Round 1 of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship in Pala, California, Round 18 of SuperMotocross, began with several unanswered questions, perhaps the most significant being how Jett Lawrence would fare in his return from a serious ankle injury suffered in a pre-season training crash.
“The biggest thing for me is, I’m glad I may look like I’m myself, but I don’t feel like it,” Lawrence said in the post-race news conference at Fox Raceway.
Lawrence faced similar questions last year after missing most of the Monster Energy Supercross season due to another injury, but an ACL tear is much easier to repair than his current injury. The type of injury Lawrence suffered during the winter is considered career-ending for most riders.
In last year’s Pr Motocross opener, Lawrence swept the motos for the overall victory. He went on to win the 2025 Pro Motocross and SuperMotocross championships with ease.
“Little things that you almost take for granted, just to be a little more efficient,” Lawrence continued. “I’m pretty lopsided. Every jump I’m landing, I’m landing with all my weight on my left and then coming out of some of the turns where they have those edgy bumps where you want to get up on both feet and kind of grip? I can’t really do that because when I hop up and then hit those edges, it kills the heck out of my foot: that quick, jarring impact.
“Those things, [I’m] just trying to figure out. So I’m pretty inefficient [on that] side of things with body-wise, like my left leg is tight, then my right arm’s tight because I’m holding on harder with my right arm to make up for my right leg. ... We’re just going to keep on learning, trying to figure out during the week in between the motos, what works, what makes it feel better to hopefully give myself a better chance on race day.”
After finishing third overall with results of fourth in Moto 1 and third in Moto 2, Lawrence limped noticeably onto the podium to receive his trophy. Even riding with a significant injury, Lawrence stood on the podium to keep that perfect Pala streak alive.
On the other hand, this was the first time he failed to win an overall in either the 450 or 250 class. Family pride was upheld by his brother, Hunter Lawrence, who swept the motos and qualification.
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Challenges
“Everyone’s really good,” Lawrence said of the motocross competition. “It’s pretty hard to beat people when they’re a hundred percent or feel pretty good, and you are feeling like a $2 t-shirt. So, we’re going to try and get better for next weekend and just keep on trying to figure this ankle out and get it better.”
This season will likely go down as one of the most challenging for Lawrence, who has amassed six titles since advancing to the 450 class in 2023. He won every Pro Motocross round that season and nearly every moto.
In 2026, he faces a surging Hunter Lawrence, who entered the Supercross season finale as the only rider capable of beating eventual champion Ken Roczen.
Jett must also keep his head on a swivel to make certain that the ingenue, Haiden Deegan, does not attempt to make his mark on the series at Jett’s expense. Lawrence and Deegan swapped positions in both Pala motos last week, with Jett prevailing by one position in each race.
But Lawrence knows where he needs to improve.
Racing on a new version of the Factory Honda 450, he needs to make a few tweaks to the setup and suspension to create more comfort during the race: Minor things such as a too-tight throttle cable that contributed to arm pump (the literal swelling of the forearm, resulting in pain and loss of strength) in Moto 1. Lawrence fixed that before Moto 2.
Lawrence identified his biggest need as improving his starts.
Lawrence was outside the top 15 at the holeshot line in Moto 1 before improving to 11th at the end of the first lap. It took another nine trips around the track (of 15) to crack the top five.
Lawrence was eighth at the conclusion of Lap 1 in Moto 2 before sliding into a podium position on Lap 5.
When asked by NBC Sports where that improvement would come from, Lawrence responded: “I think the gate drops. It’ll get better over time, hopefully. And just getting some more practice. It’s been a while since being on a race bike. I’ve been riding the same track on the same mesh, same bike, for weeks at the Dog Pound (the Lawrence’s test facility in Florida), so you get used to that feeling and, obviously, to getting a fresh bike. Even yesterday, I felt terrible on the bike because it’s just a fresh bike. So, it’s just learning those things again. We’ll figure them out.”
