Selecting a false neutral out of the gates in 250MX moto two in Millville’s eighth round of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship denied Hunter Lawrence the opportunity to challenge for the overall on Saturday.

The Australian delivered a second-career US race victory in moto one, however, the mistake at the very beginning of moto two saw him forced to fight through the pack for sixth position. He was third overall.

Heavy rain all morning at the Spring Creek Motocross Park led to tough track conditions in the first moto, but Lawrence scored a key holeshot and sprinted to the victory. Unfortunately, a mistake off the start prevented him from backing it up in the second moto.

“Yeah, it was pretty sick,” Lawrence exclaimed. “We got a good start, a holeshot and – in a mud race your race can go two ways – obviously you want it to start with a holeshot. I’m pretty stoked on that, the team has been working really hard and continues to work to get an engine package better. I just tried to stay cool when I was up front.

“Second moto, jump out of the gate was pretty good, I just hit a false neutral between second and third off the start so I was way back. It was just stupid, to throw away a chance at the overall just a few feet out of the gate was just a punch in the gut.

“I tried to come back through the pack, but the other boys were on it. We put ourselves in a great position to win, but to watch it go away, it sucks so we’ll come back next weekend with no false neutrals.”

Geico Honda rider Lawrence now sits fourth in the 250MX championship standings following eight of the 12 rounds scheduled, continuing to gain momentum in the latter stages of his rookie campaign in American motocross.