Momentum continues to build for Hunter Lawrence in the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship, after a dominant performance at High Point saw the Honda HRC Progressive rider deliver his second 450MX victory in four rounds to reinforce his status as a genuine title contender. In this Conversation feature, Lawrence reflects on his result and the work behind it.

Image: Octopi Media.

That was an excellent day, to say the very least. Talk to us about maybe your feelings going into today. Were you ready for incredible rides like that?

You always show up and try to do your best, but we had something that we tried during the week and came into first qualifying hoping it would give me what I was looking for, and it didn’t. I said, ‘No, screw it. Give me back Pala settings. I want to go back to base.’ That was what I was after and gave me the feedback, connectivity and trust that I needed. It was good. Happy with that.

So you were on Pala settings here, is that correct?

Yeah, we just call it that. It was back to base. We kind of had a few things we were trying to achieve from base for the second and third rounds, and it just wasn’t quite there. I was just like, ‘Nah, just give it back to me.’

Image: Octopi Media.

In the first moto, you rode away from the field, and in the second moto you got a chance to ride away from the guy who has been the dominant rider for the past couple of years. How did that feel?

It was good. Me and Jett [Lawrence] are two and two against each other in the first four rounds, so it’s good. I really wanted to tie that up and kind of stop the momentum. I feel like at Thunder Valley my riding was good enough and my speed was good enough to win. I didn’t quite have the trust in the bike I needed and ended up having some very uncharacteristic crashes throughout the day that were just frustrating because I don’t make those mistakes normally.

Do you have anything you’re going to work on after this week? You said you circled back to base. Are you going to keep trying things?

There’s always things that I feel like I could have done better, and you always review a race day and really pull it apart from a standpoint, or a point of view, where the result doesn’t matter, but you just look purely at riding laps. I did what I needed to do good enough to win, right? But there’s always things we’re working on. I’ll go back and just keep working, come back for the next four stretch of things. I have another goal for those next four ones. So yeah, just keep on working. The work doesn’t stop.

Image: Octopi Media.

You’re very calculated, as we know, and it seems like you digest all the information. I think 2019 was your first 250 moto win here, and you and Jett split the motos here in 2022. When you come to a track that you’ve either done well at or haven’t done well, do you have mental notes?

I would say we would probably look back and think, ‘Hey, this line formed up this way,’ even though you don’t think it’s going to be faster. It races in and ends up being the good line, or a few little bits and pieces. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head right now, but that’s about it. Every time we come back to a racetrack in a new year, it’s just a whole new day. I know what I’m working on through qualifying and where I need to be, and then it’s about executing the start. From there, the whole game plan unfolds after the first box that needs to be ticked, which is executing the start.

With the weekend off coming up, I know we’d normally joke with you and ask about golfing or car meet-ups or something of that nature, but what is something in the upcoming off week you would personally like to do to reset or unwind?

It’s tough because I love a good cars and coffee, but that’s normally every Saturday morning. On off weekends, when we’re not racing, we cycle, so I generally miss those even during the season. Go for a little rip in the cars, dinner with friends and family, and just kind of the weekend off, honestly, just being at home but still training. It’s amazing how much the weekend off, when you don’t have to travel on a Thursday or Friday, your body actually recovers with those two less travel days.