Image: Octopi Media.

450SX red plate-holder Hunter Lawrence has detailed the costly contact with Ken Roczen late in Seattle’s main event, with converging lines in the sand section resulting in both riders crashing out of podium contention.

Lawrence (Honda HRC Progressive) had been on a charge at Lumen Field, overcoming wheel spin off the gate that saw him complete lap one in sixth, where he remained until picking up the pace at the 10-minute mark.

A sequence of passes saw Lawrence arrive on Roczen’s (Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki) rear tire in the closing stages, with a pass attempt ultimately unsuccessful as both riders hit the ground. Lawrence was able to remount and salvage fourth, while Roczen slid from third position to 10th.

“It was a bittersweet main event,” reflected Lawrence. “I felt like my riding was really good – I spun off the gate, which I’m kind of baffled by. I haven’t spun off the gate in what feels like forever, but I was coming through the pack, and at the 10-minute mark I really got going.

“I had a lot of good lines and was able to do a lot of the rhythms deep into the main, and then I made my attempt to pass on Kenny for third, and we just kind of got together. At first, I felt like I jumped in there and went for an opportunity, and then washed out a little bit.

“Then [I thought] I crashed and took him down with me after washing out, but after watching the replay, I was planning on jumping from the inside to go to the outside, like I had been doing most of the main, and he was going to cut back to the inside after being on the outside. So, maybe just a crappy racing incident, not how I wanted the night to go, especially with how I felt.”

Lawrence’s advantage on top of the 450SX standings was cut to just a single point by race winner Eli Tomac (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), while Roczen dropped from five points down entering round six to now facing an 11-point deficit.

While happy to retain the red-plate, the 26-year-old Lawrence is keeping measured in his approach as 11 Monster Energy Supercross rounds remain in 2026.

“It’s still so early,” he continued. “Obviously, to have the red plate is cool, but we have so much more racing left to go. So, yeah, it would have been a much nicer night had I have gotten off the gate good, as I have been, but we’ll go back, and all of it is more data and knowledge for us.”