There are championship battles, and then there are seasons where two blokes simply operate on another level to everyone else. The 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship was the latter, because by the time the circus rolled into Ironman Raceway for the final round, Hunter and Jett Lawrence hadn’t just beaten the rest of America’s best 450 racers – they’d basically made them irrelevant to the title conversation. The brothers had won 20 of the first 20 motos between them, traded the red plate an incredible six times and arrived at the final round separated by a single point.
And yes, Haiden Deegan was there. The 250 superstar stepped into the 450 class with enormous hype, plenty of speed and an even bigger mouth, and spent much of the summer trying to turn the Lawrence brothers’ championship into a three-way grudge match. He was occasionally quick enough to annoy them and certainly good enough to put himself in awkward places, but the championship table eventually told the story far better than any shit-talking ever could: Hunter finished on 474 points, Jett on 472 and Deegan way back on 404.
Jorge Prado was another bloke who, on paper, should have been right in the thick of it. He’s a multiple-time MXGP World Champion and eventually showed everyone at Ironman exactly why he’s one of the world’s best motocross riders, but by then the championship horse had bolted, jumped the fence and was halfway down the bloody road. Prado ended the year fourth on 401 points, meaning both he and Deegan finished more than 70 points behind Hunter.
HUNTER FIRES FIRST
Hunter entered the outdoors needing vengeance after finishing a painfully close second in the 2026 AMA Supercross Championship, and he didn’t muck around once the gate dropped at Fox Raceway. He went 1-1 at Pala, topped every session and immediately put himself at the top of the championship, while Jett was still dealing with the effects of his ankle injury. Hunter described it pretty simply afterwards: “I feel awesome. It was a great day. P1, a perfect day. On top [of the standings] in every session. I’m just fired up.”
Jett, meanwhile, was never going to quietly accept second best. Even compromised physically, he was still Jett Lawrence, and once the series started rolling he quickly reminded everyone why he’d become the benchmark of American motocross. At Thunder Valley he put together two wire-to-wire moto wins, claimed consecutive overall victories and grabbed control of the championship points lead.
That became the pattern. Jett would hit. Hunter would hit back. And every time one brother looked like he might establish control of the championship, the other found another gear.
TWO BLOKES, ANOTHER PLANET
High Point was one of the first weekends where you really started to understand just how close the brothers had become. Hunter produced another exceptional performance and took his second overall victory of the season, tightening the championship fight once again.
The scary part wasn’t simply that the Lawrences kept winning; it was what happened behind them when they got clean starts. At various points through the season they’d disappear together, leaving genuinely world-class racers fighting over the final podium position.
Deegan was trying desperately to break into that party. He had moments where he closed on Jett, grabbed podiums and showed legitimate 450 speed, but even after his second podium of the season he was already 38 points away from the championship lead after only four rounds. For all the noise surrounding him, the numbers were starting to say something different.
That’s what made some of the verbal sparring almost comical. Deegan’s style has always been to get under people’s skin, create drama and make himself the centre of the story, and there was no reason to expect him to suddenly become shy when he moved into the premier class. But you can only shit-talk a stopwatch for so long, and every time the Lawrences rode away at the front, the stopwatch kept giving him the same answer.
NO SECRETS BETWEEN BROTHERS
The fascinating thing was that Hunter and Jett were trying desperately to beat each other while simultaneously helping one another become faster. In almost any other factory team, two riders separated by a handful of championship points would have their side of the truck locked down tighter than Fort Knox.
Hunter explained that they were literally riding each other’s bikes during press day to compare settings. “There’s no secrets, and it’s a level playing field,” he said, explaining that one brother could test a different setup and then the pair could decide which direction worked better.
Jett said virtually the same thing, but crucially added: “I do really want it badly. I want to win – that’s what I like doing and that’s why I like racing.”
THE RED PLATE BECOMES A BOOMERANG
By RedBud, Hunter was back on top. His 2-1 score delivered a second consecutive overall victory and his third win of the season, moving him three points ahead of Jett.
Then came Spring Creek, and if you want one round that summed up the Lawrence brothers’ season, this was probably it. Hunter holeshot the opening moto and disappeared, with Jett second and third place another 29 seconds behind. Think about that for a second – nearly half a minute between the two Australians and the next-best 450 rider in America.
Moto 2 became even better. Hunter again started up front, Jett came after him and the pair pulled clear before Jett found his way past his older brother and took the lead. Then Jett crashed, somehow got his handlebar tangled in his boot and dropped back to fifth, leaving Hunter to capitalise and reclaim the championship lead with a perfect 1-1.
HUNTER KEEPS COMING
Washougal continued the madness. Jett won the opening moto with Hunter second, but in Moto 2 Hunter passed Jett on the opening lap and took control while his younger brother had an off-track excursion, received a one-position penalty and later crashed on the face of a jump. Jett still came charging back and finished just 1.7 seconds behind Hunter.
It was Hunter’s fifth overall victory of the season and another reminder that this version of the older Lawrence wasn’t waiting for Jett to make mistakes. He could flat-out beat him. The remarkable bit was how little separated their outright speed. Hunter perhaps had the edge in consistency and starts at various stages, while Jett still possessed that freakish ability to suddenly find a line nobody else had considered and make two tenths appear from nowhere.
THE TITLE TURNS AGAIN
Then came Unadilla, and suddenly the championship looked like it might finally swing Jett’s way. Hunter crashed on the infamous Wall while battling at the sharp end, turning what had been another knife-edge points fight into a 10-point advantage for Jett with only two rounds remaining.
Yet even Jett wasn’t celebrating the circumstances. His reaction was telling: “I’m bummed [that Hunter crashed]. I don’t want to [take the points lead] like this.” And that set up Budds Creek.
HUNTER’S ANSWER
If Hunter was rattled by Unadilla, he hid it bloody well. Heavy rain had hammered Budds Creek and turned it into a quagmire, but Hunter rode like a bloke on a mission and went 1-1 to claim his sixth overall victory and dragged the red plate straight back onto his side of the Honda truck.
After 10 rounds of some of the most intense racing we’ve seen in years, it came down to this: Hunter Lawrence, one-point championship lead. Jett Lawrence, one point behind. One round remaining.
WINNER TAKES ALL
Ironman Raceway couldn’t have scripted it better. The largest crowd in the event’s 13-year history packed in to watch two Australian brothers decide America’s biggest outdoor motocross championship.
Then Moto 1 exploded. Hunter grabbed the holeshot, Deegan surged alongside and ahead, and then the Yamaha rider crashed directly in front of the championship leader. Hunter had nowhere to go, ploughed into him and the bikes became tangled together, dumping both riders at the back of the field. Jett had suffered a poor start himself and was outside the top 20, meaning within a few corners the carefully constructed winner-take-all showdown had turned into absolute chaos.
There was Deegan, the pest in the Lawrence sandwich one final time. Whether you loved his antics or hated them, he’d certainly managed to inject himself into the title fight. Hunter now had to charge from virtually dead last with his entire season hanging in the balance.
And charge he did. Hunter somehow dragged himself from 39th to eighth, while Jett could manage only 11th as his progress slowed and his troublesome ankle again became a factor.
Four points separated them entering the final moto of the entire championship. Prado grabbed the lead, Hunter sat second and Jett third, before Deegan passed Jett and again planted himself right in the middle of the Lawrence story. Hunter then had a moment, Deegan slipped past him and the brothers eventually found themselves running together in third and fourth.
Hunter attacked Jett for third with less than eight minutes remaining. Jett shut the door. Hunter attacked again, and Jett again fought him off. Read that again if you’ve subsequently watched some bloke on Instagram explain how Jett simply handed his brother a championship.
Hunter eventually realised he didn’t need to make the pass. Fourth place, directly behind Jett, was enough, so he stopped taking unnecessary risks and brought the bike home. Prado won from Deegan, Jett crossed third and Hunter followed in fourth to become the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross 450 Champion by two points.
HERE COME THE CONSPIRACIES
Predictably, parts of social media immediately decided something smelled fishy. The theory was essentially that Jett had somehow helped Hunter win the championship, that the brothers had manipulated the finale, or that Jett wasn’t prepared to take the title away from his older brother. It makes for a juicy Reel, particularly if you ignore almost everything that happened during the preceding 10 rounds.
Because what exactly was Jett supposed to have done? Crash while leading at Spring Creek deliberately? Lose points at Washougal on purpose? Watch Hunter crash at Unadilla, inherit the red plate and then publicly say he was bummed because he didn’t want to gain the championship lead that way? Or, most obviously, fight Hunter off twice when Hunter tried to pass him in the final minutes of the championship-deciding moto?
There’s another obvious problem with the theory: Jett Lawrence likes winning too bloody much. This is a bloke whose career is already measured against records and history, and every championship, overall and moto victory matters to where he ultimately sits among the sport’s greats.
Being happy for your brother isn’t the same thing as letting him win.
HUNTER’S MOMENT
Hunter crossed the line fourth and finally had what he’d chased his entire career: a premier-class AMA championship. “I can’t even [put it into words],” he said afterwards. “I just knew I had to finish behind Jett [in Moto 2]. Most of my work was done in the first moto. It was a tough day for the Lawrences, as you can see, a pretty uncharacteristic day.”
They became the first siblings in the history of the sport to both win premier-class AMA Pro Motocross championships. Hunter became the 29th different premier-class champion.
LAWRENCE BY THE NUMBERS
- 20 of 22 – Motos won by Hunter and Jett combined.
- 6 – Times the brothers exchanged the championship lead, a series record.
- 6 – Overall wins for Hunter across the 11-round championship.
- 1 point – Hunter’s advantage entering the Ironman finale.
- 2 points – Final championship margin: Hunter 474, Jett 472.
- 70 points – Hunter’s final advantage over third-placed Deegan.
- 73 points – Hunter’s final advantage over fourth-placed Prado.
- 29th – Hunter became the 29th different premier-class champion.
- First ever – Hunter and Jett became the first siblings to both win premier-class AMA Pro Motocross championships.
THE FINAL SCORE
- Hunter Lawrence – Honda – 474
2. Jett Lawrence – Honda – 472
3. Haiden Deegan – Yamaha – 404
4. Jorge Prado – KTM – 401
5. RJ Hampshire – Husqvarna – 346
