Image: Supplied.

16-year-old Australian Jett Lawrence made a strong impression during his Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross debut at Unadilla on Saturday, charging to 13th overall at the 10th round of the series.

The Amsoil Factory Connection Honda prodigy, who’s tipped to turn pro in 2020, put in a spirited performance throughout the opening encounter, overcoming a heavy fall before putting on a charge, navigating from the rear of the field to P21.

The Queenslander returned in fine form for race two, storming to eighth position at the conclusion of the 15-lap outing for 13th overall, placing him as the highest-ranked amateur who made their maiden Pro Motocross appearances at Unadilla.

“It was pretty good, qualifying was probably the hardest part, and the races were fairly hard,” Lawrence explained to Swapmotolive. “It went fairly good – I was 13th in qualifying – it was pretty good – and then in the first moto, I was going well before my footpeg clipped the edge of the single after ‘skyshot’, that flicked me over and I got a winded.

“It took me a while to get going – the bars were really bent, and it’s obviously really hard to ride when the bars are bent. In the second one I had a horrible start because I had 21st gate pick, and yeah, I was able to come through from 18th to eighth.

“It was fairly good the second one, so I’m happy with that. Hopefully I can improve off that at the next round. I didn’t really have any expectations coming in, but I’m happy with this.”

Lawrence is due to return to action this weekend at Budds Creek’s penultimate round, while his older brother Hunter, is also a chance to return from injury.