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I could be wrong here, but I feel like Hunter Lawrence isn’t getting enough respect here lately. All of his accomplishments are seemingly lost or lumped together with his brother Jett, but today this column is all about HUNTER. I won’t mention Jett again (except for that) in this opinionated column.
Hunter has two podiums on the season and has been improving drastically here as of the past month. He’s won heat races and has been progressing to the point where I can see the writing on the wall. He’s going to be a huge part of the future of this sport. That’s truly not the hottest take, I know. We’ve seen him accomplish some amazing things in the 250 class, but I personally think that he’s going to be maybe one of maybe three riders who has a chance to defeat the #18 (sorry, I know I promised) in the next decade.
I love that Hunter embraces the “family first” mentality and I’m not trying to break any of that up. Nor am I suggesting that he doesn’t get the same treatment as Jett (again, sorry). He gets the same treatment to accomplish his goals. The HRC Honda team and Hunter made that known again this weekend. That was never a worry.
The truth is, I’m tired of some of the other members of the media discrediting Hunter’s accomplishments. The well-known guys aren’t, but some of these questions being thrown at Hunter in the press conferences have been pretty awkward. Some of these people made it seem as if it’s absurd that Hunter could even think that he was going to beat Jett this weekend.
“At what point did you decide to pass your brother?” Someone had asked Jett in the Denver press conference.
I get it man, Jett has been on another level for a couple of years now. He’s the fastest rider in the world at the moment. He was behind his brother for 11 laps and following closely, but can we word that a little less disrespectful? The track was slick this past weekend and passing was not easy, but can we give Hunter’s pace the benefit of the doubt here? Jett is unbelievable right now, but he’s beatable. Hunter knows that, he practices with Jett and he’s ridden with him his entire life. He knows his weaknesses and has ideas on how to beat him. He’s beat him before many times. He’s been building for this moment. Hunter had a great pace going and he’s been getting better every week. Let’s focus on that instead of downplaying Hunter’s great race.
“Hunter was hauling a great pace, it wasn’t like I was getting held up,” Jett answered. “In a few laps he had gapped me also because I had made some mistakes.”
Let’s just be better on giving credit where credit is do.
Hunter has come back from some horrible injuries and his takeover in the 250 class last year was remarkable. He did make a really great point about his season in the press conference too.
If Jett wasn’t here in this class I’d probably be a good candidate for a great rookie season, but number 18 stole that one truly. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve been there to help him when we were younger and now the tides have turned the past three odd years and now I’m chasing him. It’s cool.”
To be fair Hunter mentioned Jett (I promise not to mention him again in this column) and not me. Hunter seems to be the best teammate and brother in the world at this point. I’m personally jealous he’s not my teammate. At some point we need to remember that he’s his own person and he has his own goals and that he’s actually going to progress to be a weekly podium guy/race winner in the 450 class. I think he will win 450 championships along the way as well.
So, let’s hope that this changes the current vibe around Hunter. Sure, he’s in it for his team, his family (not a Jett reference), and for the #18 (sorry), but the man has his own goals to reach and he’s checking the boxes on his way there, one race at a time.
