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First, Jett Lawrence did what no rookie has done in the premier class of motocross. Then, Saturday, he clinched the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross 450 championship with two rounds still remaining. Now, just one item left on the checklist: the perfect season.
Just days after his 20th birthday, the Team Honda HRC rider won both motos at the Unadilla National in upstate New York on Saturday, extending his unbeaten streak to 18 motos. Going into the final moto, the only rider with a mathematical chance of catching Lawrence and preventing him from winning the championship was Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider Dylan Ferrandis. Any suspense ended early, however, as Lawrence pulled into the lead by the second turn of moto two while Ferrandis got a terrible start and was nearly last out of the gate. Ferrandis would eventually work his way through the field to finish third, but Lawrence was long gone, followed by his HRC teammate Chase Sexton in second.
So all that's left for Lawrence is to win the last four motos at Budds Creek Motocross Park and Ironman Raceway the next two weekends and complete the perfect season, with 22 moto wins in 22 starts. The perfect season has been accomplished just three times: Ricky Carmichael in 2002 and 2004 and James Stewart in 2008. But even the GOAT and the famously fast JS7 didn't pull off that feat as rookies.
Sure, the 450 class is somewhat depleted this summer due to injuries and riders sitting out, but perfection is never easy against any pro field. And that's not just coming from some outsider like me who couldn't land a triple in a video game. The top names in the sport are impressed at what Lawrence has been able to accomplish as a rookie.
Jett and his brother, Hunter Lawrence, who also rides for Team Honda HRC and is leading the 250 Pro Motocross class, are from one of those families that risked it all to give their kids a chance at racing glory. The Australians uprooted and went to Europe and then to the United States to give the brothers a chance. The fear and disdain for losing runs deep in all top-level athletes, but it's engrained even more deeply in those who know if they don't win they don't eat. It's a risky strategy that has no doubt ruined some families, but those are the ones you tend not to hear about. You hear about the few who risk it all and succeed, and for them, the payoff is all the sweeter.
I've recently written about the dramatic decline of Honda at the top levels of roadracing, but the situation is the exact opposite in motocross, where Honda riders are winning everything, in both motocross and Monster Energy AMA Supercross. Similarly, the over-the-hill crowd had its day when I recently wrote about 48-year-old Josh Hayes breaking the all-time AMA Pro roadracing wins record, but youth must be recognized today. Jett Lawrence didn't just come into the premier class as a 19-year-old rookie and dominate, but he also showed maturity with his racecraft on the track and handled the pressure of the perfect season while off the track.
Some racers define their era, and Jett Lawrence has the chance to do that with the coming years.
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