Hunter Lawrence

I agree, but then again, if he continues with the same the whole series he night just do a Webb and win the series.

Clearly he backed off of any close call and Ando he didn't want to get close to. 

Yeah he looked bad, especially in the beginning and mid-part of the race. Fortunately he got 4th, so results-wise it went decent.

Definitely not the Hunter I was expecting to see. First race jitters + the 21 in front of him can’t help. Look forward to seeing him improve. 

Would be interesting to know how bad a big crash like Bam and Mookie really effects certain guys. No way I’d want to line up again after that. 

Yeah and he's actually 3rd in points. Good start compared to last year! 

He’s first in points for non Vets. Pretty solid start to the season 

I kept on hearing from the commentators that Huntah and Anderson had 'problems' with each other.

I'm aware of the friction between Jett and Ando, but missed Huntah / Ando incidents. 

What were / are they - other than say, a Brothers backing of a Brother.

Just curious - I tend to ignore all the Bitch Fighting / Handbags at Dawn crap that floats around.

Hunter plays the long game and has experienced a disastrous first round before, so I’m sure that’s what we were seeing. Once he settled in, he had everyone’s pace except #3 & #94.
If 4th is a bad day, he’s looking good imo.

You don’t remember Salt Lake City where Ando took out Hunter for 4th, then Hunter retaliated a lap down? There’s been a few incidents but I think that’s the most recent.

Nah CPR - I didn't recall that.

I'm Old, and have had a few too many Hits to my Bear Brain, so, I miss / forget some things. 🤪

But, there's So Much Lunacy in SX, it's hard to keep up with it all!

Think about how many 'scenarios' just came out of A1 ..........🙄

To my son and I, his bike looked bouncy in the 1st half of the race, then he and the bike smoothed out the 2nd half. Anyone else have the same pov?

Ha all good Bear, I’ve the memory of a goldfish myself; I had to look up what round it was, but I remember the incident because I’m a fan of Hunter; that dude’s solid in everything he does and I like to cheer for the underdog.

Cautious was good giving he was not on the same pace as the top 3.

He is smart enough to know when to push or be conservative and a 4th is flipping great for a Championship campaign. 

It's a long season.

Looked like his set up wasnt the best until the track broke down where it worked in his favour thats for sure, but shit if he passed ando earlier, what could've been right?

Its points on the board thats for sure, pays to be consistent 

I agree, if he saw the Mookie / Barcia crash first hand, that could play in people's heads, especially that night. I know their professionals, but it's not always so easy to just forget.

Dungey always said Kenny's crash messed with him, and he couldn't push as much in 2017.

I think it was mostly not wanting to pass Anderson and leave a window for him to get him back immediately. He needed to pass him and gap him pretty quickly by the next turn. 

Looked like he tried setting that up a few times and made mistakes trying to override the track. Anderson was slower but not by enough that Hunter could pass him without leaving himself open. 

The track was very dry and needed finesse, it didnt cut up bad or get rutty at all , so 'old school riders' like Roczen, Tomac , and Anderson all shone because they have a better Technique in lowwer grip situations. 

Anstie was the same. 

Interesting to note that all of those guys rode WSX which was very dry and dusty, compared to a normal SX, and A1 was bone dry compared to how it normally is, which may have been due to the threat of weather. 

Hunter probably didnt want to get into it with Anderson (wise move) and was fully expecting Prado to come back to them as the race wore on which he didnt really til close to the end. 

He held Webb off well, as Webb's usual main event MO of switching up the lines had less of a gain due to the track being less dug out. 

They wont be fretting over that . 

He looked great, a very Hunter style ride. Very smooth and quick but nothing crazy.

he needed a scoop tire 😉

It's all just hype. Ando is not going to race him any harder than anyone else. Hunta looked like he had traction problems a couple times where he was checked up close. Coming out of the over under his rear wheel really looked slippery. I think he had drive problems exiting the turns.

He was pretty solid IMO. One thing I do agree with, and it's a point that Adam Cianciarulo made, is that Hunter probably needs to push that edge a little bit more than he currently does if he wants to win in this class (as in win titles, not some individual races). If he stays in his comfort zone, he can still have a really good season, land on the box several times, and finish 3rd-5th in the title. But I don't see him beating out Tomac, Sexton, Webb, and Roczen over 17 rounds without him hanging it out a bit more.

This was just A1 though - nothing wrong with laying low.

Hunter looked good... looked like he was riding by the "you can't win the title at A1, but you can sure lose it" rule... To me, Hunter looks like he's playing the championship game... Keep it in the top 5, wait for guys to drop out, then make a push after Daytona... 

My thoughts exactly.  Get out of A1 in one piece, with a solid result

He seemed like he figured something out late in the race.

Just got done listening to the VitalMX post race show and had a little chuckle after listening to Lewis talking about Hunters ride was not as good as he was expecting and was not that impressive and then on the next breath spoke of how Sexton’s race was not as bad as everyone is saying and there are plenty of positives to take away from his weekend, LOL what do you expect from Sexton’s biggest Fanboy I guess.

I don't know if it was first race jitters, being behind Anderson for so long, or a combination of both, but you're right, as the race went on, he looked a lot more comfortable.

Hunter looked like shit boys, heat race and main. Timid and hesitant as anything. Could see it clear as day. Lost a good amount of time in the heat (likely settled knowing his position was set and nothing on the line). Urgency in the first few corners to gain track position (heat and main) but beyond that, he was floundering behind Anderson most of the race. 

As others have mentioned, didn't wanna poke the bear and I reckon his set up was off also - lots of clipping jumps, spinning out of corners and a general look of discomfort/hesitancy. 

I think he played the long game in the main and stepped up when it was go-time at the end, clearing Ando and chasing Prado. Potentially too little, too late regarding a podium run. 

Hunter will be the first to tell you that 2 second gap or 30 second gap, the points are handed out the same. And can't argue, 4th on the night is a great result on paper. That said, he still looked very conservative. Maybe that's a good thing? 

Edit to add context: I'm a massive Hunter fan. I am very confident that he will do extremely well this year. We saw his St Louis SMX performance and this is what I'm referring to when I state that he looked timid and hesitant at A1 in comparison. Yes I know its the first round. To add to my point, to finish 4th riding the way he did gives me great confidence for the season ahead once he settles in.  

Heck it's just round 1 folks ! 

He didn't look great all day. Even in practice. But sits 3rd in points. He probably felt like he rode like shit and is stoked sitting 3rd in points. Hopefully he can figure out some things and get better from here