Motocross
All in the family: Hunter vs. Jett Lawrence for Pro Motocross glory
Hunter and Jett Lawrence enter the Ironman Motocross finale separated by one point, setting up a historic brother-versus-brother battle for the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
Part of this story
Darren Lawrence wasn’t surprised to see his boys enter the final round of the 2026 AMA 450 Pro Motocross Championship separated by just a single point; Hunter Lawrence and Jett Lawrence each handled their “book of business” through the first 10 rounds, eliminated all other challengers, and clinched the championship for the family, American Honda and the rest of their shared sponsors. It was even a perfect season; the Lawrence brothers won all 20 motos through the first 10 rounds.
One (crucial) detail remains TBD: which brother picks up the check at the Ironman Raceway finale?
The Lawrence brothers have dominated the 2026 season
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool
Patriarch, Darren “Dazzy” Lawrence has a background in skilled trades (he was a stucco mason in Australia) and believes deeply in operating with proper foundational support, making sure all tools are sharpened and available. The book of business is the mission that employs said tools and skills.
Hunter’s ultimate mission is winning his first premier class championship. Jett’s is winning his third 450 Pro Motocross crown in four years, but he needs a clutch, knockout performance. Siblings competing for a major motorsports championship makes for great headlines and discussions. Imagine the awkward family dinners. Yet riding, training and racing together is what they know. They’re conditioned to not let competition divide them.
Hunter Lawrence seeks his first premier-class outdoor title
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool
Racing a family member is probably the toughest, we've known, for years, each other's strengths and weaknesses and, obviously, we've worked on the weaknesses. You're seeing each other’s progress. You know how perfect you actually have to be
Hunter, 27, can be blamed for helping Jett become the talent he is today. When they were kids, Hunter absorbed all the technical and fundamental riding knowledge their father, Darren, dished out. Jett–four years younger–didn’t follow instructions. He just wanted to twist the throttle. But when he stopped long enough to see Hunter putting in reps and perfecting style, he’d jump in and copy Hunter; he had a natural ability to replicate.
Now Jett is finding himself back in childhood; Hunter has tirelessly put in the effort in 2026. After 27 rounds of racing in the SuperMotocross World Championship, Hunter has 11 race wins, the most of any rider this year. In Pro Motocross specifically, he’s won six rounds and 12 of the motos. Jett is trying to figure out how to do what his brother is doing. And he only has one last chance to make it happen.
Jett Lawrence overcame injury to remain in championship contention
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool
Going up against someone for a championship… you [prepare your mind to] dislike that person, you want to beat him. You can't dislike your brother and I’m not going to do some crazy things to win. We've signed up for this, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
A championship equals redemption for either brother; Hunter suffered a crushing defeat to Ken Roczen in the 2026 Supercross season when he fell on lap 11 of the finale and came up three positions short in the winner-take-all main event. Hunter also finished second in Pro Motocross and the SuperMotocross Playoffs in 2024 and 2025. That’s five runner-up finishes in the points in less than two calendar years. The day before the Salt Lake City Supercross, Roczen and Hunter were both asked at a press conference if they’d prepared their minds for the fact that they might not win.
“Life goes on. You go back to work,” Hunter said. And he did. He came to the Fox Raceway Pro Motocross opener and destroyed the competition in a 1-1 rout.
Three and a half months after the Supercross setback, Hunter finds himself in a similar situation (with slightly more control), this time against his own flesh and blood, and the only other rider to win a moto through the summer.
Jett has won every single 450 championship in which he’s completed all rounds. The defending 450MX champ bowed out of the 2025 Supercross season after four races because of a torn ACL and missed the 2026 SX season entirely because of a broken right foot.
In late December, during 2026 Supercross prep in Florida, Jett crashed and broke his right foot – specifically his talus – in three pieces. A critical, weight-bearing bone, the talus connects the ankle to the foot. The surgery required 11 screws, four pins and a complicated five-and-a-half-month recovery. Jett battled to an impressive third overall at Fox Raceway, where he struggled to climb the steep ramp up the podium after the race.
Jett still didn’t have the mobility he needed to press hard on the brake lever. A few rounds in, his team fabricated an extended footpeg so he could rest his fatiguing foot. He figured out a way to win races and stay in the championship fight, but the forced compensations have made this season the toughest test of his career.
Hunter and Jett Lawrence battled to the final round for the title
© Garth Milan
“Normally, when [bike] settings are off or the tracks are a bit funky for me, I've usually been able to adjust really quickly,” Jett said. “With the injury, I haven't been able to adjust quickly. I’ve been experimenting on how to ride a bike with what I got.”
Halfway through the season, the experimenting worried him. He was concerned about creating bad habits that he’d struggle to break. He found solace after re-visiting his surgeon, who assured him that, eight months post-op, his bones looked great. Never mind the fact that most people don’t even walk until the eight-month mark. By the time he went back to the doctor, Jett had already won three rounds of Pro Motocross.
After three months of wins, mistakes, falls, penalties, comebacks (including Hunter's first DNF) and a record six lead changes of the red number plate exchanges between the two brothers, it comes down to the final race. The book of business for each of them is the same and, unfortunately, one brother’s heart will be broken.
Hunter has joked that he feels like he’s playing with “house money” because there was a time when he considered walking away from racing. That was before the 2023 success in 250SX and MX. Three years into his premier class career, he’s been left on the wrong side of glory so many times that it’s all anyone wants (or knows to) ask him about. It’s nothing, he says, compared to the financial and family hardships he faced just trying to get to this point in his life.
“I know, it sounds cliche, but when you've faced so many difficulties in everyday life for so long, or so much s---, that you kind of get comfortable in that s--- scenario,” he said. “So anything above that is always a win.”
In the end, Hunter got it done but not without difficulty first. Hunter’s first premier class championship came after out-of-character 8-4 moto finishes in the season finale.
In a bizarre opening race, Hunter crashed into a fallen rider and ended the first lap in 39th. Jett also suffered back luck on lap one; he hyper-extended his ankle. Painfully, he rode to 11-3 finishes and ended two points behind Hunter in the standings.
Who was the first person there to greet Hunter after winning the championship? Jett, with a brotherly hug. “I hope you’re alright,” he said to Jett.
Behind the podium area, where the athletes cool down and catch their breath, Jett pulled on a “Hunter Lawrence Champion” t-shirt before the actual champion did; he couldn’t stop smiling.
Hunter sat in disbelief, #1 plate on his lap, processing the fact that his book of business had been closed out.
At least until the 2026 SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs begin in two weeks.
Part of this story