Coming into the season with high expectations to the Supercross season is Hunter Lawrence. There’s no doubt that the Aussie has the potential to run right at the front of the field. After a crash at round one, he finished eleventh which isn’t what he is looking for so he’ll be motivated to improve – starting this weekend.
We caught up with Lawrence at San Diego press day to discuss a range of topics…
GateDrop: Hunter, Anaheim 1, probably not how you wanted it to go, but on the positive side it was better than the year before, so will you take that?
Lawrence: Absolutely, we will take it.
GateDrop: How was the bike for you, I know Jett talked about it as well, but are you still searching for settings after Anaheim 1?
Lawrence: We had a good week of testing, so I think we’ve got the motorcycle in a lot better window and a better spot, so just thankful to have such a good team behind us that is willing to dedicate endless hours to help us improve the motorcycle.
GateDrop: You’re really measured I think on the highs and lows, so did that help you after last week just to come in and be like no big deal, just continue your plan?
Lawrence: Yeah for sure mate, I’d worked my way up to fourth place before I crashed, so not a terrible night, top five round one right if I escaped the chaos and one crash… Just take away that crash and it was a podium or a top four or top five, so yeah that’s how I looked at it and just looking forward to another chance tomorrow night.
GateDrop: Last year you got better and better and better to the point you were challenging for the outdoor title, and then I heard something you said where you need the results to prove that you’re that sort of title contender, which sort of surprised me because I know Jett gets a lot of coverage in the Lawrence family, but to me you’ve always been a lead as well, do you feel you still have to prove that, maybe to yourself and everyone else as well, that you’re a 450 elite guy then?
Lawrence: No not really mate, I know what I’ve done, I know what I’m capable of and I can’t convince people or tell people what they should and shouldn’t think, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and it’s what it is, it doesn’t bother me.
GateDrop: So this year coming in, you’re a title contender outdoors, I presume you’re in your head a title contender for the supercross title then?
Lawrence: Yeah we’ve made things a little tougher on ourselves after the first round, but hey it’s a long season and obviously first things first is to get things back on track and be a contender, get back in that top five, top three each weekend. It’s only the first round done, so yeah we’ve still got a lot of time.
GateDrop: Anaheim 1, especially those first few laps with the depth of the field, you had a decent start, how intense is it in those early moments, I know you were trying to pass Jorge as well, how intense can you describe to people that have never experienced it?
Lawrence: Jeez I don’t think I can describe it to people who have never experienced it. It’s extremely intense, I think if you’re down on the floor watching I think you can get a pretty good idea of how intense it is, but yeah it’s definitely intense.
GateDrop: Switching back to the MXoN at Matterley Basin, you were brilliant there on the Suzuki, you won the MX2 overall in the past, but last year now, it must have been pretty much of a dream, you come over the line and Jett told you you’d won, what was that moment like?
Lawrence: It’s been a lot of years in the making, that’s for sure, it was epic, just speechless, it was very very cool man. Australia are world champions, it’s unreal… We went third at RedBud, second in Ernee and then we went first in Matterley, just a perfect build up.
GateDrop: And riding back with the GP guys on a GP track that I think you previously liked, but on the Sunday it looked pretty sketchy with the rain, were you able to enjoy the track again?
Lawrence: It was, it was the gnarliest track we’ve ridden in a very very long time, so it was an eye opener, it was good. We were still able to compete with those guys, so that alone was pretty damn cool to know, hey, we ride 60% less outdoors now here in America than the GP guys do, and we were still able to get in there and mix it up, so that was pretty cool.
GateDrop: You are good friends with Jeremy Seewer, so is it nice to race him once a year?
Lawrence: It was cool, it was cool.. it was good to get over there and catch up with him, absolutely.
GateDrop: Brilliant, well thank you and all the best this weekend.
