The penultimate race of the 2025 Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, visited the hallowed grounds of Central New York’s iconic Unadilla MX as the oldest venue in American motocross hosted race 10 of the summer campaign and Round 27 of the SMX World Championship regular season. The ELF Lubricants Unadilla National Presented by Clinton Contractor, Anderson Equipment Company, and New York LECET began under cloudy skies, but gave way to abundant sunshine with temperatures in the mid-80s as Honda HRC Progressive’s Jett Lawrence, one week removed from his 22nd birthday, clinched his second 450 Class title and once again hoisted the Edison Dye Cup after a dominant 1-1 performance. In the 250 Class, Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda kept his championship hopes alive with an impressively dominant 1-1 performance of his own, which prevented the championship coronation for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan and gave Honda HRC Progressive a clean sweep of the afternoon with a pair of moto sweeps and overall victories.
Moto 1
The first premier class moto of the day began with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jorge Prado, the reigning two-time MXGP World Champion, leading the field to the Pro Motocross Holeshot, only to be passed by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s RJ Hampshire and Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence. Behind this group, a trio of 450 Class champions duked it out with Jett Lawrence, Progressive ECSTAR Suzuki’s Ken Roczen, and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac. All three then made their way around Prado.
A torrid opening five minutes saw Hampshire manage about a 1.5 second lead over the Lawrence brothers, with Jett pressuring Hunter for second. A savvy move by the points leader saw him take over second and push around Hampshire for the lead on the same lap. A few laps later, a mistake by Lawrence took him off track and allowed Hampshire to briefly reclaim the top spot, but Lawrence regrouped to regain control of the moto. Hampshire then went down, which allowed Hunter Lawrence to move up to second and Tomac up to third as Hampshire remounted in fourth.
Jett Lawrence stretched his lead over the closing stages of the moto and went on to take his 14th moto win of the season by 7.7 seconds over Hunter Lawrence, with Tomac a distant third. Hampshire held on for fourth, while Roczen finished fifth in his first moto of the 2025 season.
Moto 2
The final moto of the afternoon started with Hunter Lawrence narrowly edging out Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper for the Pro Motocross Holeshot, but it was Jett Lawrence who caught everyone by surprise with an outside line that allowed him to go from fourth to first and seize control of the moto right away. Hunter Lawrence didn’t let up and went on the attack, getting alongside his younger brother a couple times. Hunter’s pressure persisted for another lap but Jett never wavered and was able to begin inching away. Cooper followed from third.
The Lawrences settled into the top two positions through the midway point of the moto while Tomac, who was running fifth, began a climb forward. The Yamaha rider made his way around Hampshire for fourth and then tracked down his teammate Cooper for third, as Tomac successfully made his way into the top three. However, he faced a considerable gap to the Lawrences with just over 10 minutes to go.
Back up front, Jett Lawrence managed a comfortable lead all the way to the finish to capture his 43rd career moto win and complete the sweep by 9.3 seconds over Hunter Lawrence. Tomac finished in third.
Overall
Jett Lawrence ended the longest winless streak of his career, two races, with an emphatic 1-1 performance for his 23rd career victory, 17 of which have come via moto sweeps. His championship triumph comes a little more than six months removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered at the Glendale Supercross in February. Hunter Lawrence captured his fifth runner-up finish of the season (2-2), while Tomac earned the 79th podium result of his career (3-3).
While Jett Lawrence’s 53-point lead is insurmountable, Hunter Lawrence’s 45-point margin over third place, Tomac, in the standings has the elder Lawrence poised to complete the first 1-2 championship finish for siblings in series history.
450 Class Overall Results (Moto Finish // Points)
- Jett Lawrence, Landsborough, Queensland, Australia, Honda (1-1 // 50)
- Hunter Lawrence, Landsborough, Queensland, Australia, Honda (2-2 // 44)
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Yamaha (3-3 // 40)
- RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Husqvarna (4-5 // 35)
- Justin Cooper, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Yamaha (6-4 // 34)
- Dylan Ferrandis, Avignon, France, Honda (7-6 // 31)
- Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Husqvarna (10-7 // 27)
- Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., GASGAS (9-8 // 27)
- Kyle Webster, Korumburra, Victoria, Australia (8-9 // 27)
- Valentin Guillod, Môtier, Switzerland, Yamaha (11-10 // 23)