Challenging Night for Team Honda HRC at Muddy San Francisco Supercross!

Bendh

Jett and Hunter Lawrence fight for top-10 finishes in 450SX
Jett holds second in the title chase, seven points behind the leader
Technical issue ends Jo Shimoda’s 250SX West effort early

Mud races always bring the potential for shakeups, and that was indeed the case at the sloppy second round of AMA Supercross, held in a downpour in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Team Honda HRC came out on the short end of the stick in the unpredictable conditions, with Jett and Hunter Lawrence both surviving to finish the 450SX main event in the top 10, while Jo Shimoda wasn’t so fortunate in the 250SX West race.

Words & Images: Team Honda HRC

Conditions were atrocious for the shortened 450SX main event, and Jett and Hunter Lawrence found themselves mired in the pack early in the first lap—sixth and eighth when they completed lap 1. Falls and vision problems saw them shuffled back to 10th and 11th on lap 5. The brothers were close to one another for much of the race and even swapped positions, but in the end, the best Jett and Hunter could manage was ninth and 10th, respectively. On the positive side, Jett’s result was good enough for him to emerge second in the points standings, seven behind the leading Chase Sexton. Putting in an impressive performance was Phoenix Honda racer Dylan Ferrandis, who charged through the muck to a sixth-place result.

Hunter powers ahead of Dylan Ferrandis, who won just the second heat race of his Honda career in the muddy conditions.

Shimoda started in fourth in the 250SX West main event but immediately went down. He remounted but came to a halt a few turns later with a technical issue that seemed to have resulted from the fall. SmarTop/MotoConcepts Honda’s Carson Mumford threatened for a podium position for a while but ultimately slipped to a career-best fifth, while his teammate Mitchell Oldenburg managed a top-10 finish.

Jo, with the leader’s green lights ablaze here, took his heat race win but ran out of luck in the 250 Main Event.

NOTES

Whereas the opener had seen Jett Lawrence running a purple number plate with a fluorescent-yellow number 18 on his CRF450RWE (recognizing his status as the reigning SuperMotocross champ), Team graphics sponsor Throttle Jockey prepared him a red background for San Francisco, denoting him as the series points leader. The digits remained fluorescent yellow.
The pits at San Francisco were inside, in a pier building (welcome on this rainy weekend), but the trucks were parked a good distance away. To help with mobility, Team Honda HRC had a pair of Honda MotoCompacto electric scooters that they used to get back and forth.
Contra Costa Powersports, a Honda dealer in Concord, California, erected a pop-up activation booth in the Team Honda HRC pits at the San Francisco round, where they engaged with fans and customers and displayed Honda powersports products.
To minimize damage to the drenched track and give officials maximum time to prepare it for the night show, the free practice and second qualifying sessions were canceled. Hunter and Jett Lawrence notched the third- and fourth-best times in the single 450 qualifying session.
Jo Shimoda was 18th in the 250SX West session, his result affected by the fact that the track was much different for the B group. Grindstone-sponsored, CRF250R-mounted privateer Max Sanford was impressive, notching the second-best lap in 250SX West, as were SmarTop/MotoConcepts Honda riders Mitchell Oldenburg and Carson Mumford (sixth and seventh, respectively).
Despite a poor gate pick, Shimoda took the early lead in the first 250SX West heat race and immediately established a comfortable gap in the sloppy conditions. Despite a couple of close calls, Shimoda eventually crossed the finish line with a 19-second win. Also making it through (via a fourth-place finish) was MCR’s Mitchell Oldenburg. His teammate Carson Mumford finished fifth in heat 2, while Grindstone-backed Red Rider privateer Max Sanford and Storm Lake Honda rider Deegan Hepp made it through the last chance qualifier.
Jett Lawrence was slotted in the first 450 heat race, and after a strong start, he slipped to third place. A goggle issue and a pair of tip-overs cost him more positions, and he finished fifth, with Fire Power Honda’s Dean Wilson making it through with a ninth-place result. Phoenix Racing Honda’s Dylan Ferrandis put in a come-from-behind ride in heat 2 to take a dramatic win, while Hunter Lawrence soldiered through to finish fifth.
With round 2 in the books, Team Honda HRC heads back south to San Diego, where AMA Supercross competes on Saturday.

Hunter Lawrence picks his way to his first 450 points through the San Francisco sludge.

Jett Lawrence:
“Nothing too exciting to talk about after the main event. We’re just happy to get out of here with some points. We aren’t many points behind, so we’re going to get some good races in before the break and hopefully get some wins.”

Hunter Lawrence:
“The main takeaway from tonight is that the heroes of our sport are the mechanics. They had to work incredibly hard all day to make sure our bikes were running smooth. A huge pat on the back to the team overall in these conditions. Other than that, I’m ready to move on to round 3.”

Jo Shimoda:
“It was nice to get a good start in the heat race, get some battles in and still get the win. Obviously, the main event didn’t go how I imagined. I got a good start but tipped over on the straightaway. Two turns later, I had a mechanical and couldn’t finish the race. It’s not where we wanted to be after tonight, but I’m looking forward to next weekend.”

Lars Lindstrom – Team Manager:
“This is the first time that we haven’t been on the podium with any of our riders since Anaheim 3 2022, which is an incredible record, I think. As everyone knows, mud races can really shake things up, which can be the exciting part of them. They’re also a great teacher, and we’ll take this opportunity to learn instead of sulking about our results.”