Image: Octopi Media.

Bringing forward the introduction of Honda’s 2025 CRF450R saw Hunter Lawrence win the opening moto at Unadilla, managing to withstand the pressure of debuting the latest generation model during the season and finishing second overall.

Lawrence has been vocal in the improvements made by Honda to the new bike, which prompted Team Honda HRC to build a factory-specification race bike for him during the two-weekend break between Washougal and round nine.

“Obviously, handling is a lot better,” Lawrence said. “It’s amazing to have a bike that you can work with and it helps you out in places on the track, so as far as new bike debuts go, we were really happy with it. A little bummed with how the second moto played out, but there is next weekend and it could have gone a hell of a lot worse as well. Huge props to the team and everyone that did what they needed to do to be able to allow us to race the new ’25 this weekend, and it was good. All in all, not a terrible day.

“I was definitely outspoken about how good I thought the bike was, so obviously a little bit of pressure. It’s like, ‘Hey, you better go do good’. Not that you’re saying how good this bike is and you go out and suck… you’d look like a little bit of egg on your forehead, you know? The bike straight out of the box is something we’re extremely proud of and I think it’s one of the best 450s out of the box, which maybe we couldn’t say prior years. I’m just proud, I have something I can tell my mates back home that this is the bike you need.”

After going 1-2 to tie for the overall and be credited second on countback, Lawrence maintains second in the standings behind former teammate Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM) – the rider he replaced in HRC’s 450 roster for 2024 – with two rounds to go, with 28 points separating the pair.