustration of a couple of misfortunes denying Jett Lawrence a top finish in the 450SX class, the third and final Triple Crown race of the 2024 AMA Supercross season—held this weekend in St. Louis—included very positive aspects for Team Honda HRC, with Hunter Lawrence and Jo Shimoda both tallying their best results of the year thus far.

The wild first 450SX race saw Hunter Lawrence’s CRF450RWE exit turn 1 with the lead, while Jett was in fifth. A lap 1 pileup delayed Jett, costing him a couple of positions, and Hunter went down on the following lap. Impressively, Jett was up to second place by lap 10, and he held on for a runner-up finish, while Hunter took an eighth-place result. Race 2 began with a Jett Lawrence holeshot, but Justin Cooper snuck by on the second straight. Jett got back by through a rhythm section on the next lap and went on to notch a comfortable win, only to be demoted to third for missing a red-cross flag over the finish-line jump. Several other riders received similar penalties, with Hunter benefitting with a second-place result. Hunter and Jett were about fifth and sixth to start race 3, but Justin Barcia made contact with Jett in a 180-degree corner, sending the Australian to the ground. Hunter rode in fourth place for most of the race, tallying 8-2-4 scores for third overall—the first podium result of his young premier-class career. Jett slowly circulated the track for 21st place, but his 2-3-21 scores were good for eighth overall.

Jo Shimoda put his CRF250R in front down the start straight in the 250SX West division’s first race, but he went wide in turn 1 and completed lap 1 in third place. On lap 7 he displaced Juju Beaumer for second, then held that spot to the finish. Shimoda was fifth out of turn 1 in race 2 and lost a spot shortly afterward. He had climbed into podium position by the midway point, and he held off a late RJ Hampshire attack to finish third. Shimoda was third across the holeshot line in race 3, and that’s where the Japanese rider stayed for all 11 laps, his 2-3-3 scores netting him a season-best second-overall result.

NOTES

・ This week’s dealer staffing a pop-up activation booth in the Team Honda HRC pits was Lou Fusz Honda, from O’Fallon, Illinois.
・ Louis was a 250SX Futures round, and a number of talented amateur Red Riders were entered. The top finisher among them was SLR Honda’s Parker Ross, in 13^th, with teammate Alvin Hillan one spot back.
・ Yet again, Jett Lawrence was the top 450SX qualifier, with the best times in both sessions. Hunter Lawrence was 15^th, while Jo Shimoda set the fifth-best time in the 250SX West class.
・ Jett set the fastest lap times in the first two 450SX races.
・ Despite a costly race 3 in St. Louis, Jett Lawrence headed home with a lead in the 450SX points standings, though it was halved from 16 to 8. Hunter Lawrence moved into the top 10 in the same class, and Jo Shimoda retained fifth in 250SX West.
・ The AMA Supercross series now gets its second weekend off of the year, giving the riders time to regroup and recoup. Next up is round 13 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, April 13, when Chance Hymas will compete in 250SX East.