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.
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.
Quad Lock Honda rider Joey Savatgy finished fourth overall, equaling his career-best premier-class result. Quad Lock’s Shane McElrath and Dean Wilson were sixth and eighth, making it four Hondas in the top eight. Quad Lock rider Christian Craig was 15th.
Hunter Lawrence 96
“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!”
