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Lawrence: “I was trying so hard"
Sunday, January 19, 2025 at 11:05AM Lawrence: “I was trying so hard just to get close enough to make a pass but dude he was ripping.”
After the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, we were left wondering if we had missed the opportunity see a peak Eli Tomac race a peak Jett Lawrence. Tomac showed very few flashes of “beast mode,” and was clearly in a rebuild mode coming back from his Achilles injury. Meanwhile, Lawrence established himself as the man to beat, and although he did not dominate points wise, showed the ability to dominate races and have unmatchable speed, even with some to spare. It seemed as though Eli’s freak injury may have robbed us watching these two generational riders dueling at peak performance.
Fast forward January 18, 2025, inside of Snapdragon Stadium, in San Diego, California where we finally got what thought we may never get. A mano a mano battle between an Eli Tomac in his arguably best form ever, and Jett Lawrence.
After a career worst 450SX finish at the opener, and looking visibly uncomfortable on the bike, Lawrence looked to rebound and hush the talk about the struggles with the new Honda 450. After qualifying P2 in another epic lap time battle between himself, Tomac, and Chase Sexton, Jett went on to dominate his heat race and set the tone for the night with the fastest lap of both 450 heats. He came around lap one of the main event in sixth with Tomac in tow in seventh. The two went back and forth a couple times on laps two and three with Eli establishing the advantage after a signature Tomac pass around the outside in the sand. They would work their way through the field, both passing race leader Cooper Webb on lap twelve and went on to pace each other for the remaining twelve laps, staying within two second or less of each other for the rest of the race. Lawrence could never put himself in a position to set up a pass for the lead but was able to assure us all is well and that we are set up for and all-time championship battle, which is sure to provide more instant classics like we saw in San Diego.
In his post-race TV interview reflected on his first opportunity to race Eli Tomac in a head-to-head battle saying, “That was awesome. He got me at the start, and I was trying so hard just to get close enough to make a pass but dude he was ripping. Sadly, there is no second moto like in SMX,” he added with a laugh.
"He got me at the start there we went back and forth on the first few laps," explained Lawrence in the post-race press conference. "He got me back again. I picked up on it but it took me too long to pick up on it. Those little things, and after the supercross triple he was "race car-ing" it there and I was trying too hard to get back to the right. I’d have to work too hard to get that time back. I like that kind of racing, it was clean. It was cool to watch from my standpoint. I wish you guys got a POV from my angle. It was cool.
"I had a lot of fun," added Lawrence. "You’re trying and you’re thinking the whole time, and I’d rather have that than a big lead. I learned a lot and it makes for better racing in the future. It’s cool seeing the different race craft. He was on rails in that one, that’s what I would imagine as Beast Mode."
When asked about the gains he and the Honda HRC team made during the week he acknowledged that, “100 percent, yeah, we took a big step. I still think we have some improving to go, especially me physically. I just need to get some consistent laps under my belt at the practice track, we have been testing a lot.”
In the post-race press conference, Jett touched more on his week of testing and improvements on the bike. “We kind of just found more control you could say in the forks and the rear, its crazy to think that our frame from last year is actually a stiffer frame so we are able to run softer suspension. Another big change for us was gearing. We went back on gearing for the start because last weekend we were just wheelie boys. I still messed up a bit, Cooper nailed his start in that main but that and just getting that full control and feel where the front is, we had kind of a crust on top at A1 and it would blow through in the front and the rear was pretty stiff.”
Lawrence: “I was trying so hard just to get close enough to make a pass but dude he was ripping.”
He compared the 2025 set up to his 2024 and touched on a big change they made before the night show claiming, “The previous bike was so high in the rear and I like to weight the shock a lot, so in the turns I would almost be a bit lazy and lay back a bit and it would still turn really nice. This (bike) has bit more sag to it, which is better traction, it tracks way nicer, but I have to keep myself forward a bit, so we ended up making a bar change before the heat race. We realized I was being a bit lazy and dropping my head back.”
"The previous bike was so high in the rear and I like to weight the shock a lot, so in the turns I would almost be a bit lazy and lay back a bit and it would still turn really nice."Align Media
Overall Jett was pleased with his second-place finish, saying he was, “Pretty happy honestly, it better than twelfth. I’m happy with second, we’re ten positions better, so you got to take the positives when you get them. I like how Eli was saying before, it’s fun racing someone you know isn’t going to chop your front wheel off because you can actually use proper race craft, same with Cooper [Webb]. I had a lot of fun in that battle with Eli and coming through the pack and just getting close like at the start and I got around the outside in the sand, and my dumbass went back to the inside, then he got me back. That was a lot of fun, I would have loved first, you always like to win, but you got to take the positives and just enjoy a fun race.”
Lawrence is now fifth in points, just ten back of the red plate holder, Tomac, heading into round three next weekend in the series’ return to Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, California. Here's to many more battles between these two this season.
