Flawless AMA Pro Motocross Opener for Hunter Lawrence

• After topping 450 qualifying, Australian posts convincing 1-1 moto finishes
• Jett Lawrence secures podium overall result in return from injury
• Shimoda and Hymas battle through adversity to top-10 250 overall placings

Honda HRC Progressive opened the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship in impressive fashion at Southern California’s Fox Raceway, with Hunter Lawrence delivering a dominant 1-1 performance to claim the overall victory in the 450MX class. The Australian’s perfect day extended the Lawrence family’s success at the Pala venue, where brother/teammate Jett had taken all the 450 moto wins for the previous three years. This weekend saw Jett return to competition with a strong third-place overall finish, following an extended absence due to injury. In the 250 division, Jo Shimoda and Chance Hymas also both returned to racing following injury setbacks and showed resilience throughout the day. Despite difficult starts in both motos, the duo consistently moved forward and demonstrated strong pace against a highly competitive field, ultimately earning overall results of sixth and eighth, respectively.

Fresh off a standout AMA Supercross campaign, Hunter carried his momentum outdoors and showcased exceptional consistency and pace, quickly seizing control of the opening moto and then pulling away to secure the win by nearly nine seconds. Moto 2 saw him grab the holeshot aboard his CRF450RWE and successfully manage pressure before winning by over six seconds and completing the perfect sweep to leave Pala with the championship points lead.

Making his first race appearance of the year after badly injuring his ankle five months ago, Jett delivered a strong performance, with 4-3 moto finishes for third overall, despite having to work his way forward in both motos. The result secured a double podium for Honda HRC Progressive and reaffirmed Jett’s place among the frontrunners.

Shimoda recorded 4-7 250-class finishes to secure sixth overall, highlighted by an impressive charge through the field in the opening moto. Hymas built momentum throughout the day, posting 10-5 scores for eighth overall. In the second moto, the teammates worked through the pack in tandem, gaining positions throughout the race and ending the day with valuable championship points.

With Hunter carrying the red plate into round 2 and all four Honda HRC Progressive riders motivated for success, the team leaves Fox Raceway with strong momentum heading into next weekend’s Hangtown Motocross Classic in Rancho Cordova, California.

NOTES

• For the opening round of the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, a formal press conference was hosted on Friday at Pala Casino Spa and Resort. All four Honda HRC Progressive riders—Jett and Hunter Lawrence, Jo Shimoda and Chance Hymas—were invited to speak on stage and participate in TV broadcast interviews, after which they took part in a riding session on the Fox Raceway track.
  
  
• This weekend marked the return of three of the four Honda HRC Progressive riders following injuries sustained before and during the 2026 AMA Supercross campaign. Only Hunter Lawrence rode the entire stadium series, and he enjoyed having his teammates back in the pits at Pala.
  
  
• Perris, California, dealership Langston Motorsports enhanced the Fox Raceway fan experience, with a pop-up activation booth in the Honda HRC Progressive pit area. Staff engaged directly with fans and customers at the display, which featured a CRF110F and newly announced 2027 CRF250R HRC WORKS EDITION.
  
  
• All four Honda HRC Progressive race bikes sported new SKDA tricolor graphics, mimicking the look of Honda’s 2027 CRF Performance lineup, which was announced two days before the race. The liveries are meant to unify the appearance of HRC teams in various forms of motorcycle racing, including MotoGP, World Superbike, Rally and MXGP. Even Honda’s satellite teams ran similar looks.
  
  
• A 2027 CRF450R was also displayed in the Honda HRC Progressive pits, as was Ricky Brabec’s factory Monster Energy Honda HRC CRF450 RALLY, SLR’s race-winning CRF450X and a Team Raceco Honda Talon 1000R side-by-side.
  
  
• During the opening ceremony, Honda HRC Progressive test rider Trey Canard took a parade lap on the 2027 CRF450R, while Honda Two-Wheel PR Coordinator Ryan Dudek was interviewed about the significantly improved new model.
  
  
• All four Honda HRC Progressive riders participated in a paddock autograph session on Saturday morning, giving fans an opportunity to meet their heroes.
  
  
• During Race Day Live, SLR Honda rider Mikayla Nielsen (SLR Honda) was interviewed by Jason Thomas ahead of the 2026 WMX Championship, which will kick off at Hangtown June 6.
  
  
• During the Peacock broadcast, a segment highlighted Jett Lawrence’s comeback from his serious ankle injury. Interviewed for the piece were the Lawrences’ trainer, Johnny O’Mara, and physiotherapist, H. Rey Gubernick (“Doc G”), who both spoke about Jett’s injury, recovery and return.
  
  
• Hymas was sixth in 250 combined qualifying, with Shimoda 14th. Other Red Riders included Phoenix Racing Honda riders Gavin Towers and Aden Keefer (making his pro debut) in 24th and 38th, respectively. Tim Jaunin of Honda Switzerland AGMX Racing was 60th and The McGinley Privateer Program’s Kyle Czworkowski was 65th. Towers finished 26th overall in the race, with 31-21 moto scores.
  
  
• Hunter Lawrence topped both 450 qualifying sessions, with Jett third. Quad Lock Honda riders Christian Craig and Kyle Webster were 15th and 16th, respectively. SLR Honda’s Justin Rodbell was 22nd, Sage Powers (Limited Decal) was 41st, Blake Hoag (Hoag Racing) was 44th, Ryan Surratt (JCR Honda) was 46th, KC Clinton (Clinton Racing) was 52nd, Ty Freehill (Western Honda) was 54th, Gavin Tiflord (Feine Tune Racing) was 56th, and Rocco Morse (Morse Racing) was 66th. Surratt advanced to the motos by finishing third in the LCQ. Craig posted a respectable top-10 overall finish in the race.
  
  
• With Hunter’s win this weekend, Honda now has six premier-class overall victories at Fox Raceway (four more than the next-closest manufacturer), with the Australian joining Jett (three wins) and Chase Sexton (two wins) on the winners’ list. Hunter also earned an overall win in the 250 class at the venue, with a 1-1 performance in 2023.
  
  
• Amazingly, in his 24 450-class moto starts thus far in his career, Hunter has never finished a moto outside the top five. This was the second time he has earned an overall victory in the division, and his first moto sweep.
  
  
• Honda HRC Progressive heads to Rancho Cordova, California, for the Hangtown Motocross Classic this Saturday, with Hunter carrying the red plate on his CRF450RWE. The event will also mark the opening round of the WMX Championship, in which SLR Honda’s Mikayla Nielsen and Quad Lock Honda’s Charli Cannon will compete.
  
  

Hunter Lawrence

“It was good—I’m really happy with where the bike’s at. Keeping the Lawrence streak of winning at Pala alive was special; I’ve seen Jett do plenty of those, so it was cool to finally get my first one, especially at round 1. We don’t usually love this track, but we always seem to do well here, which is pretty ironic. Having Jett on the podium too, after everything he had to come back from, was awesome. It was just a really happy day, and I’m stoked for the team. Results like this make all the hard work worth it for everyone involved. Every team in the paddock puts in so much effort and dedication, so it’s cool as racers to be able to share days like this with the people behind us.”

Jett Lawrence

“I’m always going to be hard on myself because the goal is to win, but considering where my foot’s at and how long I’ve been away from riding and racing, it was a solid day. We had a lot of cobwebs to shake off and just needed to get back into race mode, work through a few little hiccups, and build from there. We definitely need to improve the starts because mine weren’t very good today. We’ll go back, regroup, and come into Hangtown hoping to make life a little easier with better starts. Physically, it’s still tough—every jump, I’m landing with most of my weight on my left side. Some of those rough, edgy bumps out of the turns were hard on my foot, but riding the bike is actually easier than walking right now. Today I learned what Pala roost really feels like; most of my previous races here, I’ve grabbed the holeshot, so I never really had to deal with it before—that was something I had to learn today too. But it felt really good to be back: feeling that adrenaline again, lining up on the gate, getting those butterflies before the drop—it was good.”

Jo Shimoda

“The track is just extreme. The way they prepped it today, one side was really muddy and one side was perfect, then they funneled down to one line. If you look at the lap sheet, the top 15 were basically the same lap time, so track position was important. Unfortunately, I didn’t have good track position today, so we need to be better there. Physically, I had enough time to prepare and train, so I feel really fit and ready to go for more. In the first moto, I kind of flinched and messed up the start. The second moto was actually okay, but I got pushed wide in the second turn and got stuck in a mud area. Later I hit a rock or a sharp edge and almost did a 180 and was stuck on the uphill, so that didn’t help. If I would’ve made one more pass, I would’ve been third overall, so I’m happy with my effort overall; I just need to find a little bit more.”

Chance Hymas

“Round 1 at Pala, I was really happy to be back at the races—it’s been a long time. A couple of bad starts held me back a bit, but overall, the riding was good. We made good improvements on the bike throughout the day. I’m happy to be healthy coming out of this weekend, and we’re looking forward to Hangtown.”

Lars Lindstrom – Team Manager

“It was so much more fun today having all four guys back; there was a bit of planning and logistics to make sure each rider had what they needed, but the atmosphere was great. Hunter took such a big step in Supercross, I was expecting him to be this good. I think the biggest thing today was he nailed both those starts; with him and [Jorge] Prado getting good starts, no one else really had a chance. I’m really proud of Hunter, to see him step up and get that 1-1. He wasn’t really talked about much leading into today, which I thought was kind of funny—I imagine that fueled the fire for him a little bit. For Jett, there were a lot of question marks even on our end. We know how hard he’s been struggling with the injury and how much he limps and all those things—that wasn’t really a secret—but it was kind of difficult to know where he was going to stack up. Watching him walk around, you wouldn’t think he could do much, so for him to do as well as he did is a testament to his skill and talent. I’m hoping that this is going to be an exciting summer, with both of them battling. The 250 class is going to be so unpredictable. Our guys didn’t have a great day, but I think their riding is good. We’ll try to do what we can to help them get better starts; they just need to be in there every week, because it’s going to fluctuate quite a bit.”

450MX Overall Results

1. Hunter Lawrence (Hon)
2. Jorge Prado (KTM)
3. Jett Lawrence (Hon)
4. Justin Cooper (Yam)
5. Haiden Deegan (Yam)
6. Chase Sexton (Kaw)
7. R.J. Hampshire (Hus)
8. Aaron Plessinger (KTM)
9. Dylan Ferrandis (Duc)
10. Christian Craig (Hon)

—

13. Kyle Webster (Hon)
30. Justin Rodbell (Hon)
32. Ryan Surratt (Hon)

450MX Championship Points (after 1 of 11 rounds)

1. Hunter Lawrence: 50
2. Jorge Prado: 44
3. Jett Lawrence: 38
4. Justin Cooper: 36
5. Haiden Deegan: 35
6. Chase Sexton: 32
7. R.J. Hampshire: 31
8. Aaron Plessinger: 27
9. Dylan Ferrandis: 25
10. Christian Craig: 22

—

1. Kyle Webster: 16

250MX Overall Results

1. Seth Hammaker (Kaw)
2. Caden Dudney (Yam)
3. Cole Davies (Yam)
4. Levi Kitchen (Kaw)
5. Julien Beaumer (KTM)
6. Jo Shimoda (Hon)
7. Lux Turner (Yam)
8. Chance Hymas (Hon)
9. Nick Romano (Kaw)
10. Ryder DiFrancesco (Hus)

—

1. Gavin Towers (Hon)

250MX Championship Points (after 1 of 11 rounds)

1. Seth Hammaker: 47
2. Levi Kitchen: 34
3. Cole Davies: 34
4. Caden Dudney: 34
5. Julien Beaumer: 33
6. Jo Shimoda: 33
7. Lux Turner: 30
8. Chance Hymas: 29
9. Nicholas Romano: 28
10. Ryder DiFrancesco: 23

—

1. Gavin Towers: 1

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