Image: Octopi Media.

Better starts in round eight of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship helped propel Jett Lawrence to his second overall win of the season, closing the gap in the championship standings to just four points.

After a run of rough starts hindered him as he makes a bid for the 2021 250MX championship, Lawrence got the ball rolling early in both motos at Unadilla, eventually going 2-1 for the overall win.

Following the race, Lawrence admitted that there wasn’t much thought that went into the improvement, it was more so just having the confidence to get up front off the line after ‘overthinking it’ in the last few rounds.

“I think it was just not believing in myself just knowing what you need to do and like kind of vision it,” Lawrence explained. “I think that really helped because the last few rounds I’ve been overthinking it so much and I keep screwing myself because I wanted to get such a good start. I think I just relaxed more and envisioned what I needed to do and it just kinda paid off.”

Despite the recent struggles, Lawrence has maintained the points gap to red-plate holder Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) fairly well, with his win closing the gap to just four.

While the win was a great way to kick off the last five rounds of the season and helps build momentum, Lawrence says it doesn’t give him an edge or change shift his focus heading into the final eight motos of the year.

“I mean it’s obviously nice,” he continued, “but I think a champion always thinks about the end goal and I just came in feeling pretty good because I really like this track – it’s more of a European track with all of the ruts and that.

“But no, I don’t think this has changed much of my mindset. I’m still gonna try my hardest and make sure I have a run for the championship and even if I don’t win it, I’m gonna try and make [Justin] Cooper’s life like hell on the track, but no it doesn’t change much, to be honest.”

The battle for the championship is set to continue this Saturday, 21 August, at Budds Creek for round nine in Maryland.