Round 9 of AMA Pro Motocross in Upstate New York proved to be an eventful one for Honda HRC Progressive. Hunter and Jett Lawrence traded 450 moto wins, but with Jett finishing second in the first outing and Hunter suffering an uncharacteristic DNF in moto 2, the brotherly championship battle took a dramatic turn, as Jett assumed the lead from his teammate.

“Today was really brutal. It was a bit of a struggle to get a flow and get good lines; everywhere was just choppy and had square edges. I like to win; I haven’t won a lot this year, so that’s pissing me off. But I still can’t be too terribly mad, just because of the injury that I have. I’m just going to try and keep looking forward and focus on what I need to do to get better. I didn’t want to get the red plate like this, so I’m kind of bummed, honestly. We still have two rounds to go, and Hunter’s been riding phenomenal lately, so we’ll see how it turns out. We’ll still be good as brothers—that will never change.”

Hunter assumed the 450 moto 1 lead on lap 2, and Jett went down a few laps later while challenging Haiden Deegan for second. The reigning champ remounted in sixth while Hunter established a gap out front. Jett battled back to third position before the halfway mark, and demonstrated his exceptional fitness by closing the gap and passing Jorge Prado for second on the final lap.

Hunter grabbed the moto 2 holeshot aboard his CRF450RWE, while Jett and Prado battled behind him. Jett pressured Hunter and then passed him for the lead, with Prado also getting by shortly after.

A little after the halfway mark, Hunter went down on Unadilla’s notoriously steep “Wall” section, and the lengthy climb back to his bike meant he remounted in 21st place. Jett raced to the moto win, while Hunter—unable to continue at race pace due to crash damage to his bike—dropped out of a points-paying position and eventually pulled off.

"Cheers to motorsports, even if I personally hate it right now. I’m grateful to have a great team behind me and four more chances to make this happen.”

Jett’s overall win and Hunter’s eighth-overall result resulted in a 22-point swing in the title chase, with Jett now 10 points ahead of his brother.

Honda HRC Progressive’s Jett Lawrence topped both 450 qualifying sessions, with rare identical best lap times of 2:12.122. Teammate Hunter Lawrence posted the second-fastest lap time in combined qualifying.

Jett remains undefeated in 450-class overall victories at Unadilla, with this marking his third success. Honda now holds the most premier-class overall wins at the track with 11, one more than Kawasaki. Other Red Riders to have topped the premier class at the venue include Mike LaRocco, Ricky Carmichael (twice), Kevin Windham (twice), Ken Roczen (twice) and Chase Sexton.

The penultimate round of AMA Pro Motocross will take place at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Maryland, this Saturday. Jett now leads the championship by 10 points over Hunter, with third place 66 points back. Meanwhile, Hymas is fifth in the 250 standings, just five points behind fourth and 20 behind third.

Lars Lindstrom Team ManagerHonda HRC Progressive: “It’s really cool seeing Chance get back to where he can and should be. We’ve worked really hard on the R&D side in the couple weeks off, trying to make a little bit more power, and we actually did bring an upgrade to this race. He got two good top-three starts, and then his speed was there. Hopefully we can get a win or two before the season ends. As far as the 450 class goes, we knew what Jett needed to do if he wanted to win the championship, and when he didn’t win the first moto, that set him back a little bit. Then when Hunter went down in moto 2 and we couldn’t see it, we were checking with the rest of the team over the radio, like, ‘Where’s he at?’ It was kind of gutting for everybody because he deserves it so much, and he was doing everything right; it just felt kind of unfair. I think the fire inside him will be even stronger for these last two rounds. Now he’s just got to win, and I’m pretty confident that he will be really motivated and hungry to come back and win next weekend.”