Hunter and Forkner

wreckitrandy
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Hunter was making a big push towards Chase on the last lap and Forkner derailed it. I'm not a fan boy, but I appreciate that he didn't bring it up in the interviews. He's been patient, and consistent. Very sharp cat. On and off the bike. 

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1/25/2026 2:41pm

Harrison held him up as well. Really was expecting him to give Chase some trouble those last few laps but he’s going to feel pretty good once he watches some tape and looks at lap times. That back and forth with Tomac was so awesome to watch. The race craft in the top five is on another level this year. 

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CPR
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1/25/2026 5:32pm Edited Date/Time 1/25/2026 5:32pm

Yeah it was Harrison who hindered Hunter’s push towards Sexton first, then a second push seemed to be halted by Forkner. We may have been in for a close finish, but getting by lappers efficiently is part of the race. 
However in real time, it did look like Hunter got stuffed more than once. Would be interesting to see some footage.

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vdrsnk04
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1/25/2026 5:34pm

I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through those same guys, then Hunter got stuck in them also and the gap remained. RC and Weege talked about it while it happened.

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CPR
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1/25/2026 5:50pm Edited Date/Time 1/25/2026 5:52pm
vdrsnk04 wrote:
I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through...

I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through those same guys, then Hunter got stuck in them also and the gap remained. RC and Weege talked about it while it happened.

I considered that too, but was watching the gap for a lot of laps and it seemed Hunter was slowly taking time out of Sexton for longer than just getting past those two guys? 
Of course Chase may have just been easing up towards the end of the race too.

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The Shop

wreckitrandy
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1/25/2026 5:56pm

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

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yak651
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1/25/2026 6:16pm

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

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vdrsnk04
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1/25/2026 6:49pm
vdrsnk04 wrote:
I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through...

I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through those same guys, then Hunter got stuck in them also and the gap remained. RC and Weege talked about it while it happened.

CPR wrote:
I considered that too, but was watching the gap for a lot of laps and it seemed Hunter was slowly taking time out of Sexton for...

I considered that too, but was watching the gap for a lot of laps and it seemed Hunter was slowly taking time out of Sexton for longer than just getting past those two guys? 
Of course Chase may have just been easing up towards the end of the race too.

I’d agree with you, especially on the last lap he wasn’t even hitting all the rhythms. 

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Press516
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1/25/2026 7:26pm
vdrsnk04 wrote:
I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through...

I don’t think it kept a battle from happening. If you watch timing, the only time Hunter made up time was when Sexton was working through those same guys, then Hunter got stuck in them also and the gap remained. RC and Weege talked about it while it happened.

CPR wrote:
I considered that too, but was watching the gap for a lot of laps and it seemed Hunter was slowly taking time out of Sexton for...

I considered that too, but was watching the gap for a lot of laps and it seemed Hunter was slowly taking time out of Sexton for longer than just getting past those two guys? 
Of course Chase may have just been easing up towards the end of the race too.

vdrsnk04 wrote:

I’d agree with you, especially on the last lap he wasn’t even hitting all the rhythms. 

100%.  Chase didn’t skim the whoops and barely did any of the big rhythms on that last lap…. Completely cruised in.

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miikex2
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1/25/2026 7:29pm

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

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Shred
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1/25/2026 7:41pm

I’m liking Hunter more and more…..BUT…..If you look at lap times, both Eli last week, and Chase this week were managing leads.  Especially Chase who was aware where Hunter was.  Hunter was not going to get on his fender even if he got right around the lappers.  Chase just would have turned it up a little and not cruised it in, and pointed at the crowd, had Hunter started to get close.  How about Hunter gets a lead and then gaps Eli and Chase even more at the end.  Then it will prove he is faster at the end.  Until then it is a perceived possible strength that really hasn’t been tested imo.  And no ….a second was not as good as a first….a first will be as good as a first when he gets it.  Probably soon.

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1/25/2026 7:50pm

Gotta say…people didn’t have Hunter on their roster for championship contenders but here we are 4-2-2 and only 8 points down…also has some staggering statistics for % of finishes inside the top 5.  If he stays healthy he’s my pick for the title.  

I’d love to see Eli win and he is on right now but he tends to have one or two bad starts where he can’t get things to go his way every Supercross season and I imagine it’ll happen this year at least a time or two.

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JDub067
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1/25/2026 7:55pm

Definitely got held up. As a Hunter fan, I’m stoked he’s pissed coming 2nd- he’s made the same steps indoors as he did the last few seasons outdoors 

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Nutellalord
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1/25/2026 8:05pm

Yea he really got into Chase's way in one of the corners, I think second to last corner.

 

Spike33
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1/25/2026 8:14pm

Hunter is Friese with just a little more pace. He’s a notorious road block and races to keep people behind him. 

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1/25/2026 8:16pm
Spike33 wrote:

Hunter is Friese with just a little more pace. He’s a notorious road block and races to keep people behind him. 

This is an insane statement a week after he admitted he could’ve run it in on Eli and chose not to.  Name one person Hunter has taken out or cross jumped.

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Fresh
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1/25/2026 8:50pm
Spike33 wrote:

Hunter is Friese with just a little more pace. He’s a notorious road block and races to keep people behind him. 

Anderson is a roadblock. Prado is a roadblock. Hunter is not. 

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bens 152
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1/25/2026 9:21pm

Hunter makes great passes when he gets guys. His race iq is pretty damn high imo. Always patient, sometimes too patient. Love to see it when he is feeling it, 2 weeks in a row I thought he was going to fade to 5-7th. 
 

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1/25/2026 10:25pm

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

miikex2 wrote:

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

I think it’s a tactic for dealing with Jorge. Jorge has come over on him off the gate really hard a couple of times this season and Hunter hit back this week. I don’t think that will be the last time we see it. 

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captmoto
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1/25/2026 11:25pm

I don't think Hunter was going to catch Sexton but we didn't get to see the pursuit. 

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skypig
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1/25/2026 11:55pm
Spike33 wrote:

Hunter is Friese with just a little more pace. He’s a notorious road block and races to keep people behind him. 

Er, “Racing to keep everyone behind you is the basic idea, of racing. IE finish first”

If you mean blocking faster riders: you must have watched a different race to me. The last one I watched: Tomac passed Hunter. Hunter then passed him back and gapped him.

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wreckitrandy
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1/26/2026 12:16am
yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

miikex2 wrote:

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

Pollock580 wrote:
I think it’s a tactic for dealing with Jorge. Jorge has come over on him off the gate really hard a couple of times this season...

I think it’s a tactic for dealing with Jorge. Jorge has come over on him off the gate really hard a couple of times this season and Hunter hit back this week. I don’t think that will be the last time we see it. 

I've missed the Prado diagonal starts. Of course, I'm old and my eyes are bad.

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1/26/2026 1:57am

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

miikex2 wrote:

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

Prado is not in the position to mention riders cutting over on him. He is the king of crossing other riders. Fucker swerves harder than the Yamato

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vdrsnk04
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1/26/2026 4:33am
Spike33 wrote:

Hunter is Friese with just a little more pace. He’s a notorious road block and races to keep people behind him. 

This is an insane statement a week after he admitted he could’ve run it in on Eli and chose not to.  Name one person Hunter has...

This is an insane statement a week after he admitted he could’ve run it in on Eli and chose not to.  Name one person Hunter has taken out or cross jumped.

Agree, he is a good clean rider. He has only had one memorable takeout and that was in MX in his 250 days, and it still wasn’t bad, especially since he never does it.

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vdrsnk04
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1/26/2026 5:39am Edited Date/Time 1/26/2026 6:53am

To add some context to this thread with data. Hunter’s fastest lap of the main event was Lap 6 at a 1.01.059 while in 3rd place. In contrast, Sexton’s fastest lap was Lap 6 as well but with a 1.00.307 while in 2nd place behind Anderson. In Hunter’s best lap he was almost a full second slower than Sexton. Unless Sexton tucked the front again, Hunter was never catching him, and lappers made no difference, Sexton was managing the gap to the finish going through the same lappers first. 

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9bro9
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1/26/2026 7:44am
yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

miikex2 wrote:

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

Prado is not in the position to mention riders cutting over on him. He is the king of crossing other riders. Fucker swerves harder than the...

Prado is not in the position to mention riders cutting over on him. He is the king of crossing other riders. Fucker swerves harder than the Yamato

Webb mentioned it in his interview on the live broadcast "With Prado on the start & Hunta that was an unfortunate thing that I guess we have to deal with when we're next to Prado " 

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JoeyNovice
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1/26/2026 10:23am
vdrsnk04 wrote:
To add some context to this thread with data. Hunter’s fastest lap of the main event was Lap 6 at a 1.01.059 while in 3rd place...

To add some context to this thread with data. Hunter’s fastest lap of the main event was Lap 6 at a 1.01.059 while in 3rd place. In contrast, Sexton’s fastest lap was Lap 6 as well but with a 1.00.307 while in 2nd place behind Anderson. In Hunter’s best lap he was almost a full second slower than Sexton. Unless Sexton tucked the front again, Hunter was never catching him, and lappers made no difference, Sexton was managing the gap to the finish going through the same lappers first. 

They were closer in speed if you look at their averages over the whole race. Excluding the final lap when both riders coasted in, their average lap times were: Chase Sexton (1:01.844) and Hunter Lawrence (1:01.930). They were both very consistent but you could be right that Sexton had a little more in the tank if he had to push, depending on late race track conditions of course.

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Gworm
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1/26/2026 11:44am
Kyzer138 wrote:
IMG 8517 0

That’s how it’s done. 

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decano51
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1/26/2026 4:38pm

All that said, Hunta did cut across the start pretty hard! Total Fro move!

yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

i believe it was a retaliation to Prado in previous weeks.
a few riders have commented recently on Prado's aggressive start technique, I think hunter was just more prepared for it this time around.

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1/26/2026 7:00pm
yak651 wrote:

Yeah surprised we haven’t heard more riders mention this, seemed really obvious 

miikex2 wrote:

Prado and Webb have mentioned it in multiple interviews that I’ve listened to, but they were also most impacted by it too 

Prado is not in the position to mention riders cutting over on him. He is the king of crossing other riders. Fucker swerves harder than the...

Prado is not in the position to mention riders cutting over on him. He is the king of crossing other riders. Fucker swerves harder than the Yamato

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