After what happened about 20 minutes after Jett Lawrence wrapped up this 250 West Championship, things became somber real quick in Supercross. Nevertheless, this was another monster campaign for the Australian phenom, and even with some notable mistakes along the way, he is once again a Champion indoors in what is his final try on the small bore. All that's left now is next week's Showdown round in Salt Lake City, and Jett is off to the 450s.
Graduation
As stated, this was the second to last time we will ever see the younger Lawrence Brother on a 250, and as is, he has one of the better combined 250 careers ever. His 12 Main Event wins put him in an approximate million rider tie for the fourth most ever in the 250 class with names like Eli Tomac, Ryan Dungey, Ernesto Fonseca, and Kevin Windham. He also becomes the first 250 rider in over 15 years to win both Regional titles in back-to-back years and just the fourth rider ever to have both at all. He joins Grant Langton, James Stewart (so good by the way), and Fonseca. Outdoors, he's in a three-way tie for the eight most National wins ever with Blake Baggett and Brock Glover, and his two titles in the great outdoors put him in a big tie for fifth. Not the single best 250 career ever, but I would say top 10 at the absolute worst. That's as legit a resume as you can hope for.
Now we are just weeks away from the real fun with Lawrence, as he's going the Chase Sexton route of beginning his 450 career in Motocross instead of Supercross. We did get a sneak preview of what this could look like when Jett ran for Team Australia in the Motocross Des Nations, and he looked really good in a high-leverage spot. There will be some growing pains on the 450 for him and that's perfectly fine, it's all a part of the process. He still has a ton of room to grow still as a rider, mainly with keeping the bike upright more. Not only that Lawrence is not even 20 years old yet, he's still only scratching the surface which is crazy to think about. With that said, I fully expect Lawrence to be a contender to finish top five in points and potentially take home multiple National wins over the summer. Like him or hate him, this kid will be an absolute problem for years to come.
Main Image via Honda HRC