Hunter Lawrence opened the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship in the most emphatic fashion possible, sweeping both 450 motos for a perfect 1-1 scorecard at the Fox Raceway National in Southern California — but the day will be remembered just as much for a frightening first-lap crash that ended Eli Tomac's afternoon.
The opener had been billed as a clash of generations: the return of defending champion Jett Lawrence from injury, the much-hyped 450 debut of two-time 250 champion Hayden Deegan, and a deep field of contenders all eager to land an early statement. Instead it was Hunter Lawrence, fastest in both qualifying sessions, who quietly went about dismantling them.
In the opening 450 moto Hunter Lawrence controlled proceedings up front while his younger brother Jett, racing his way back to fitness, scrapped through the pack with Deegan. The rookie made an early pass on Jett only for the defending champion to immediately fire back to the delight of the crowd, the contrast in styles — Deegan's aggression against Jett's patience — on full display. Hunter, the broadcast noted, simply focused on process and let the result unfold, taking the win from Jorge Prado and Justin Cooper.
The mood darkened on the first lap of moto one when Tomac was collected in a collision with Garrett Marchbanks and was slow to get up, in an incident eerily similar to the crashes that ended his Supercross campaign. The four-time champion was eventually confirmed to be "awake and alert" and was transported for further evaluation — a sobering moment on an otherwise celebratory afternoon.
Moto two told the same story at the front. Prado tried to pressure Hunter early, going outside-to-inside through the opening corners, but Lawrence covered every move and pulled away to an even larger margin, cruising home to seal the overall. Jett Lawrence took second overall with a battling 2-2, while Deegan's debut yielded a creditable but not headline-grabbing fifth overall after late passes by Cooper bumped him down the order.
The 250 class produced its own breakthrough. Seth Hammaker, who had never previously won a Pro Motocross moto in his career, claimed his maiden overall victory for Kawasaki — and did so as the only non-Yamaha rider to win a national this season across both disciplines. After running second to teammate Levi Kitchen in moto one, Hammaker won moto two ahead of Julien Beaumer, who delivered a remarkable runner-up finish barely eight months on from a back injury so severe one doctor had told him not to think about riding for twelve months.
Kitchen's day, by contrast, mirrored the frustration of his 2025 season: a dominant moto-one win undone by crashes in moto two that left him scrambling outside the top 20. Cole Davies and Kaden Dudney completed an overall podium that featured three first-time top-three finishers.
For Hunter Lawrence, long cast as the analytical, unemotional sibling, the perfect start carried an extra edge after the heartbreak of his near-miss in the Supercross title fight. "Nobody's raced this version of Hunter Lawrence," the broadcast suggested — and on the evidence of Fox Raceway, the rest of the 450 field has a long summer ahead.
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