Image: Octopi Media.

Fifth overall at the Thunder Valley National on Saturday reflected the progression made by Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence, who suggested post-race that he was ‘definitely a lot closer’ to the front of the pack in a continuation of his early form outdoors.

The elder Lawrence – who had stood on the podium at round one – claimed the holeshot in the first 450MX moto, featuring inside the leading quartet as they applied pressure to race leader Jett Lawrence.

An untimely fall, however, on the final lap would relegate him from third to fourth position for the first race. In struggling to find a rhythm in the second encounter, Lawrence took another fourth-place finish, with 4-4 scores yielding P5 overall for the day.

“Good progression with the team this past week, we’re definitely a lot closer to the front, so that was positive,” the 25-year-old reflected. “I’m kind of frustrated with myself, though. I had a little crash on the last lap of the first moto, after battling with Jett and Aaron [Plessinger] the whole race, so that was a bummer.

“In the second moto, I just kept losing my rhythm. Every time I tried to rally and find it again, I struggled a bit more… A 4-4 for fifth overall is a little unlucky, but I’m looking forward to High Point.”

After exiting this year’s Monster Energy Supercross Championship with a broken collarbone sustained at Tampa’s fifth round, Lawrence made a return to racing in the Pro Motocross opener at Fox Raceway and sits fifth overall after three rounds.