With the 2025 AMA Supercross season less than a month away, the inordinately gifted Jett Lawrence appears destined for another tremendous year. Words: Ed Stratmann
While replicating his masterful efforts in 2022, 2023 and 2024 will be no easy feat, Lawrence enters the new campaign ready to turn heads and excel yet again.
Following his extremely busy and success-filled term, which saw him secure the 450SX crown and his second consecutive SuperMotocross crown, plus reign supreme with Team Australia at the Motocross of Nations, expect the phenom to continue along his upward curve.
Still only 21 and with the world at his feet, the ultra-talented Australian, who’s undeniably one of the biggest stars of the sport, was full of insight when speaking on the upcoming season at the SMX Media Days.
Despite covering many topics, some of the key takeaways were unquestionably his thoughts on dealing with the fan criticism and how he’s learned to embrace the hostility towards him.
“I think more just the criticism is a big thing. Obviously, I’m already a person who’s fairly hard on myself with some things. It’s really easy for some people to say, ‘Hey, don’t look at this, don’t look into it’. But when it goes from, at first, when I first started I wasn’t too bad cause it was like, out of 100 people it was maybe 10 or 15 out of 100, now it feels like it’s closer to 80 people that are doing it to where it outweighs the actual proper fans,” he insisted.
“I kind of have a feeling, like if I’m in Australia, I wouldn’t want an American winning. So far I’m a foreigner and I’m winning a lot of the titles that are here so I kind of understand it more now because at first I’m like, I’ve always kind of been a nice kid and yes, sometimes not the best with my words, I come across a bit blunt. That’s the Australian side of things, and it comes off rude. People who know me get it, but people who don’t, they take it in a different way. It is what it is. But I’ve been able to talk to Ricky (Carmichael) and stuff like that and I’ve come to like the conclusion of going, well, I’m going to get hated a lot more if I keep winning more so I may as well just get used to it.”
Upon looking back at his last crusade, which hit a bump in the road when he injured his thumb in training during AMA Pro Motocross, and it was another one full of upside. Although he committed the odd mistake here and there, Jett ultimately wouldn’t be denied when healthy, as he rode with an impressive level of maturity and discipline that belied his tender years to bank two of the three championships on offer.
When looking back on his words ahead of last season, and his observations made for great reading even though he was unable to completely steer clear of the drama. “My biggest thing last year was my mental side of things. I learned from Colt Nichols, it’s like a chess game, being smart with stuff,” he explained.
“One of the biggest things I took away was just staying out of drama. He did that perfectly in 2021. I stayed in the drama being a teenager just being an idiot. He stayed away from it, no one was enemies with him. I took that going into Supercross and outdoors and tried making sure I keep the drama away as much as I can. The biggest thing I’ve improved on is maturity on a bike, the way I ride and the way I act off the bike is completely opposite.”
Feeling refreshed and revitalised after feeling the love of the home fans at the AUSX Open in Melbourne in November, watch for the hotshot to come out swinging at Anaheim 1.
Having raced Paris Supercross and the AUSX Open, it’s certainly been a busy off-season for Lawrence, whose focus now shifts to getting the new bike dialled, which is definitely still a work in progress.
Able to do things his fellow competitors can only dream of on the bike and riding with a tremendous level of skill, confidence and assuredness, it’ll take a monumental effort to beat Jett this term.
Although it won’t be easy and he’s set to get pushed hard by the likes of Chase Sexton, Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb and his brother Hunter Lawrence, it’d take a brave man to bet against him making it two 450SX crowns to accompany his plethora of titles at this stage.
Admitting he wants to smash the competition, this, in combination with his desire to silence his critics, should see him primed to flex his muscles at A1 and put on a real show.
Bringing so much to the sport on and off the track with his sensational ability and personality, Jett’s right on track for another year littered with success in his pursuit to further cement his status as a bonafide all-time great.
Image: AMA Supercross
