Australian teenager Jett Lawrence—younger brother of Hunter Lawrence—will make his pro debut next weekend at the Unadilla National after a very impressive debut during the 2019 Rocky Mountain ATV Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch this week. Jett, unfortunately, will leave The Ranch today without a title, but only because his AMSOIL / Honda expired late in the final moto of 250 Pro Sport while he was leading and well on his way to his first title. In Open Pro Sport he finished second overall to Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jalek Swoll—who will also debut at Unadilla,
The 16-year-old will join his brother under the GEICO / Honda tent and according to his post-race podium interview at Loretta Lynn’s is shooting for a podium in his professional debut. “Obviously, I had an easy title in the first one, but I had a little bit of a bike malfunction, which it happens,” Jett said to Jason Weigandt on the Loretta Lynn’s podium. “I was obviously bummed because I had the tile in my hands easily. I had to regroup for this one and I tried but I messed up my start. I was riding out there like a goon which doesn’t help, especially here. For my first time coming here, I surprised a lot of people. I surprised myself. I definitely kicked a lot of ass. I knew I could have come away with two titles, but with a bike malfunction and a shitty ride, it just didn’t turn out that well. I’ll go to Unadilla and hopefully go for my best there and even if I can, get a podium.”
How will Hunter do? It’s obviously hard to predict when you have never seen the rider lined up against professional competition, but I was blown away but what I saw out of Jett this week at The Ranch. I’ve been told he is every bit the speed of his brother Hunter and we have seen what he can do on a good day. With that, I don’t think a podium is out of the question, but somewhere between 7th to 13th is a more likely prediction. Either way, I am pumped the Lawrence brothers chose to come to the US and I look forward to seeing these kids race for years to come.
Photo by: MXSports
