Hunter 2024

I’m a massive Hunter fan, being a sunny coast local and watching him at Coolum as a young fella. It’s amazing he’s been able to get to the level he’s at and show year on year improvement. That said, I don’t have these super high expectations. The 450 class is no joke and what I haven’t really heard being talked about is not just adjusting to the speed and depth but the deterioration of the track. 
 

I think a great year for Hunter is showing consistency in his improvement through the season. Some strong results here and there but staying healthy and steadily climbing through the field to be fighting for podiums and maybe wins by the end. Both He and Jett have been outstanding at learning and growing in such short timeframes it would be great to see that continue to happen and no doubt he will high up. 
 

I don’t see someone like Eli (especially) or Coop having the “mixups” or inconsistency to easily allow Hunter to grab the red plate, even Jett himself has been more consistent than Hunter. 

Anywhere near the front will NOT be lower pressure.  Eli coming through will be intimidating as hell…. I think he’ll be up and down throughout the season.

I’m going with top fives and podiums for hunter… I can actually see him out performing Jett throughout the year on occasion. 

edit: for those anti hunter folks… did you see him ride at paris, my assumption would be no and he was more than solid, ask Roczen. He won the 250sx and mx title last year while injured most the year. why would anyone think he wouldnt be around top 5 with some podiums… he is more than capable of it. 

Watched some of the of 2024 season prediction/preview shows and most I've watched have him out of the top 5. However,he's certainly capable of being a championship contender. You never know whats gonna happen...that's why they race.   

If jetts in championship contention.

And Hunter is like 5-8.

What happens with 4 races to go? If hunter is infront of eli or chase. Does he punt them? Block them, fuck with them as much as possible?

Right!? Can you imagine what it would sound like if Eli was closing in? 

Watching him race Roczen in Paris, he's gonna do better than what people think this season. 

Agreed 

He could be the dark horse as others have said in other threads.

Historically he has always started off strong in the first half of the season, then about two thirds into a series it's sometimes almost like he forgets how to ride for a couple of races then switches back on.

Counting on one hand the days we have to wait to find out

With the healthiest line up in years I think a top 10 is going to be respectable. Attrition will play a huge part in the title chase.

Don’t sleep on Hunter !! 
 

Roczen and Hunter will be the best battles we see all year. i think Sexton, Jett and Eli are the top 3, But Kenny and Hunter i see having same style, same race craft and same speed and on par all year.

6th overall 

If he can cross the finish line first, he will win.

Wise words! Lol

I’m not expecting a red plate, but I am expecting there to be a lot of butt hurt excuses in race day threads when Hunter does well.

You must missed Hunters crash at whoops that race? He was lucky not hurt himself and that is what we will see if he tries to ride Tomac speed straight away. 

17 race season,  tracks are 20 minutes with 450s not 15 with 250s. Unless he is practicing with 20 other guys on the track this is entirely new to him, laps 15-20 the tracks break down huge.

5-8 guy with maybe a podium sprinkled in. Love me some Hunter and he looked the part in Paris with little time on the bike. He will be up in the fight.

Someone may have mentioned it earlier, but that big number 3 and the ever loud intake of that Yamaha is intimidating. Excited for the year 

I think if Hunter and Jett are smart,  they should use A1 as a race to gauge where they are in terms of set up and speed, but if the win presents itself, go for it but not at the expense of wadding it up, hurting themselves and taking themselves out of the championship.  Got to be in it to Win! it, Nobody knows that better than Eli Tomac, that's gotta be a stinger, by virtually having the AMA SX championship in the bag and then getting hurt and losing it at the end of the season. 

Wow. Deep. 

No different then anyone else closing in

I don’t know about that. ET rides so hard on the throttle and the Yamaha air box makes a different sound, I think it’d be pretty easy to hear the difference. JMO..

You are correct, all riders comment on how loud the Yamahas are behind them.  Is it different for Eli? I don't know, I would be more worried about Bam Bam in the end haha

A good rookie SX season for Hunter is staying healthy and racing 17 rounds, probably landing a lot of spots 6-10 with a couple of top-5s along the way. Anything above that is gravy IMO. He graduated from a pretty weak 250 SX class and still needs some SX seasoning. I can see him top-5 in Pro MX consistently.

Tixier was down at the end of the whoops that more than likely added to the crash … incase you missed that! 

I don’t know why everyone thinks that top 5s and some podiums are such a crazy thought for Hunter, why the hate? That’s a solid first 450SX series with a solid goal for him. 

This is the insightful content I look for on Vital. Well done. 

Butt hurt for what