indicative of your ability to get dialled-in
quickly. You also crashed a few times as well,
but in Germany you went 1-1 and everything
clicked. And then you got hurt. It must have
been a huge disappointment not to be able to
finish the series.
HL:Iwassobummed!Theweekbefore
IdidmykneeIhadsuchagoodweek
oftraining...Ifeltbulletproof.Ifelt
good,likeitwasfinallyhere,it’s
finallycometogether,andthenIgot
thrown this curve ball. It was hard but
wesatdownandwatchedtheraces
overagain,wefoundalotofflawsand
everythingIdidwrong.Butwith
injuries,that’soneofthepositives,you
havetimetoreflect...andlookat
everything.Likewiththesituation
nowwithmybackinjury,wehavetwo
weekstolook,checkourselves
properly,wehavetimetothink.
You came back from your knee injury with a new
bike, new team, relocated again – this time from
Holland to Belgium.
HL:Yeah,itwascrazy.InAustralia
mumanddadlivedinthesamehouse
for20yearsandwe’vecomehereand
donetwodifferenthousesintwo
years!It’sabitfullonbutthenewteam
wassuchaneasytransitionand
everythingwasreadybecausethey
werewaitingonmetogetbackonthe
bike.Therewasnostressatall.
Were you ever concerned that when you’d had
that knee injury – ACL and ALL of the right knee
- that it might cause a few problems?
HL:Yeah,forsure.Iwasworriedat
first.Likecrap,amIgoingtohaveknee
dramaslateon?Butwehadareally
good doctor in Doctor Claes, and I
actually have no problems with my
knee. We’ve done all the rehabilitation,
thebestwecould,andit’sgoodnow.
How has it been in MX2? Did you have goals and
expectations at the start of the year, especially
after riding EMX250 last year? Did you compare
lap times to try and gauge where you might fi t
in?
HL:Racing in EMX you can always
compare lap times, but lap times and
racing are two different things. I
wanted to not have expectations
coming in because I’m learning so
much. I only did five races last year
coming from the Juniors in 12 minutes
plus one lap at the end of the year so...
But obviously, I want to win some
races you know, Thomas (Kjer Olsen)
and Jorge (Prado) have won but we’ll
keep working and chipping away.
How are your teammates?
HL:Seewer, I can’t stand – he’s a bit
stupid [laughs, as Seewer stands close
by him].
It seems from the outside that you all get on
very well.
HL:Yeah, everyone’s happy, we’ve got a
really good team, like a big family,
even between the MX2 and MXGP
Team, there’s no wall between us. We
even have the MX2 and MXGP
workshops on the same premises, not
in the same building, but next door.
But everyone can still sit down at the
dinner table at the end of the day and
laugh and talk about stuff other than
just racing, which is important.
What’s been the most memorable moment forIknowit’s
not gonna
be easy but
I’m gonna
try to pick
up where I
left off with
consistent
top 10s
INTERVIEW I HUNTER LAWRENCE
106 | SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.adbmag.com.auHunter compressed his
T5 and T6 vertebra last
month in a German C’ShipThe Suzuki Team is like one big happy familyHunter destroyed his right knee in 2016