Birmingham was further proof that Hunter Lawrence is right where he needs to be in the race for the 450SX title, leading the standings to date in 2026. Another composed performance saw him claim his third win in the premier class and extend his points advantage, with Lawrence speaking to the media post-race for this Debrief interview.

Image: Octopi Media.

How he won

Probably everything in the book, honestly. You got to be consistent, precise, kind of just push the whole main. Kenny [Roczen] had a really good pace. And I knew when he got around, I think it was Eli [Tomac], I believe, he put in some good, good laps. And I’m like, all right, this is his, you know, really good sprint speed, kind of push at the beginning. So I was like, just trying to push as much as I could for that, but track was tough. It was really slippery, like really, really slippery. There was a lot of like rocks, boulders and rock, like embedded in the dirt. So there was a lot of moments where you think there’s traction, you’d actually get a lot of wheel spin. So yeah, it was a tough track and we did a lot of laps as well.

Between rounds

I was good. We just kept working, honestly. And it was nice to have the Saturday, Sunday off. It’s funny. I was like, we still trained obviously the week after. And then I was feeling tired that whole week. I feel like this first week off, sorry, I was feeling tired just from the nine weekends in a row. I was kind of feeling that wear and tear. And I was like, you know, I’m going to take Saturday and Sunday off, which I’ve been taking like two days completely off since after motocross of nations last year. And then Monday, I’m like, yeah, man, we sweet, feel fresh. And I actually felt crap Monday and Tuesday, like on the bike, riding wasn’t that good. And I’m like, dude, I’m not taking two days off again. Just like took two days to get the body back going again and stuff. So yeah, it’s pretty, pretty funny. I thought, you know, come back after two days off, just fresh as ready to rip again. And it was the opposite.

Title prospects

Yeah, I mean, it is for sure. And it’s all the people around me and stuff, you know, my mates and stuff. Yeah, they want to talk about it. And but I just don’t want to think about it because it’s still eight races or seven races away. And there’s so much racing still to be had. So I’m just trying not to be an idiot and just focus on weekend in, weekend out and act like, you know, I don’t have the championship lead and I’m trying to get it back. And that’s just keep working. Showing up every weekend, get the opportunity to go out and do something great and do what I love. And that’s race and I have fun racing.

Image: Octopi Media.

Track conditions

Man, it was a tricky, like the track layout was rather simple, I think a very simple layout, but the conditions made it really tricky. At the start of the day, our first qualifying, we made the forks a little stiffer, and then one open rebound and that was pretty much it, honestly, just left that. And I found, like I’ve said before, I’m not after a perfect bike, just a consistent and good bike. And I got it in the window and I was like, all right, there’s more value in me just adapting to it and really learning it on this track. Because you have to learn every track, right? You have to learn what bumps affect the bike, in what way, what the bike does on this kind of bumps, the dirt’s pulling it in more, hard pack, slippery a little. It’s maybe skipping across stuff, sitting up on a shelf. So I think there was a lot of merit in that. I mean, in a perfect world, you just go out and ride, then the bike’s in that window and you just get better and better and better, like ahead of the game every time you’re on track. But pretty mellow day, just trusting my racing. And yeah, second quality was a lot better than the first quality. So that was good and just carried into the night show.

Image: Octopi Media

Being in the moment

Oh, I just have seen it so many times before when, and not just in this sport, in any sport in life, in anything, when people get too high and then it takes one thing to tip that and they just swing the complete opposite way. And it’s like, then you’re just a pendulum. I’m healthy, my family’s healthy. I just go through my life, work as hard as I can, give my 100 percent effort and got great people around me, great family. And I love to race, so I’m just doing it. It’s my job, but yeah, I enjoy it. And I don’t know, it’s just me.

Pressure

I love the pressure. Like that’s one of the things I find the coolest is in a high pressure moment or high stakes scenario and you’re able to deliver. I just think that’s probably the coolest thing about the sport and what makes the good guys great. And yeah, I think that’s pretty cool. I just feed off that.

Multiple wins

I wouldn’t say easier. I mean, the guys I’m racing aren’t getting any worse anytime soon. So not every win is just as hard as the first one. I mean, the guys I’m racing, they got over 20, 30 wins, like Eli’s in the 50s, I believe. So my three now, it’s not even comparable. So it’s easy to not really beat my chest about it because the guys I’m racing are like the legends of the sport. So it’s just kind of like, you know, just follow suit and enjoy it.