Features 7 Jul 2025

Debrief: 2025 Pro Motocross Rd6 RedBud

Overall winners Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda recall sixth round.

RedBud belonged to Team Honda HRC Progressive on Saturday, as Jett Lawrence stormed to another 1-1 performance in 450MX. Jo Shimoda followed suit in 250MX, sweeping both motos and sealing a perfect day for the team. Hear from both riders in Debrief as they spoke with the media following the race.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jett, I’m curious, when you are in the lead and you have a big gap over second, is it easier, or do you ever find yourself thinking about something else? Is it tough to maintain that pace?

Yeah, sometimes I have a squirrel brain. I’ll be thinking of some random, not even about dirt bikes sometimes. But no, when I have a really good flow, I’m not really focusing too much on the gap, I’m just focusing on my lines and which line prior was a little bit thinner than the rest, or where it’s going to be blown out, or is going to have a big pocket in it and stuff like that. So I’m more focused on those things when I’m out front, not too focused on the gap, or I’ll think of that once I’m going past the mechanics area, like going past pit board straight, so yeah.

When you’re lying on the ground first lap, what’s your mentality like in that moment? Are you thinking about the overall? Because it seemed like you were riding with a lot of intensity after that.

Well, the first thing that came to mind was get the F up and get going because, this ain’t going to be the place you want to be staying, so yeah, just like normal, just kind of evaluate the situation I’m in. Like, ‘alright, where am I at? P18, alright. We’ll just kind of… I think it’s going to be a little harder than obviously moto one, but we’ll just try and just stick to our lap times and see what we can do.’

You were jumping into the inside after the rollers. Is that something you started doing in that moto? Because it seemed like the line was jumping over the roller and then drifting outside, but you were fully committed inside. It seemed a little scary sometimes. Walk us through that.

No, I was doing that yesterday as well in press. For me, this sets it up better for myself to get over that because that thing was pretty big and steep, so better just to jump over and take it out. After a little bit, the bump that’s normally there that I’m popping off kind of shapes down a little bit more and more, just because I’m probably the only one hitting it, so it kind of gets a little harder – but nothing too crazy.

Can you talk about how it feels to deliver on such a big event for your team, your brand and everybody that was here?

Yeah, the big bosses are in town, so you better pull your finger out and ride good, because you’ve got to look good for them. And Jo [Shimoda] did well also in the 250 class. He rode unreal, so it was good to see him drop the rest of the guys.

You’ve kind of led this next generation into where you guys are now. So how cool is it? Like, you guys all raced each other on 250s and now you see each other a lot on 450s and it’s kind of been like this recurring theme between you all?

No, it’s really, really cool, you know? Like [Justin Cooper] said, we’ve raced each other for so many years. We’ve built this respect with each other where we race each other clean. When we are next to each other, we’re good. We’re kind of comfortable next to each other, unlike some other guys, where you kind of get a little sketched out, where I could go down a straight rhythm lane with J Coop, be fine, vice versa. So even with Hunter [Lawrence] as well, you know, we race each other very respectfully. I think it’s one really cool thing, and being able to race against him for most of my career so far, it’s been really cool.

How’s it feel to dominate again, you know, dominate the sport again and bring Honda back to the top of the sport?

It’s really cool, obviously. And to do it for Honda as well, it’s even better. There are a lot of old fans of Honda and we always get praise and they say, thanks so much for putting Honda back up there. It’s really cool, you know? Honda, being such a big manufacturer, is awesome. We’re just happy to do the Honda people of HRC proud, you know, B-Dub, Lars, obviously the big boss in Japan as well. So I think we’re just happy to be up there and put the bike on the top step, where we think it belongs.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jo, huge congratulations. This was not just a big race for you being the Honda RedBud National, but the way in which you did it seemed like a really big step forward, a dominant day. Did it feel different to you?

No, just riding the same, like my fitness [is the] same. Everything is about the same, except the start. So, yeah, like I was honestly more stoked about the start than just winning a moto, but yeah, good for Honda. It was a really good day.

Jo, it’s kind of funny. We were talking yesterday at press day about you getting your win this summer, and it seemed like it was just coming down to starts. Now you’ve done it, do you feel pretty confident going into the next couple rounds?

I mean, we have to keep making improvements. Today, it worked out with this dirt texture, but maybe for Millville, I don’t know, it could be a little more sandy, it could be a little tackier, so I just have to be aware. But yeah, I would say much better than all of my starts from the first round. So I think this direction is really nice.

Jo, I believe your contract is done at the end of this year. So I’m assuming you’re probably like shopping around, maybe returning to Honda, maybe moving to a new team. Do rides like this kind of reaffirm that, hey, you want to be back on Honda, the bike seems to be getting better, you seem to be getting better. Or does it help you like shop around and look around and give you that dollar value?

I don’t know if I can really answer this. I haven’t really signed on any papers. But I guess I’m looking good on Honda right now. But yeah, I can’t really answer to this. Nothing is confirmed yet. So, sorry!

The 450 guys were up here and said that the track was maybe a little different this year than years past. Did you notice anything different while you were out there racing today with the setup?

Well, me and Jalek [Swoll] were just talking about that. I don’t know, today it was deep, like just deep. Every corner or after the finish line, all the like switchback sections just had like, I don’t know, 20, 30 ruts in each corner. So yeah, not like a typical RedBud, I feel like, they prepped it much differently. It slowed down a lot though.

I believe you were on the podium last year, but to get a first place and to do it in a dominant way, is that cool? Is that for you to move up a couple spots and actually win this year?

Well, I think, I believe this is my first win with Honda for outdoors, so I don’t know. I’m simply just super stoked.

Kind of building on that one a little bit, I think your first 1-1 race came at the season finale a couple years ago. So to be able to do this in the middle of the season and you’re second in points now, do you feel like you can carry this one through the last few Pro Motocross races this summer? Like, are you fired up here the last couple races now?

Yeah, I mean, I’m fired up all the time. I don’t know, like, the last couple of rounds, usually, like, the tracks, I like East Coast tracks, fast. I don’t know, people tell me, like, I’m a technical rider, but me personally, like, Southwick, just these fast tracks, like, you can get a little sendier. For me, like, I feel like I can perform better, so yeah, really looking forward to it.

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