(June 15, 2019) – A weekend off to test and train did wonders for the GEICO Honda motocross squad, as team riders Hunter Lawrence and Chase Sexton battled for the race win at round four of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, at High Point Raceway. Lawrence scored his first career moto win in the U.S. by taking the first moto victory, and finished second overall with 1-3 moto scores. Sexton scored the day’s fast qualifier award, challenged for the win in moto two, and took 4-2 moto scores to third overall.

Lawrence’s first moto win was a breakthrough that he hopes leads to many more.

“I was pumped on that, had an awesome start and made two passes in the same spot to get the lead,” said the Australian. “I was smiling, but the last three laps were so hard, everything and anything runs through your mind. I think it’s unhuman if you don’t—it’s the first time, I’m so stoked, you think of the team, you think of everything. I spent maybe three seconds a lap thinking about all of that stuff, but then you have to focus back on the job. Second moto, believe me, I was wanting to win it, but the start wasn’t as stellar as the first one, and I took too long to get around Colt [Nichols]. Would have loved to have won the overall, but the moto win is a huge step for me so I’ll take it.”

Sexton has been consistently in the top five in the early stages of the season, but he hasn’t been happy with that. His goal is to battle for wins, and he finally did that at High Point. After setting the fastest qualifying time in both practice sessions, a bad start ruined his podium hopes in moto one. He finally gated well in moto two and shadowed race-winner Cianciarulo most of the way.

“Even before today I felt like I was very capable of this, capable of winning motos, just needed to get a better start,” said Sexton. I was finally able to do that, I was right behind Adam [Cianciarulo, race winner]. He crushed his start. It was kind of like that the whole race, I was trying everything I could do to get around him. The track was gnarly—we raced second today and the track was really beat up. I felt good all day, was fastest in qualifying. This is definitely where I want to be every week, up front and battling for the win, so this is definitely progress. I really want to win one of these, though.”

In the week leading up to the race, RJ Hampshire was also looking forward to making progress and felt good on the bike. Then, a crash on Thursday left him feeling rough on race day. He somehow managed 9-6 scores for sixth overall.

“Had a hard crash Thursday, literally a lap and a half left before I was done for the week,” said Hampshire. “Hit my head and banged up my arm. No excuses though, just didn’t have it all day. Felt off from the time I woke up. My starts weren’t that good at all and it took me awhile to get going. Passed a lot of guys but was still not close to the speed I should have been. I’ll be better next weekend and turn this thing around.”

Christian Craig’s tough season continued when he crashed in practice, ending his day.

“I had an awesome couple weeks coming into High Point and was looking forward to making many improvements from Thunder Valley,” said Craig. “Unfortunately I went down in the first practice really hard. I tried to tough it out and go out for second practice but I knew after a lap it wasn’t going to happen. I’m just banged up but again, disappointed. This year has not been good for me but I will get it turned around.”

The team heads to Jacksonville, Florida for the first-ever Florida National at WW Ranch this weekend.

GEICO Honda Results
High Point National

2. Hunter Lawrence (1-3)
3. Chase Sexton (4-2)
6. RJ Hampshire (9-6)
DNS Christian Craig

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.