Adverse weather conditions created a demanding track and forced shortened main events at AMA Supercross’ 15th round, held in Philadelphia. While the 450SX race didn’t go the way Honda HRC Progressive or Hunter Lawrence had hoped, they minimized what could have been significant damage and turned in a third-place result, keeping them in the title hunt.

“We invested a lot more time into the starts in wet conditions, and that was a big positive this weekend; I had good starts in the heat race and the main event, so it’s good to see the work pay off. I felt really good with how I was riding, and just the smallest little mistake in the wrong part of the track bit me. Then your gloves are all muddy, so it’s just kind of trying to get back into a rhythm and not have the train completely come off the tracks. They say mud is the great equalizer, but it’s more like a minefield. We didn’t quite get the end result we wanted, but that’s racing. I’m excited to leave here having learned more, so we’re ready for whatever the last two rounds bring—it’s going to be good!”

Lawrence powered to the 450SX main-event holeshot aboard his CRF450RWE, leading Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb. The trio of title contenders battled early on before Lawrence was displaced by Roczen.

Lawrence recovered and began challenging the leader before the halfway mark, but a fall in a rhythm section relegated him to third. From there, the focus shifted to damage limitation, as the Australian managed the situation to secure valuable championship points. With two rounds remaining, he sits just four points back in the standings, keeping him firmly in title contention.

Lars Lindstrom the Team Manager for the HRC effort was slightly disappointed with the final result by Lawrence, but can also feel positive he is still in the fight for the 2026 AMA supercross championship.

“Not the results we were aiming for, but as everyone knows, in these conditions, anything can happen, good or bad; to only lose five points is something we’ll look at positively. I’m really happy with Hunter and the team for understanding what we needed to improve to make sure that we get good starts in any condition, to give us the best chance at a win. It’s a bummer that Hunter had that tip-over, because he had a good flow going; I think he had a great chance at winning that race. Another positive is that this simplifies things; we have to go out and win the last two races if we want to win this championship.”