Image: Octopi Media.

It was a ‘rough day’ for Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence at Southwick, crashing hard in a scary first moto collision and suffering two poor starts on route to seventh overall in 250MX.

The number 96 entered round six holding the red plate following a bittersweet 2-2 scorecard at RedBud, looking to repeat the perfect scorecard achieved in Massachusetts last year.

Lawrence was working his way forward in the first moto before a controversial incident with Stilez Robertson mid-air brought the CRF250R rider down, where he was hit by another rider before remounting and finishing sixth.

The Australian was eighth after the first lap in race two and ultimately crossed the line in that position, leaving him 15 points behind his brother Jett Lawrence at the halfway point of the series.

“Rough day,” Lawrence explained. “It was great last year, running 1-1, but this year we just sucked. It was almost like me and Jett [who went 1-1 this year at Southwick] did a role reversal from last year.

“I’m going to have to go to the dentist this week, after crashing in the first moto—got cross-jumped and then hit by another guy. It is what it is now—I can’t change it. I did everything I could, but it was just a really, really tough day. We’ll bounce back.”