The Washougal National has traditionally been one of Hunter Lawrence’s tougher stops on the Pro Motocross schedule, but the Honda HRC Progressive rider turned that around with an overall victory to extend his 450MX championship lead. In this Debrief feature, Lawrence reflects upon his breakthrough result and the ongoing battle for the title.

Image: Octopi Media.

Washougal thoughts

Yeah, good. It actually went freaking sick compared to how it has been every other year. I mean, that was the talk of the week, right? It was Haiden’s [Deegan] track, and this isn’t our best track. So, it was unreal to go 1-2.

Changes made to improve this year

I think the bike’s in a good spot, or a good enough spot. We made one change between the first and second moto, and that did help me out, which was really cool. I’m not sure, honestly. I don’t know. Maybe the overcast conditions helped and the shadows weren’t as bad.

Not fully satisfied

I wouldn’t say I wasn’t fully satisfied. It’s just such a tough championship. The guy I’m going up against is the best guy in the sport, and I feel like we’re each other’s toughest opponents. I’m still debriefing and thinking about the weeks to come, what I want to work on and where I think I can be better. My starts, I felt like, weren’t even that good. The second one was a holeshot, but the execution wasn’t really good. That’s something I feel like this place always makes me scratch my head about. It’s almost like the looser riding styles that aren’t as precise tend to do really well at this track. We’ve struggled a lot here in previous years, so I’m just debriefing and honestly still mulling it over, always critiquing myself. I’m happy to get a win for sure, even though my intention after Jett [Lawrence] got around me in that second moto was just to stay on him, stay as close as I could, keep the pressure on, and I knew it was going to be a long moto. It obviously unfolded how it did.

Image: Octopi Media.

Bike setup for Washougal

Yeah, we just tested a few things. I feel like sometimes when we test in California, then go east or to other tracks, it doesn’t always translate. Once we’re on the East Coast, we generally stick with that kind of setting and don’t make changes. Every time we come out to California we’ll try something. We knew we could have a stiffer bike, which doesn’t normally work on East Coast tracks, so we leaned into that a little bit. Even after qualifying this morning, I felt like I was riding really well, but looking through the timing segments there were sections where I thought, “Man, I’m a lot further down than what I feel like.” I felt like I was doing the right lines and everything, but it just doesn’t always translate on this track. It’s weird. It’s a very, very weird, unorthodox track.

Teammate and competitor Jett

This week he actually rode a lot more, we’ve been riding similar amounts over the past two or three weeks. There’s been times where I’ve executed exactly to my game plan and it still hasn’t turned out right, you just never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t call what happened last weekend – I didn’t even know he had crashed. I’ve just got to be there every race, whether it’s him, another rider or whoever. You’ve just got to put yourself in the fight. As for riding each other’s bikes, honestly it’s more of a benefit to both of us and the team. He had different forks and shock settings yesterday to what I had developed during the week, and that was our theory. We thought, ‘Let’s put it to the test.’ We only get one press session, so it’s the best way to see which setup we like better, whether he liked what I developed or vice versa. That’s one thing that’s really cool. There are no secrets, and it’s a level playing field.

Image: Octopi Media.

Any tension with Jett

No, there’s no tension. If anything, he annoys me as a younger brother, but it’s nothing to do with racing. What you see is what you get, honestly. That’s one thing I can be proud of. It’s difficult to take the high road sometimes, and it’s easy to take the low road. I think that’s a huge issue with the world. There are so many insecure and just shitty people that we need more good people. If I’m going to stand up here and say that, then I have to do that. It’s easy to say it, but actions are more believable than words.

Upping the pace midway through

Yeah, it’s tricky because he’s doing the same thing. We get into a pace, and obviously we knew Haiden was in third. You’re just trying to keep pushing after the start, then put in some laps and see where he is. Is he sticking with me or not? Some races this year I’ve been able to close the gap or extend the gap, and other races it hasn’t worked. It’s just testing the waters. Like I said, it’s such a unique battle, and all the races this year are a testament to that.

Jett’s moto two charge

Yeah, I had eyes on him a lot of the way. When you’re in a flow on this track, I feel like it’s easy to just stay in it. When he went down, I kind of took a lap to breathe and then tried to go again because I knew we still had some time on the clock. Then I just kind of guesstimated that, at the pace I was riding, he wouldn’t catch me before the finish line, and I just tried to bring it home.