Hunter Lawrence - King of Pala
HRC factory rider and former AMA 250 motocross champion, Hunter Lawrence swept qualification and the motos for a perfect day at Fox Raceway on his way to his second Motocross overall victory. This is the first time anyone has beaten his younger brother Jett on this track.
In the opening race, Hunter Lawrence took the lead early from another former GP racer, Mikkel Haarup and then held off a charge by Jorge Prado to win the first moto of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship. The second moto was the same story, with Hunter and Prado lead the field into Turn 1 as Jett and Haiden Deegan get stuck in traffic.
Hunter and Prado swapped the lead a couple of times in the opening lap of Moto 2 with Aaron Plessinger rounding out the top three. Plessinger faded toward the end of the race as he continued to suffer the effects of a Supercross hip injury. He finished ninth in the moto.
In Moto 2, the new rivalry between Jett and Deegan also looked eerily familiar to what was witnessed in Moto 1 as Jett settled into 10th with Deegan 14th. At the end of Lap 1 Jett was seventh and Deegan eighth.
Jett moved into fourth around RJ Hampshire at the beginning of Lap 4 and Plessinger at the end of that lap. He finished the moto in third, which gave him third overall after scoring a fourth in Moto 1.
Jett closed to the back wheel of Prado on the final lap, but came up .463 seconds short. Justin Cooper is known for his consistency and paid dividends in Pala. He finished fourth overall with results of third and sixth.
Deegan finished one position behind Tomac in both motos to score a fifth overall with results of fifth and fourth. Chase Sexton crashed on Lap 2 of the second race and had to battle his way through the field. He finished fifth in Moto 2.
Haarup snatched the early lead in his debut on a 450 Triumph, but Hunter was not to be denied. He took the top position away on Lap 1 and held it for the remainder of the the first moto of the 2026 season. Haarup faded quickly, giving second to Jorge Prado and third to Sexton in the opening laps.
There is bad blood between Hunter and Prado, which gave the Spanish rider extra incentive. Prado kept Hunter in sight through the first half of the moto. In the second half, Hunter stretched his advantage as Prado lost pace.
Hunter ultimately finished more than eight seconds ahead of Prado. Cooper took third away from Sexton on Lap 4 and held off a late race charge from Jett to finish fifth.
Jett had a bad start after getting pinched in traffic. He completed the first lap outside of the top 15. The news was worse for Deegan, who slipped outside the top 20.
The two riders found one another on Lap 2 and the rivalry was fully engaged. He spent most of the remainder of the race within a position of one another. Deegan momentarily passed Jett in the first half of the race, but Jett quickly regained the spot.
Jett finished fourth with Deegan scoring a top-five in his 450 Motocross debut. Sexton crashed on Lap 12 and fell to seventh. Eli Tomac crashed with Garrett Marchbanks on Lap 1. Both were slow to rise. Tomac moved across the track after a split lane and was run into by Marchbanks.
Tomac required assistance off the track. He was awake and alert following the crash, but was transferred to a local hospital. After the race, it was announced that Tomac did not suffer any broken bones, but had a severe neck strain after crashing three times near the end of Supercross and at Pala.
You can find the full results here







