Hunter Lawrence – still slightly underrated?

Image: Niek Kamper

Despite his AMA titles on the 250 and strong 450 rookie season that saw him battling for the outdoor and SMX titles, it still feels that Hunter doesn’t quite the get the credit he deserves as one of the best riders in the sport.

While he was the man with the limelight in the Lawrence family in Europe, after moving to the USA, Jett has taken over, with Hunter somewhat living in the shadow of Jett’s success. On some level that cannot be easy, despite Hunter being an integral part of Jett’s phenomenal career so far and a proud and protective big brother.

Hunter is also an exceptional talent in his own right, but he had to break the barriers first, his tough times helped Jett avoid the same pitfalls, and Hunter, through grit, talent and intelligence took himself out of the bleak times to make himself an AMA champ and now a MXoN winner. The guy also knows how to win titles and we should not forget that. In any other family he would be the star.

Hunter got better and better all year long on the 450 in his rookie year, a thinker who dots every I and crosses every T, bit by bit, lap by lap and race by race, Hunter figures it out. We all talk about Jett’s great technique and Jorge Prado, but Hunter Lawrence should not be overlooked in that aspect either, his technique is excellent and it is why the 450 suits him so well.

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HRC team manager, Lars Lindstrom, told us he has never met anyone with as much self-belief as Hunter Lawrence – except maybe Chad Reed! Lars said of Hunter: “Hunter believes in himself more than pretty much anyone I’ve ever met. You know, maybe other than Chad Reed and he’s got similar self belief.

Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton are the guys pegged to be Jett Lawrence closest challengers in 2025 but Hunter Lawrence should also be in that group, he is that good, he sees Jett ride every day and has the ultimate reference point of the speed needed to win.

And Hunter said in December at the SMX media day that he does pick things up from his brother: “Little things, but it is probably not what you expect, it’s just little simple things like maybe a body position angle, mine is a smidge different. To the untrained eye, it looks identical, little things like that. It isn’t always maybe what people at home are thinking, you would be surprised how small the differences are.”

And those last few words encapsulate it all, the difference is small, Hunter is right there and he can see it every day. If those small adjustments can be made in the heat of battle Hunter should be amongst the title contenders.

Hunter said of his 2025 goals and learning from last season: “Looking back at this season or the past seasons, I saw my inconsistences and stuff and started off this season a little slow, so definitely want to be that consistent top three guy every weekend, so that is the goal and we are going to do everything we can.

And he added that his results from last year helped his confidence coming into 2025. “I think one of the main things is the confidence that I belong here, which is a big thing. You come up, and maybe you think you belong here but maybe you don’t fully believe it, and you have to go out and prove yourself. I am a very realistic person and I can’t be like, ‘I belong here’ if I don’t have the results to back it, so just stacking up all those results last year, gives me a stronger belief and a knowledge of this is where I am meant to be.

Give Hunter a Supercross race win and that confidence will be even higher, and maybe more people will then believe, including Hunter, just how good he can really be.