It was a perfect weekend for Jett Lawrence sweeping the Triple Crown in the 450SX class at Indianapolis, while Cameron McAdoo found his way back to the winner’s circle and into the points lead of the 250SX class. Both riders spoke with the media after the race in this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media

Jett, Ken Roczen is the only other person ever to go 1-1-1 in the history of the Triple Crown. How does it feel for you and your team to make that happen? And you mentioned it was rough out there, just how tough was it for you to take that 1-1-1 considering how the track was breaking down?

Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Lars [Lindstrom] told me after the race the last person to do it was Kenny and it was on a Honda too. So it’s kind of cool to keep that ritual going with Honda going 1-1-1. That track was gnarly. It can kind of catch you at any moment. It was scary riding next to someone in the rhythm because you’d just try to stay as straight as possible, and it would catch you off guard pretty quickly. The track was gnarly but I think it created some good racing.

That wall jump before the whoops, in the third race you were jumping that into the whoops, had you been doing that all night long?

All day, no. I kind of caught onto it when Kenny did it in the first one and then once Kenny did it, I felt like I just got comfortable and got into the rhythm of doing that. I kept with it kind of throughout the whole night. I felt more comfortable coming in, I had a better run through the whoops. I even tried in the second one, I was on the right side of the whoops and I was jumping even further and it still worked out pretty good. I just ended up finding the flow better after jumping in after seeing Kenny doing it in the first one.

It seemed like in that last race you were pretty content running second. You didn’t need to pass Kenny for the overall win but then Chase started pressuring you. Was there strategy there like if you’re not getting pressured from behind to just stay in second and not pass Kenny?

Yeah, that was kind of the original plan when on the start I was in second and following Kenny for a bit. I was okay with that and then Chase started breathing down my neck through that one rhythm and I thought, “Oh gosh, I’ve got to step it up.” And I kind of picked up the pace a bit, ended up getting pretty close to Kenny. I kind of thought if there was a pass to take I’d take it  and try to keep the same pace going on. I don’t want to push over my head with this track. I had to work for a good few turns, but ended up getting it and kept on doing my same pace.

You’ve mentioned the Triple Crowns haven’t been your strong suit, did you have a different approach to these Triple Crowns now that you’re in the 450SX class?

Coming in, I think the biggest thing is because everyone is so close in speed that starts are a big key and I think the least amount of mistakes. We obviously don’t have a full 20 minutes if we have a crash or quick tip over, we don’t have the time to kind of get back to the front. Obviously, because everyone is so close, it’s a lot harder to make up chunks of time, especially on this track where everyone is kind of doing similar rhythms. But yeah, it’s a little bit of a mental mind frame coming in. Just really trying to execute all three starts, and just execute good consistent laps.

250SX

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Cameron, third career win for you. What’s changed mentally for you that started at the beginning of the year that’s carried you to this win and having the red plate in the 250SX East?

I think I’ve talked about it quite a bit in some interviews over the past few weeks, but to be honest, I’m getting older, I’ve done it quite a few years now, and just in the last few years I’ve been a front running Lites guy. I spent a lot of years of my career just hopeful to even be on a ride that I can keep racing. So, it was a quick transition and then it turned into an expectation very quickly [to win]. Last year, I was expecting to try to win and try to fight Jett for wins, and then I had a few races where I got passed on the last lap for second place into third. I remember being so mad on the podium, so mad on Sunday flying home, and a couple weeks later I got injured and it was all gone. It was all stripped from me. You know, I was laying on the couch out of surgery. A lot of reflecting through last summer and there was so much that I had to be grateful for in those times and I didn’t really take advantage of that. I’m just realizing that I’m not going to be able to do this forever. This is a really short portion of my life and it’s really special. It’s really cool to be able to be up here with these two guys. These are a couple of the best dirt bike racers in the world, and to be able to sit next to them. It’s just really cool to be here just fighting up in the front and it’s just really special. I don’t want to take any of it for granted.

Were you aware in that last race that Haiden [Deegan] had crashed in the first turn? What was going through your mind near the end and was it hard to focus knowing you didn’t necessarily need to push forward?

I didn’t know what happened. I wasn’t aware of any crash. I did get into third behind Pierce [Brown] and I had some available pace. He was riding well, but I kept looking at the board and I knew that [Daxton] Bennick and [Nick] Romano were fourth and fifth. I had no clue where Haiden was, but I knew if Haiden went onto the board that I needed to go. With probably six laps to go, I came out of the whoops and started to go down that straight away and I saw Haiden landing that triple into the turn before the mechanics area and I was like, “Okay, I’m fine right here.” But also, I really had to stay locked in. I quit hitting the triples in the rhythm lanes. I started doubling some of the really hard and technical ones that were hard to consistently make, but I was still racing it. In the past, I think that’s what maybe caught me off guard and caused some injuries to be honest, just not being super locked in. I was really trying to stay focuses and stay locked in on racing the track but I was aware of everything that was kind of around me and I’m sure you guys saw that towards the end of that last main.

You’ve had race wins before, but as you know, race wins aren’t guaranteed in this sport. There’s a lot of racing to go in the season but you talk about now being in the present. What does the next 24 or 48 hours look like for you as you take this all in and celebrate?

Honestly the next 24 hours probably looks very similar to the last three Sundays after the races. I’m going to fly home, do a little bike ride on my bike path, and hang out with my dog. I’m really going to enjoy it. This is really special to me. As far as celebrating, it’s a win, they don’t get any easy ever it seems, and they’re just as special or maybe even more with how competitive the field is right now. Like I alluded to early, Tom [Vialle] is a two time World Champion, Haiden is the SMX champion right now in his rookie season, I have huge competition and I need to stay locked in and stay focused forward. We have a few weeks off here that we are going to continue working to improve. We didn’t win all three mains and these guys have been riding really good. I’m really going to enjoy it and it is special, but we’ve got to lock in and move forward.

Looking at the top three results you guys put together tonight, your guys’ numbers are like double digits better than anyone else in the class. As we know in the 250SX class, consistency is what it takes. You’ve been at it a while, what is it about finally figuring out the consistency? What does it take to do it?

For me personally, I think it’s been taking what you can get at the moment. I’ve in the past struggled with that. If I start fifth or sixth and I see Haiden or Tom up front and getting away, I’m like, “I’ve got to go now!” And maybe I’d get a little bit panicked at some times and I think that has a lot to do with some of my inconsistencies in the past. My consistency is not perfect. I think I got 15^th at the first round, Haiden got 16^th, and Tom maybe got 20^th, but that was a little bit of a different circumstance, we all kind of got cleaned out. It’s a work in progress, but I think knowing the confidence in where you’re at. By now we’re at round five and it’s pretty clear that us three are going to fight for it. Especially with the way the first and second main went, we kind of separated fairly decently. But yeah, just focusing on each race for sure.