Some crashes and a penalty hindered Hunter Lawrence at Thunder Valley, but the Australian still salvaged P3 overall to remain firmly in the 450MX title hunt. In this Debrief feature, the Honda HRC Progressive rider reflects on a frustrating yet encouraging third round of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship in Colorado.

Image: Octopi Media.

Thunder Valley thoughts

Yeah, I just struggled a little bit with the connection and feeling for the traction I had with both the front and rear of the bike. I hit the ground way too many times today. I feel like my riding, pace and speed were good enough to win. The starts were good, but they weren’t holeshots, which makes a huge difference, especially when you’re battling Jett. There were definitely positives to take from the day, but the crashes weren’t ideal. It was kind of a crappy day at the office.

The penalty

Yeah, I only found out about it when we were about to head up for the next moto, and I still couldn’t recall exactly where I went off the track or which markers I went inside of. I haven’t seen the footage yet either. Obviously it sucks because I’ve never intentionally gone off the track or tried to run over markers. Sometimes the markers get taken out and then it’s like, “Well, there are no markers there anymore.” I’ve never done that on purpose. So, yeah, it’s a bit of a bummer to end up with 4-4 when it was 3-4, but honestly, my crashes were the main takeaway from today and what I need to work on.

The Coenen brothers

Yeah, it’s cool. Like I said on the podium, I see a bit of myself and Jett in them. They’re way ahead of where we were at that stage of our careers before making the move to America. They’re both leading the World Championship over there and then making the transfer across, so it’s cool. They’re super talented riders and we’ve known them for a few years now. They’ve got each other, their little Frenchie and their dad, and it’s a cool story because all they know is racing. It was cool to have them over here. I wish they were coming next weekend because I think they’d like that track a little more at High Point. This one is usually better, honestly. It wasn’t as deep as normal and was a lot slipperier. It was a tricky one today and, to be honest, pretty similar to Hangtown in the way it raced.

Image: Octopi Media.

Chasing bike set-up

Yeah, it feels like the chase never stops, right? Every track is so different, so you’re always critiquing little things here and there. As far as what I’m looking for, I feel like what we started the season with, I was very happy with. Then we made some adjustments and we’re still not quite where I want to be yet, or where I feel like I can be. But I feel like we’re really close. Really close.

Learning to race Deegan

I mean it didn’t matter who was behind me. I was trying to take different lines to pass Jett, and this track was… I mean, we pretty much took the same line from first qualifying all the way through to the end of the motos. It was very one-lined. Any time you tried to take a different line, you just lost time. That’s exactly how Haiden ended up getting me in that first moto. I was trying a different line to go around Jett, lost time, and then he was on the inside. So, yeah, that’s just kind of how the track has been racing, it seems.