JETT LAWRENCE - GRIT 232 450SMX

JETT LAWRENCE | GRIT-232 | 450 SMX

Though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, Jett Lawrence would remain resilient as he walked into the competitive grounds of Charlotte on Saturday; returning to the racetrack after a perfect season had just been conducted on his behalf. Many were curious to see how Jett would react to an improvised Supercross track, but for qualification the number eighteen flourished amongst time(d) trials...which led to an abundance of anticipation from the crowd as the gate(s) dropped for the first moto. His start was rather mediocre (for his standards, that is) and he would quickly find himself in unrecognized territory after losing a position to Ken Roczen; and then being passed in the corner before the "SX" triple by Kawasaki's Jason Anderson! Unfortunately that was just the beginning of Lawrence's miscues, where he then tipped over in the off-cambered corner just moments later; losing numerous positions where he resided as far back as eighth. However he would do his best to claw back amongst this stellar 450cc field and after fighting past Adam Cianciarulo and Ty Masterpool, would zero-in on Cooper Webb in the final stages of the competition; where he passed the Yamaha rider with one lap to go! Though frustrated upon exiting the raceway, the seventh-place he garnered would be a place he could work from in the moto thereafter. The roar of the 450cc pack was a two-piece ensemble that converged onto the start straightaway once more in the latter afternoon hours...and Lawrence could be found in eighth at the completion of lap one. Pulling tear-off's while racing with remarkable intensity, his pattern of quadrupling through the longest rhythm section as spectacular and an exclamation on his will to win. He would move past Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia, and Dylan Ferrandis with slick maneuvering in corners (such as after the "SX" triple) where he crowded-out his opponents to the outer boundaries of the raceway while moving forward...which led him to the radius of Ty Masterpool on lap five. Passing the Texan with fluidity, it was then another narrative of he and Jason Anderson coming together once more - though he was able to pass the New Mexico native rather cleanly before eyeing Ken Roczen. The pass on the Suzuki rider would come with a clean maneuver through the hip-double, via an inside seat-bounce on the fourteenth lap. But by that time, Chase Sexton had sprinted away and left the Australian in second rather definitively. Though understandably aggravated, Lawrence would know that the second place score in the latter moto to accompany the fourth-place overall, certainly left him in the championship hunt in the weeks to come.

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