Australian Jett Lawrence continued his historic assault on the AMA 450cc class with a win in the penultimate round of the AMA Pro Motocross at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Maryland.
Lawrence, who clinched the 2023 AMA 450cc championship last week, won both motos to push his consecutive moto win streak to 20 and his round streak to ten.
Lawrence turned in the fastest qualifying time with a 1:57.084. The Landsborough native was nearly a second and a half faster than second-place Chase Sexton.
Lawrence’s two moto wins came in very different ways.
In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start due to a tyre change prior to the start. Adam Cianciarulo, known as a great starter, led Aaron Plessinger and Australian Jay Wilson out of the first turn.
Jett Lawrence methodically began moving up from eighth place and took the lead from Jason Anderson with ten minutes to go.
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In Moto 2, Lawrence won the holeshot and rocketed to a big lead. Sexton closed the lead down to less than a second until he went down with 18 minutes to go.
Sexton continued after his spill and closed Lawrence’s leads to six and a half seconds with three laps to go. Sexton began digging hard and made up five seconds on his Honda teammate over the next two laps.
Lawrence held on for a seven-tenths of a second win. Sexton has now finished second to Lawrence in 11 motos this year.
“I had a spot where I could see Chase [Sexton] each lap, but then [one lap] I just didn’t see him there. Then I knew he was closing in,” said Lawrence.
“I had a bit of bad luck with lappers, but we got away with it. It was a close one there, but that was good at the end.”
Wilson finished 16th in 450cc after a 14th-place finish in Moto 1 and a 16th finish in Moto 2.
Hunter Lawrence took the round win in the 250cc class with a second-place finish in Moto 1 and a win in Moto 2.
Lawrence came into the round with a 22-point lead and heads to the final round with the same lead.
If Lawrence can clinch the 250cc championship next week, it would give Honda Racing championships in 450cc Supercross, 250cc West Supercross, 250cc East Supercross, 450cc Motocross, and 250cc Motocross.
No manufacture has ever won all five titles in the same year.
The Lawrence brothers currently lead the Supermotocross points standings ahead of the playoffs that begin 9 September. Jett has an 80-point lead in 450cc, and Hunter has a 118-point lead in 250cc.
The series heads to Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, next week for the eleventh and final round.
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