A trio of second-place podiums in a row has Hunter Lawrence positioned P2 in the 450SX standings four rounds into the Monster Energy Supercross season, just four points outside of the red plate and managing to blend speed with consistency through the month of January. It’s that very reason that he has emerged as a newfound title threat in 2026.

As impressive as Eli Tomac (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) has been to start the new season – including victories at the opening two 450SX rounds in Anaheim and San Diego, as well as topping qualifying on two occasions – it’s the steadiness of Lawrence that has caught attention, and shares characteristics of many multi-time champions of the past.

It’s a subtle consistency that can be deceptive, quietly positioning a rider within striking distance as the season develops. While Lawrence has been impressive in his own right in 2026, the fact that he is only four points off the fast-starting Tomac is somewhat surprising, with the latter having stolen the headlines after four rounds.

While requiring a healthy balance of both speed and consistency, it is consistency – which is less exciting than race-winning flashes – that can often be overlooked in the big picture. For example, Chase Sexton was ultra-fast last year indoors, but it was Webb who stood atop the championship podium after 17 rounds.

The consistent strategy sometimes leaves you wondering how they ended up there by series end, but when you tally up the results, you quickly realize their ability to be there week in, week out, which requires a certain type of pragmatism over being caught up in the typical highs and lows of Supercross.

Image: Octopi Media.

Lawrence has shown exactly that, and is quickly establishing a diesel-type moniker in the process. The catch is, race-winning pace is there, too, with finishing within inches of the San Diego main event win a couple of weeks back, before a minor error in race one of Houston’s Triple Crown saw him miss the top step of the podium by a single point.

The experienced 26-year-old has the speed and attitude to potentially take the fight all the way to the Salt Lake City finale this year, genuinely emerging as a player in the 450SX title picture in these early stages – as demonstrated by his thought process during the final race last Saturday night.

“We were both pushing a good pace [in the last race],” Lawrence mentioned. “And at the same point in my head, sitting behind him, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know the race win… the night win was there, and I needed to get him,’ but I also saw he was 13th the moto before or something, so that kind of factored in a little bit just on where my closest championship rivals were.

“I think if I just keep giving myself the best percentage play every weekend, if I can put myself in the top-five around the first turn and click off good laps, good things are going to start happening, and I like my chances over the umpteen races.”

Further insight into how he goes about business can be observed below. There’s a depth to it from an analytical point of view – because every rider has their unique approach – however, there is also not a lot to it for the number 96, who treats racing the same as most treat their respective day-to-day work.

Image: Octopi Media.

“Yeah, [it’s] just like I’m knocked off for the night – work is done, so it’s easy to wind down and yeah, just go to work,” he continued. “I work on weekends, so it’s just another work day for me. I put in the work during the week, and honestly, I enjoy it, but at the same time, I’m going to line up again next weekend and the one after that. So, we work every weekend from January through to October, and that’s my job. That’s what I do.”

Whatever he is doing is working, because we can finally say that his Supercross skills are effectively now a match alongside his championship-contending form in both Pro Motocross and the Monster Energy SMX World Championship post-season, where the past two years he has factored in each title race.

Supercross had been a question mark, with that particular piece of punctuation firmly erased. This isn’t necessarily a surprise to many, though, it was more a matter of seeing it in action, with Lawrence’s trainer and former Supercross champion Johnny O’Mara revealing that the current form was, in fact, expected for 2026.

“I think he’s doing great,” O’Mara commented following Houston. “Our team thinks he is doing good, and this is kind of where we expected him to be. We know a win is coming, and it’s just a matter of time, but these Triple Crowns are very difficult. He’s his own worst critic – Hunter was hard on himself after that first one, he didn’t feel great, but he knew he had to gather it up.

“We’ll take the result. He knows, he’s a gamer, and he’s in it for the long haul, as I always keep saying – that’s how we look at it. We all know that he’s more of a diesel, so we’re trying to work on the sprint part of his game, where, for Jett, that comes so naturally.

Image: Octopi Media.

“That part for Hunter has always been a bit tricky for him, but we work on it every single day. We’ll move on to next week, and we know that a win is coming. We took a few points away from the [points] gap there, so we’re thinking of the long game for sure.”

Don’t count out Hunter Lawrence. We’ve heard that same line for many years regarding riders like Cooper Webb and Ryan Dungey, who both became multi-time 450SX champions in their own right. We’re only four rounds in, and he does have to prove he can go the distance, but wins are right there on the horizon, with Lawrence having arrived as a genuine front-runner in the premier class of Supercross.