DIRT NEWS

Independence Day celebrations many American fans were hoping for, Honda had the sponsor’ s dream run. It was another 1-2 for the Lawrence brothers in the 450 class and Jo Shimoda did the clean sweep in the 250 battles. As a little perspective, Jett Lawrence has competed at just 22 rounds and has won 21 of them, putting the Australian ace ahead of James Stewart and Jeff Stanton, now in eighth on the all-time winners’ list. Needless to say he would be pretty short odds with any bets to add to that in short order. Back to the racing, the Lawrence duo both had good starts and kept clear of any carnage, with Jett taking the lead from Hunter on lap five and maintaining their positions to the flag in the first race. The second moto didn’ t start as planned, with both getting uncharacteristically poor starts. Jett added to the task by having a small spill early in the race, dropping back as far as 18th as the race headed into the second lap.

12 KIWI RIDER

From there, it was Jett strafing the field as he fought back. Lap 3 saw Hunter climb up from eighth to third and Jett on the charge in eighth. By the end of the lap, Jett passed Hunter and was now third, chasing Jorge Prado. With five laps remaining, Jett took the lead and Hunter was battling for a podium behind him. Jett took the win comfortably in the end with Prado,