Jett Lawrence wins first Pro Motocross 450 championship

Jett Lawrence has claimed his first AMA Pro Motocross 450cc title with two rounds to go after another dominant display at Unadilla. He is only the fifth rider to win the title in their rookie season.

The Australian rider once again swept the round, winning both motos comfortably despite a decent challenge from his Honda HRC teammate, Chase Sexton.

Lawrence is now 18-0 for the season, having not dropped a single moto in nine rounds of racing. If he is to continue the trend in the final two rounds at Budds Creek and Ironman, he will finish with a ‘perfect’ season, a feat only achieved by Ricky Carmichael and James ‘Bubba’ Stewart.

Carmichael, who won seven 450cc motocross titles and five 450cc supercross titles, achieved a perfect Pro Motocross season on two occasions (2002 and 2004), while James Stewart equalled the feat in 2008. However, all three of those seasons consisted of one extra round compared to the current season, meaning Lawrence can only achieve 22-0 as opposed to the record of 24-0.

Hailing from Queensland, Lawrence is just the second Australian rider to win the AMA Pro Motocross premier class championship. The other was Chad Reed in 2009. Lawrence also has two Pro Motocross 250cc titles, and two AMA Supercross 250cc titles to his name.

In the 250cc class at Unadilla, Lawrence’s older brother Hunter did enough to secure the overall win and retake the championship lead with two rounds to go. The older Lawrence finished with a 2-2 scorecard, while his rival Haiden Deegan experienced a mechanical failure and watched his chances slip away.

Hunter won the 2023 AMA Supercross 250 East championship and is looking to add his first Pro Motocross championship trophy to the cabinet.

After the final two rounds of the Pro Motocross season, the rider’s attention will turn to the inaugural AMA SuperMotocross World Championship playoffs, which combines elements of both supercross and motocross. Riders have accumulated points from both AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross, and will compete in two playoffs and one final to crown an ultimate champion.

The SuperMotocross World Championship concept was born as a response to the new global WSX Championship, which has entered its second year. WSX has the official FIM world championship rights, after the AMA and Feld Entertainment gave them up in 2021.