Jett Lawrence returned to the top step of the podium at Southwick, taking the overall victory after a dramatic day in the sand. The Honda HRC rider admitted he wasn’t at his absolute best physically as he continues to deal with his injured foot, but his consistency and race management proved enough to get back to winning ways. After the race, Lawrence discussed his ongoing recovery, the battle with his brother Hunter, learning from Lucas Coenen in the sand and why he felt fortunate to claim the second moto victory.
Despite taking the overall win, Lawrence admitted his injured foot remains a significant limitation and says his weekly preparation is still far from where he wants it to be.
“I think the new foot peg definitely helped a little bit for my foot. It just kind of saved it for sure and I was able to use my legs a little bit more. But also, I mean, my foot’s still the same. So I’m getting sick of my foot questions because for me, it hasn’t changed at all and I can still say the same things. I think you can ask a lot more better questions for today because there’s a lot more things going on. My foot hurts. I mean, I feel like I’m still at 70% with my foot. It is what it is and I think we can move on from that. I haven’t been able to do what I want to do. I want to do a lot more during the week, but I kind of can’t because of my body’s recovering. I’m definitely not doing what I want to do in the week and what I normally do for sure”.
Lawrence believed he had the speed to sweep both motos, although a mistake in the opening race and Hunter Lawrence’s crash in moto two played a role in the final outcome.
“I definitely felt like I could have got it done in the first moto as well. But just this track, I was like, gosh, half a tyre too high on that support. It was enough to obviously push it through support and then obviously grab. I mean, things happen, we had a pretty big lead Hunter and I, so I was able to get up in second still, thankfully. The second race, I was just kind of pacing myself. I had not too bad of a flow, but obviously we’re just kind of saving it if I need it at the end for anything and stuff like that. But yeah, obviously HJ went down with a bit of a weird crash. I mean, it obviously sucks for him and you don’t want to see someone crash and you get gifted a race win. But I mean, we aren’t going to be too picky and complain about it, we’ll take it. But obviously, I’m not saying I won that one, I kind of got it gifted”.
The Australian also explained how he managed the races from the front, focusing on maintaining his pace rather than taking unnecessary risks once he had established a gap on the riders behind him.
“I think we had a pretty good pace going on we were still pulling away from the rest of the pack. I think at that point, I was like, I just need to keep doing my same lap times. And obviously, look at the times, because when you’re out front, you have that bit of a gap, you are kind of a bit in no man’s land. I just tried to focus on my lap times and just kind of keep that flow going. I felt like I had a pretty decent flow when I was behind Hunter so I just wanted to kind of keep that going. I just really tried to focus on my lap times and try and create like most of my attention to that, because I know if I can hold my lap times and keep an eye on the gap behind as well. I can manage it pretty well”.
Asked to compare Southwick’s famous sand with the deep European circuits, Lawrence highlighted the major differences between the two styles of tracks.
“I find the sand in Europe, it’s deep, there’s no base to it, where Southwick, it’s kind of known to have a bit of a base in a lot of areas so you never get fully deep rollers, you could say. The bumps don’t form up the same like in Europe. In Europe, with the sand, you get a really flowy bump going so it’s almost a little easier in a way. It’s still physically demanding because you don’t stop the entire time. Lommel is obviously a gnarly, gnarly race because the rollers and everything get so deep, so you’re working a lot so I can’t say it’s easier, but it’s just different”.
Lawrence also welcomed the presence of Lucas and Sacha Coenen, saying the European riders offered a useful reminder of how to approach riding in the sand.
“It’s always great to have the Coenen Brothers come out. They had a bit of a bad day, so I hope they’re okay. We got to see it in the first qualifying and we got to learn a few things from Lucas of how he rides the sand and stuff like that. It’s like picking up that Euro way of riding a sand track, you know. We kind of got reminded of how to ride the sand again”.
With the championship battle intensifying, Lawrence admitted there is no one he would rather be fighting than his own brother, describing the family rivalry as something special.
“It’s definitely tough but I think it’s fun. I think it’s what’s almost keeping me going with my foot a little more. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to be battling with no one else but Hunter so I think it’s cool. I think I expected us to do what we’ve done so far. I know my game, where we’re at and I know where he’s at – I feel like it’s the top of our sport right now. I wouldn’t want it any other way to be battling with your brother for a championship. It’s really, really cool. Not a lot of people get to do it”.
While Lawrence insists his foot is still well below full strength, Southwick showed he remains capable of winning races even at less than 100 percent. As the AMA Pro Motocross championship heads into the second half of the season, the battle between the Lawrence brothers looks to continue – there can only be one winner come the conclusion of the season.
