Jett Lawrence takes the team’s sixth professional AMA crown of the year.
At the final race of the long 2023 season, Jett Lawrence authored yet another inspired chapter in what has been an incredible year for Team Honda HRC. The young Australian put together a 1-1 moto performance at the SuperMotocross Finals, earning the series’ first-ever 450 Championship and the $1 million prize that goes along with it. It was the third title of the year for Jett (who also took the 250SX West Region and 450MX championships), and the sixth for his team (counting Chase Sexton’s 450SX crown and Hunter Lawrence’s 250SX East and 250MX titles). The weekend didn’t end as well for those two, who saw their title hopes dashed by inopportune crashes. Hunter was banged up in a Friday 250 free-practice fall, then aggravated his back when he landed wrong from a jump during Saturday qualifying, causing him to withdraw from the motos; Chase rode to a third-place finish in 450 moto 1 and led much of the way in moto 2, but a hard fall ended his evening early. That didn’t change the facts that both riders had stellar seasons and contributed greatly to the team’s historic success.
Neither Chase nor Jett had a stellar start to the first 450 moto, but they were up to third and fourth when the red flag came out on lap 5. Following the single-file restart, Lawrence moved by his teammate for third, then they both dispatched Jason Anderson to sit second and third behind title-rival Ken Roczen. On lap 8, Lawrence made an incredible pass through the rhythm section for the lead before fending off a counterattack and then riding to a 1.5-second winning margin.
Sexton grabbed the moto 2 holeshot, with Lawrence about fifth and immediately up to third, then second while still on the first lap. As it stood, Lawrence would take the overall win and championship, but Sexton nonetheless rode hard, establishing a 4.3-second advantage. Unfortunately, a violent crash in the sand section took him out of the race at about the midway point, moving Lawrence into the lead, with Roczen close behind. Lawrence held off the German’s advances throughout the second half of the race, finally getting a small cushion near the end when he was able to better navigate lapped traffic. At the finish, the 20-year-old Lawrence won by 1.6 seconds, putting an exclamation mark on one of the most incredible seasons in history.
