Pro Motocross Season Starts With Dominant Performance By Honda

Team Honda HRC began the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross series the same way it finished the AMA Supercross series two weeks earlier: unbeatable. The Fox Raceway National in Pala, California, saw the team top both classes, with Jett Lawrence posting a flawless 1-1 moto tally in his AMA premier-class debut and brother Hunter Lawrence going 3-1 for the 250 overall win. It was the first time that two brothers have both scored overall wins on the same day. Meanwhile, newly crowned AMA Supercross Champion Chase Sexton was a solid second overall in the 450 division, and Chance Hymas overcame crashes to finish 12th overall in the 250 class during his full-time pro debut.

The CRF450RWE of Jett Lawrence exited Turn 1 ahead of the pack in Moto 1, and the young Australian set sail. Having suffered a practice crash earlier in the day, Sexton was fourth off the start. He quickly got by Cooper Webb and then — a couple of minutes before the midway point — Dylan Ferrandis, but the 10-second gap to the front was too much to overcome. Lawrence nailed the holeshot again in the second outing, but Sexton was up to second place by the completion of Lap 1. The Illinois native hounded his teammate for the entire moto but wasn’t ultimately able to attempt a safe pass on the slippery and choppy track. In the end, the difference was just one second.

Hunter Lawrence didn’t get a great start in the first moto of the year, completing Lap 1 in 10th place, but he went to work advancing through the pack. It took him some time to get going, but despite riding in pain in his ribs due to a weekday training crash, he was in the top five by the midway point, then up to fourth a lap later. He continued to push, and he made a last-lap pass to take third. Hymas was 17th after one lap, quickly climbed a few spots, then fell and had to recover. With three laps left, he moved into 15th, and that’s where he finished. Lawrence made life easier on himself in Moto 2 by being first across the holeshot line on his CRF250R, and he was never really challenged on his way to an eight-second win. Hymas ran in the top five for the first half of the race, but a tip-over contributed to him finishing an eventual 12th.