In a performance reminiscent of his impressive 450SX debut at Anaheim 1, Jett Lawrence dominated AMA Supercross round 5 in Detroit, where the Team Honda HRC rider led every lap of the main event in the 2024 series’ first race outside of California and in an enclosed stadium. The success followed three atypical events—two affected by weather, the other featuring a Triple Crown format—and it moved the 20-year-old Australian up to second place in the title chase–just one point behind the leader.
The story of the 450SX main event was simple: Jett throttled his CRF450RWE to the holeshot and checked out—a couple of close calls being the only small flaws in an otherwise perfect performance. Jett’s eventual winning margin was 4.740 seconds. Meanwhile, Hunter Lawrence had a steady race, riding most of the laps in seventh or eighth place before turning in an eighth-place result—one behind Phoenix Racing Honda’s Dylan Ferrandis.
Detroit marked the start of the 250SX East Region series, and the 2024 racing debut of Team Honda HRC rider Chance Hymas. The Idaho native suffered a midweek practice crash before the race, reinjuring the knee that he had hurt last year. He still showed up to compete in Detroit and looked strong in his heat race but aggravated the injury. Following treatment, Hymas took his CRF250R to the main-event holeshot and settled into an early second position, setting the fastest lap of the race. Fire Power Honda’s Max Anstie overtook Hymas on lap 13 of 21, and Hymas slipped to fourth a couple laps later. Unfortunately, a late crash dropped him to 10th at the finish. Anstie posted an impressive second-place result, and TiLube Honda’s Henry Miller was seventh.
Jett Lawrence: “It definitely feels nice to be up here after a rough couple of weeks on the riding side–it makes this win even sweeter. I know I’ve made some mental mistakes and had some silly decisions from wanting to win so bad. This was a nice reset, to get back to my old ways: getting a good start and hitting my marks.
Hunter Lawrence: “It was a good weekend–another step forward. We’re trying to take all the positives we can at the moment. Eighth isn’t where we want to be, but we’ll keep working and keep getting better, week after week. It was a great night for the team though, with the win from Jettson.”
Chance Hymas: “Today was alright–a lot of positives to take away, but also some negatives we can work on. It felt great to get back behind the gate and race those guys after so long off. I definitely have some stuff to build off of for Arlington.”
Lars Lindstrom: “It was an interesting day for the team. I’m really proud of Chance Hymas for the speed, poise and starts he showed in the races. I’m hopeful he can rehab his knee now that he has a few weeks off so that he can continue his progress. I’m eager to keep building with Hunter so that he can race towards the front of the pack a little bit more; we know what we need to work on to make that happen. Obviously for Jett, his starts were perfect and his riding was exceptional, like we’ve all come to expect from him the last few years. It’s crazy after all the success we had last year, when you don’t get on the podium for three races how the feeling can change, but also how rewarding it is to get back up on top.”
Words and image: Honda
