Honda HRC Progressive has hit all the high notes in the 450 class over the last two seasons, racking up wins and titles at a quick rate with very few bad nights. Anaheim 1, though, was not a good one. Jett and Hunter Lawrence didn’t look comfortable, for starters, and then racing incidents ruined any chance at salvaging good finishes, anyway. There was silver lining to the night for the team in the form of Jo Shimoda’s 250SX West Region victory, but the 450 boys are no doubt going to be busy at the test track this week.
"I’m not sure how many of these bittersweet nights we’ve had in the past, but it was a familiar feeling to have one rider have a great night, and then others have a really poor one,” said Team Manager Lars Lindstrom. “In my opinion, our performance was actually better than it seems, with Hunter moving his way forward in the beginning until his unfortunate crash, and Jett having the fastest lap time by almost a second in the heat race. We definitely need to make some improvements, but at the same time, I don’t think we need to panic about our results. It’s a long series, so it’s time to trust in ourselves and come back strong in San Diego.”
Jett’s trouble began in the heat race when he started tenth and was shuffled to 12th early, only able to come through for fifth, giving him the 9th gate pick in the main event. With A1’s split start, gate position was more critical than usual, but it looked like Jett lucked out, getting a gate that lined up roughly even with the inside of turn one. There wasn’t much room for error, though, and as the pack started pushing and shoving, Jett got hit by old rival Jason Anderson and others and tagged the inside tuff block. He was last. As he came through the pack, he later crashed in the sand, setting him back again. After that, the Jett Lawrence we’ve seen over the last two years on a 450 left the building. He was struggling badly in the whoops and cruised home, taking a lowly 12th, his worst-ever 450SX result. You can’t blame it all on the gate pick, either, as Eli Tomac had the tenth pick and found himself in the lead early in the race. The Lawrences were absolutely lethal out of the gate on their Hondas last year. The starts weren't there at A1.
Hunter looked to have a good salvage job going as he ran fourth early but then also crashed in the sand. That set him back, and he finished 11th. Both Lawrences outside the top ten!
Obviously, crashes and bad starts are going to impact the results but there’s more to it than mere racing luck. The boys didn’t look comfortable on their new machines, and some of that storyline dates back to previous appearances, including the Paris Supercross, where they struggled on the 2025 CRF450R in supercross. The story there was that the bike wasn’t adapting to supercross as quickly as it was in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship and the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) palyoffs, where they boys performed well on the new 2025.
From what we’ve heard, several new developments worked together to form a tricky off-season. First, a new bike, second, new suspension components from Showa, then a new ECU supplier (GET Data) and a new fuel (ETS). Couple those four things with a complicated off-season for the brothers, with trips to the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, Paris and Australia, plus some much-needed downtime in between, and you’ve got a recipe for showing up to Anaheim not quite ready. Reasons? Excuses? Either way, things need to go better, and quickly.
“That wasn’t ideal, but the only way to go from here is up,” said Jett in a Honda statement. “ We’ll go back, work hard, do some testing, and come back better. We always do.”
“It was a frustrating end result, but there were a lot of positives throughout the day and night show,” said Hunter. “I’m eager to get back to work with the team to come back swinging in San Diego.”
Simple as that. As for the point standings, there isn’t much to panic about because plenty of riders have scored worse in a season opener and have come back to win the title, including Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, who both crashed out of A1 and still rallied for the title. The points are a smaller issue than the motorcycle. Can the Lawrences get comfortable enough, quickly enough, to avoid losing more points in the next few weeks?
Anaheim 1 (A1) - 450SX Main Event
January 11, 2025| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chase Sexton | 20 laps | 1:04.583 | La Moille, IL  | KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition | |
| 2 |  Ken Roczen | 4.293 | 1:05.148 | Mattstedt, Germany  | Suzuki RM-Z450 | |
| 3 |  Jason Anderson | 1.624 | 1:05.670 | Edgewood, NM | Kawasaki KX450SR | |
| 4 |  Cooper Webb | 0.946 | 1:05.751 | Newport, NC | Yamaha YZ450F | |
| 5 |  Eli Tomac | 3.608 | 1:05.219 | Cortez, CO | Yamaha YZ450F |
