HRC factory rider, Hunter Lawrence is without question one of the best 450 riders in the World and would be winning races or getting podiums in Europe as often as he does in America. One of the true old school racers, who just puts his head down and his ass up and works hard. The older of the Lawrence brothers, he remains calm and consistent while his little brother takes on the World and all-time records. Here he speaks with the media.

His Start to The Season

I feel like the first three rounds, I was definitely searching. I feel like I am probably where I am or was last year if we want to use that as a comparison. So yeah, I was really happy with the bike today. One of the coolest things was from press day, we made a shock change, and it was exactly what we thought it was supposed to do, like what intentions we had on making the change, it did exactly that, and that was awesome because you hit the nail on the head. So that was cool. The team did a great job, and I’m looking forward to getting more time under my belt, consistent laps, familiarity, and just keep riding with a scoop tire. It feels like we’re going to be running it at Washougal this year. After the first moto, me and AP were laughing about it, some of the sections, and we’re like, ‘We almost need to have just a gentleman’s agreement. See that everyone’s on it or no one’s on it.’ Second moto, he comes down, he goes, ‘Don’t worry about what rear tire I’ve got on.’ And he had a knobby tire on, and I was like, ‘Hmm, we’ll see.’ But actually, the paddle worked well in the mud, so it worked out again.

Terrible Weather in Last Round

Yeah, I was asking what the big black clouds were, when are they going to hit us, are we scheduled for that? They were massive, so it was not just a sprinkle, and we weren’t sure. It was like, yeah, it should be in 30 to 40 minutes. So, it was kind of like, okay, maybe try and get up front early and maybe have the last 10, 15 minutes of wet conditions. I think it was the second lap that it already started coming down pretty good. It was definitely interesting.

Preparation At Each Round

I know my capabilities on a bike, and I just go back after the first moto and debrief. I know I could improve on my start. My start wasn’t…I didn’t execute it great in the first moto, so that’s the first key to the race is to get off the gate, and just a few things where I feel like I could have, you know, maybe been a little better earlier in the moto and stuff. But that all goes out the window when you’re on the start line and there are big old raindrops coming down, and it changes the whole dynamic. The first lap more or less wins the race at that point, given hindsight, how it turned out. So yeah, it was, it’s a completely different kind of approach, but nothing drastically changes between the motos.

Battling Tomac

I felt like I was doing a pretty good job of keeping him honest and had him right there. And then, I mean, I am going to sound like, boy, that cried wolf. But I think everyone had the same issue out there. It’s not a matter of you forgetting how to ride the mud at a certain point in the moto. It’s just your vision goes, you know, you get down on tear-offs or roll-offs or whatever it is. And honestly, that probably is one of the biggest defining components of a mud race is your vision.