Playoff two of the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship Finals in Texas marked the breakthrough first win in the premier class for Hunter Lawrence, the 1-3 scorecard catapulting him to the 450SMX championship lead. While it was all about Haiden Deegan once again as he swept both 250SMX races for the second weekend in a row. Both riders were available to the media after the races for this Debrief feature.

450SMX

Image: Octopi Media.

Were you surprised to get that win or has this been coming for a long time?

It was a good day – I don’t think I surprised myself – I’ve been knocking on the door long enough now all throughout the summer. It was just a good day. The track was funnily enough – honestly, it was just a good training day for these conditions. We’ve not ridden something like this since Europe, so it’s cool to ride something a little bit different – obviously, in hindsight it’s cool – in the moment you’re probably not like ‘Oh man this is so sick’.

The expectations for yourself must be so high where you’ve probably had one of the best rookie seasons in recent years – is there a bit of relief expecting to get a win in your first year?

Not really. If Jett didn’t have the year he had last year, then it would be a pretty good rookie year, but I don’t really get into that stuff or worry about it because I know what during the week was like for the guy that went a perfect season last year – I was right there. It’s the same as me during the week this year not going a perfect season. The work never stops – I think I can really relax and look back on it probably after [MXoN] when the year is really said and done, but there’s no rest for the wicked.

You needed to win, but the double points helped you to take the points lead…

It’s funny, the red plate in this SuperMotocross series doesn’t really – I don’t think – mean as much as the supercross or motocross series because you have the double and the triple points – it’s winner-takes-all next weekend. Whereas with outdoors, you could have a nine-point lead and finish behind the guy and still win. It’s Vegas – it’s what this series is created to do.

When you came off the track, it was kind of a funny moment where it looked like said ‘Did I win?’ Were you unsure you had the overall?

Normally with outdoors, I knew I would have the overall, but I wasn’t sure with the points system because it’s olympic scoring. I didn’t want to do a big song and dance celebration and find out I didn’t actually win – then you look like a bit of a clown. I just kind of contained it, got back and made sure of it.

250SMX

Image: Octopi Media.

Haiden, 1-1 last week and 1-1 here today. What is your plan going into Vegas for the final round?

Just keep being consistent, I think today was the most consistent day that I’ve had all season. Everyone is riding pretty good, so the goal is to execute my starts again and see how it plays out. I mean, anything can happen, it’s a wild race. Especially in Vegas, it’s just like this where the dirt gets super hard-packed. We’ve seen how many mistakes happened today. Anything can happen, but the goal is to keep doing what we’ve been doing.

Leading with a gap like today, you could easily lose focus. What do you do when you’re in a moto like that, out front with no one on you to keep you focused? What are you concentrating on?

I really just put an emphasis on trying to learn how to control the race from the front. With a track like this, if you push the limit, you can hit the ground pretty quickly. So, it’s just finding that point where you don’t let the guy behind you get too close, because when you do get close, it kind of lights a fire under you. That race was a little hard too, because you’re trying to push harder. but you make a little mistake, then Tom [Vialle] was riding really good, so I was trying to find that little fine line where I could control the race and be smart.

How much is the experience that you gained one year ago going for that inaugural SMX championship going to help you heading into Las Vegas this weekend?

Yeah definitely, and it’s cool. The way the points work, it kind of mixes it up. If you win the first moto, it doesn’t mean as much as a national, it’s not 25 points. So, it definitely mixes it up, you have to have a good overall finish. With three rounds, you have to have consistent days, and that’s kind of what I’ve been working on, and that’s what I’ve executed so far.

In the first moto, I believe you went for the scoop tire. Was that something that you and your team talked about, or is that just something you just chose to do for the start?

Yeah, it was definitely a gnarly race on a paddle tire. I knew I had to try and holeshot, like it’s cool racing from the back, but it’s not something that I want to do. So, if I can get a holeshot, I can just manage the race from there. It was gnarly though, I could feel it up every jump just sliding, so I put the normal tire back on and still executed the second start, so we’re staying on the normal tire now.

You’re in the driver’s seat of this championship, are you going to make any changes with your program this week heading into the finale?

No, I’ve got a good program going right now that I’ve been doing in between riding days, so I’ll keep doing my thing, it’s working.