• Hunter Lawrence notches career-first 450SX podium overall result
• Jo Shimoda second in 250SX West, his best finish of the year so far
• Despite strong riding, bad luck limits Jett Lawrence to eighth in 450SX

Despite the frustration of a couple of misfortunes denying Jett Lawrence a top finish in the 450SX class, the third and final Triple Crown race of the 2024 AMA Supercross season—held this weekend in St. Louis—included very positive aspects for Team Honda HRC, with Hunter Lawrence and Jo Shimoda both tallying their best results of the year thus far.

The wild first 450SX race saw Hunter Lawrence’s CRF450RWE exit turn 1 with the lead, while Jett was in fifth. A lap 1 pileup delayed Jett, costing him a couple of positions, and Hunter went down on the following lap. Impressively, Jett was up to second place by lap 10, and he held on for a runner-up finish, while Hunter took an eighth-place result. Race 2 began with a Jett Lawrence holeshot, but Justin Cooper snuck by on the second straight. Jett got back by through a rhythm section on the next lap and went on to notch a comfortable win, only to be demoted to third for missing a red-cross flag over the finish-line jump. Several other riders received similar penalties, with Hunter benefitting with a second-place result. Hunter and Jett were about fifth and sixth to start race 3, but Justin Barcia made contact with Jett in a 180-degree corner, sending the Australian to the ground. Hunter rode in fourth place for most of the race, tallying 8-2-4 scores for third overall—the first podium result of his young premier-class career. Jett slowly circulated the track for 21^st place, but his 2-3-21 scores were good for eighth overall.

Jo Shimoda put his CRF250R in front down the start straight in the 250SX West division’s first race, but he went wide in turn 1 and completed lap 1 in third place. On lap 7 he displaced Juju Beaumer for second, then held that spot to the finish. Shimoda was fifth out of turn 1 in race 2 and lost a spot shortly afterward. He had climbed into podium position by the midway point, and he held off a late RJ Hampshire attack to finish third. Shimoda was third across the holeshot line in race 3, and that’s where the Japanese rider stayed for all 11 laps, his 2-3-3 scores netting him a season-best second-overall result.

NOTES

• This week’s dealer staffing a pop-up activation booth in the Team Honda HRC pits was Lou Fusz Honda, from O’Fallon, Illinois.
• Louis was a 250SX Futures round, and a number of talented amateur Red Riders were entered. The top finisher among them was SLR Honda’s Parker Ross, in 13^th, with teammate Alvin Hillan one spot back.
• Yet again, Jett Lawrence was the top 450SX qualifier, with the best times in both sessions. Hunter Lawrence was 15^th, while Jo Shimoda set the fifth-best time in the 250SX West class.
• Jett set the fastest lap times in the first two 450SX races.
• Despite a costly race 3 in St. Louis, Jett Lawrence headed home with a lead in the 450SX points standings, though it was halved from 16 to 8. Hunter Lawrence moved into the top 10 in the same class, and Jo Shimoda retained fifth in 250SX West.
• The AMA Supercross series now gets its second weekend off of the year, giving the riders time to regroup and recoup. Next up is round 13 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, April 13, when Chance Hymas will compete in 250SX East.

Jett Lawrence 18 “It’s just a sucky situation. I just cut down under Hunter, and obviously Barcia was defending his line from someone else on the inside of him—just wrong place, wrong time. He kind of hit my arm pretty good; I got a gnarly Charlie horse. He hit some nerve in my arm, where I kind of lost feeling and strength in my hands. That’s why I was trying to get up and get going early, but I physically couldn’t—I had no strength. It is what it is. Thankfully we had a bit of a buffer on second. We’ve got a break, we’ll come back stronger. We’ve got five races to go.”

Hunter Lawrence 96 “This was an awesome pat on the back for all the hard work. It was a wild night of events, but we’ll take the result; I’m very happy with what we got. My riding’s been getting better, so hopefully this kicks in a little bit more momentum for the last couple of rounds. We’d love to get a conventional podium, with no penalties for anyone, so that’s next on the list.”

Jo Shimoda 30 “I had some of the best starts I’ve had all year today, but the pace just wasn’t there. I just struggled a little bit all day. I’m happy to see that I’m putting it all together though. I’m looking forward to a couple more weeks of work.”

Lars Lindstrom Team Manager “When we were coming to St. Louis, I was expecting to have some famous St. Louis ribs; I wasn’t aware that there are incredible T-bones also! I wasn’t a big fan of them though—I could’ve done without. It was a crazy night, but all in all, coming away without serious injuries, a season-best second-place finish for Jo, and a career-first podium for Hunter was something to be happy about. We’ll take this next weekend off to recover and come back ready to finish the season off even stronger.”