“I love it when I can get creative”

Good-looking, 22, paid almost £4m per year as a base salary by Honda Racing until 2029, vanquisher of all three AMA SuperMotocross crowns so far (31 weekends of supercross, motocross and three play-offs with a £750,000 payout) and a darling of Red Bull and Alpinestars – Jett Lawrence seemingly has it all.

Beyond 10 AMA titles in all 250cc and 450cc classes (including a perfect motocross season of 22 consecutive wins in 2023), the Rolls-Royces, the Met Gala invites, the Formula 1 driver buddies and fashion-brand shoots, Lawrence rides a dirt bike unlike anyone else. This is already quite a claim in a sport that has fostered champions like Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto, racers that have transcended what is mainly a North American pursuit in the case of Supercross that almost fills NFL and MLB stadia across the US.

Lawrence, the younger brother to fellow AMA champion Hunter (in a parallel reversal of the MotoGP Márquez brothers) is panache on two wheels. Pure technique and racecraft. Apply any necessary cliché but perhaps the best is how he defies the rigours of arguably motorcycle racing’s hardest discipline. It appears easy. “He keeps his balance and makes it look like ballet, so fluid and light,” offers father and ringleader Darren.

“I think a lot of it comes down to his natural ability,” says Honda HRC Progressive team manager Lars Lindstrom, who has overseen Lawrence’s progression since he moved from European championship competition to the US in 2019. “He can do things that others cannot do and it is intuitive. His brain: Jett is able to process things quicker than others when it comes to the speed he is going and the things he can see.”

Lawrence half-grins when asked to dissect his skill set. “It’s so hard to explain because we have so much muscle memory in everything we do nowadays,” he says. “We don’t think about how we ride a dirt bike much. It’s taken years, years and years of training and working on technique with our elbows, hands, fingers on the brake levers and clutch, feet positioning, hips and bike posture. It’s about having that foundation at a young age. You learn more at a slower speed so that when you get to a bigger bike you are more focused on making speed.

“I do love it when I can get creative with my lines and do different things,” he adds.

Lawrence is still adjusting to life while carrying the largest target in his sport. He is not only the reference for rivals but fodder for fans that crave new heroes and laud the underdog. What he says, does and how he behaves come under scrutiny and will receive quick judgements, whether its spats with riders like Jason Anderson, messy management situations with his Wasserman representation, how he spends some of his vast winnings, or forthcoming duels with controversial American hopes like Haiden Deegan.

“We’ve done quite a lot…which means people are now focusing on the moments when we do lose and they make a big deal out of it,” he says. “I will lose races! I can’t win them all.”

For the time being, though, he is doing exactly that.