Jett Lawrence has given an insight into what testing a new bike entails as he heads into the first defence of his 450 supercross title. And, while he doesn’t seem to have a weakness as a rider, some are saying that having to set-up a new bike may give his rivals an opening that they have to take advantage of, especially in the early rounds if Lawrence is still searching for the perfect set-up.
An honest Lawrence told Jason Thomas at the SMX media day that it is taking time to get the bike in the right place:
“It definitely adds a lot more testing. We got through a lot more production testing on outdoors instead of supercross. So we have to go through a lot more parts, ‘does this part work? No, it doesn’t, okay, this part helps part helps this part but it makes this part worse. So, it is just a lot of that stuff, and it just takes time it is a lot more testing with that.
“But I am looking forward this year, this bike, I know it is going to be better, we just have to find the right parts for it right now and that’s what we are doing but looking forward to it (the new season).“
Now, one month later from those comments, it is race week for Anaheim one, and the world will see just how comfortable Jett and Honda are on their new machine in less than seven days.
It might be the glimmer of hope the competition need going into 2025, but if Jett still comes out and dominates like he did last year with the new bike on point, where does that leave the rest of the field mentally? The testing is done, the countdown is on to A1.
