Second Straight AMA 450SX Championship for Team Honda HRC

May 13, 2024

Jett Lawrence earns his seventh consecutive AMA crown
Ninth on the season for Hunter Lawrence in debut 450 series
Shimoda, Hymas finish 250SX East-West Showdown in fourth and seventh, respectively

Team Honda HRC earned its fourth premier-class championship in a row (following 2023 crowns in AMA Supercross, AMA Pro Motocross and SuperMotocross), with Jett Lawrence finalizing the accomplishment at Salt Lake City's Rice-Eccles Stadium. The 20-year-old rode to a steady seventh-place main-event result, which was more than enough to secure his seventh AMA crown in a row. Hunter Lawrence rode well all day, but after being knocked down early in the 450SX main event, 15th place was all that he could manage. The finale was also a 250SX East-West Showdown, which meant Team Honda HRC riders Jo Shimoda and Chance Hymas were both in action. In the end, the duo tallied fourth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively.

Jett knew that even if title rival Cooper Webb were to take the win in the final 450SX main-event start of the year, all he needed to do to secure the crown was finish in 17th place or better. The Australian ran seventh after turn 1, with Webb only one position better, while Hunter sat in third place. Buoyed by the momentum of his best-ever finish the previous week, Hunter was pressuring for second when he was run off the track by Jason Anderson on lap 2. He remounted near the back of the pack and eventually rode to a 15th-place result. Meanwhile, Jett ran as high as fourth for a while but opted to avoid potentially dangerous battles and settled for seventh at the finish.

Shimoda managed a third-place start in the 250SX East-West Showdown, while Hymas was back in 19th place. An early miscue by Shimoda cost him a couple positions, and he ran in fifth for the first few laps. He made a pass and spent laps 4 through 15 in fourth place, then overtook Jordon Smith for third. Unfortunately, the Japanese rider was passed on the last lap, and he finished just out of the podium positions. Meanwhile, despite his inauspicious getaway, Hymas rode well throughout the main event, climbing steadily through the pack to eventually notch a seventh-place result.

NOTES

A pre-race press conference was held on Friday, with Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda both participating. All four Team Honda HRC riders then had an opportunity to ride the track.
For the AMA Supercross finale, Team Honda HRC hosted a pair of dealerships in their pit footprint, with both Honda World (from Jordan, Utah) and Young Powersports (from Centerville, Utah) staffing pop-up activation booths.
Daytime qualifying saw Jett and Hunter Lawrence notch the second- and fifth-best 450SX times, respectively. Chance Hymas was third-fastest in 250SX East, and Jo Shimoda was sixth-quickest in 250SX West.
The Salt Lake City event hosted a 250SX Futures round, and SLR Honda's Parker Ross rode his CRF250R to a respectable fourth-place result.
The 250SX East heat race saw Chance Hymas take an eighth-place start before eventually finishing in the same position, but the interim was action-packed, with Hymas running as high as sixth and as low as 13th at different points. Fire Power Honda's Max Anstie finished seventh. Shimoda was ninth off the 250SX West heat-race start and worked his way up to fifth place.
Jett Lawrence nailed the holeshot in the 450SX heat race and fended off the advances of Justin Barcia to score the win. Also qualifying from the heat were Red Riders Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda, fourth), Vince Friese (SmarTop/MotoConcepts Honda, seventh) and Jeremy Hand (Valley Automotive, eighth). In heat 2, Hunter Lawrence was third off the start, and he stayed there to the checkered flag. Phoenix Racing Honda rider Dylan Ferrandis and MotoConcepts rider Mitchell Oldenburg finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Although he didn't manage to take his ninth win of the season in Salt Lake City, Jett Lawrence did turn the fastest lap time of the 450SX main event.
The traveling AMA dirt-bike circus now takes a one-weekend break before kicking off the AMA Pro Motocross Series in Pala, California, May 25.

Jett Lawrence
"I'm so excited we won the championship, but I'm also feeling grateful that the season's over. The whole main event, all I could think was, 'Don't mess up.' I just wanted to get a decent start, settle into a comfortable pace, and ride my race. It's felt like a long season, but it's gone very fast. I'm sure the emotions will set in more this week; right now, I'm happy about it, but even more happy for the team."

Hunter Lawrence
"It was an epic day for the team, and a huge night for Jettson—this was the ultimate thank-you for everyone's hard work. It was a good day of riding. It turned out to be a practice race for me after that incident in the main event, but now we're on to a blank slate for this summer."

Jo Shimoda
"I really wanted to finish off the last Supercross race of the year on the podium, but I made a few mistakes that gave up track position. I still felt like this was a solid end to the Supercross season. Overall, it was a good learning season with my new team. Now it's back to work getting ready for outdoors!"

Chance Hymas
"The last round of Supercross was good. I qualified P3, my best position of the year. I was riding good all night, just had two bad starts and made little mistakes early. Overall, it was the best race of the year for me. We're going into the outdoors series confident and looking to turn it around."

Lars Lindstrom – Team Manager
"Wow, we won the 450 Supercross premier championship two years in a row after not winning it for 20 years straight! It feels incredible, and to do it in dominating fashion this year makes it really, really sweet. I can't say enough about how proud, happy, and generally excited we are to have the team that we have currently. Congratulations to Jett, and I think that going into outdoors, we'll see a lot more of the Lawrence brothers on the podium."

Media contact:
Danny Gonzalez // Jonnum Media // danny@jonnummedia.com // +1 (805) 915-7889

450SX Results