Following the highly controversial AMA ruling to dock Jett Lawrence a lap for hitting the gate in moto one — dropping him from third place to 17th — the championship leader has now spoken out.
During his podium interview after winning the second moto, Jett admitted he couldn’t recall how he took the lead, saying he “blacked out” from being so angry.
In the Honda press release Jett has questioned the AMA’s “double standards” after he was mind bogglingly docked a lap for hitting the gate that left Jett with a terrible start before working his way back to third.
Lawrence stated: “Ups and downs today. I tried some new things with my stomach because I’ve been struggling to digest food between motos, and I think the tablets I took kept digesting everything so quickly that by halfway, I had no energy—bit of a bummer there. Obviously, there was the incident in the first moto, which in my mind is kind of silly because I feel like AMA has double standards; we’ve got guys cutting the track and they don’t do anything. I guess this is what we have to deal with, but they might need to get better at realizing who they need to penalize. I came back and won the second moto, so we’ll leave with that.”
Team manager Lars Lindstrom said: ““This rollercoaster that we call racing always surprises you with something new, and today was no different. Jett rode unbelievable today, but it was overshadowed by a penalty that we did not agree with at all. The fact that he went from 25th to almost winning the first moto was incredible, and his first two laps of the second moto were absolutely insane. I wish there was an onboard camera on Jett for that; I would love to watch the way he blitzed his way from seventh to third in a half-lap, and then the lead a lap later. Jo continues to make us proud; the consistency that he has found with starts and his riding have been so much fun to watch. The day really belonged to Hunter, though, and everyone on the team and at Honda around the globe is so happy for him to get his first win, after getting so close so many times. He definitely deserved it, and hopefully there will be many more to come.”
With Hunter commenting: “There was a lot of wild stuff that went on today, which worked out in my favor—what happened to Jett in the first moto with being penalized a lap, and then I’m not sure what happened with Chase in the second moto. It was a wild day in that aspect, but I’m happy to be there and able to capitalize on it. It was hot, with no breeze—a really tough, physically demanding day.”
