Image: Supplied.

Team Honda HRC 450MX title prospect Hunter Lawrence has made a rare late-season transfer to next year’s race bike – the 2025 CRF450R – with three rounds to go in the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship, beginning with Unadilla on Saturday.

Lawrence enters round nine of the season 28 points behind Chase Sexton and has opted to race the brand new model in a bid to track down the Red Bull KTM rider across the closing races.

Along with reigning champion and younger brother Jett Lawrence, it’s expected that Team Honda HRC will stick with the updated variant through the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) post-season. The pair played an important role in developing the 2025 and that will crossover in AMA trim.

“I’m pumped to race the new bike this weekend here at Unadilla,” Lawrence said. “I felt at home on the ’25 the first time I rode it, and it was fun for Jett and me to have the opportunity to give our input in the development of the production bike. Now it’s time to get to work on the factory version.”

Team Honda HRC Manager Lars Lindstrom added: “We’re proud of the success that the current CRF450R platform has enjoyed, winning all three AMA 450 championships last year and following up with this year’s AMA Supercross crown.

“That said, we’re super-excited to get to work developing the factory version of the 2025 CRF450R. The engineers have done an incredible job with the new bike, and we’re happy to see it performing well in media evaluations. We fully expect that with time, it will have a very successful record of its own.”