Hampshire Achieves Overall Podium in 450 Class Rookie Season
As a rookie in the 450 class, R.J. Hampshire finished with 4-3 moto scores at Ironman to establish his first career overall podium in second place. Taking advantage of the misfortune of the typical frontrunners, Hampshire was able to find himself higher up in the order and battle with his competitors at the lead.
The 29 year-old from Hudson, Florida, made the switch to the 450 class for the 2025 Pro Motocross championship after 10 seasons in the 250 class. Hampshire is an established SuperMotocross veteran having clinched the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross 250 West Championship and registering four career 250 class Pro Motocross overall wins.
It has been a long road to the 450 class for the Florida native. With over 10 seasons under his belt in the 250 class, changing to the 450 class late in his career is no easy adjustment. The character of each motorcycle is vastly different, forcing the rider to adjust their approach to riding style and technique. Additionally, from a bike set-up perspective, suspension settings and motor tuning are two critical components that differ between motorcycles and take considerable time to test new parts to ensure the rider is comfortable. Hampshire has dealt with discomfort on the motorcycle this season but has been able to push through it.
“We’ve been changing a lot and I feel like when it’s good, I feel great on the bike. And then it kind of… we’re just having issues right now kind of finding that, you know, fine line of my comfort and whatnot. And truthfully, I feel like I had a lot more today and I just couldn’t really push. And I have had this feeling a lot on the 450 and the during the week, I find ways to get to that point and I feel like I can go… I do go a lot faster than what I have been. I just haven’t found that on race day yet.”
Hunter Lawrence Secures First Career 450 Class Overall Victory
Among the chaos in the 450 class at Ironman, Hunter Lawrence emerged through consistency and perseverance to take home the overall win with 2-2 moto scores. Due to the penalization of his brother, Jett Lawrence, in moto one and the crash from Chase Sexton which resulted in a DNF in moto two, Hunter had luck on his side to secure his first career 450 class overall victory. Although luck was on his side, it was in no way an easy route to victory for the Australian. Track conditions and the mid-summer heat was an added element that tested Hunter and his fellow competitors.
“It was a tough day. It was hot. There was no breeze. It was a really tough and physically demanding day” Hunter expressed post-race. “Even just circulating [the track] was tough enough in itself. Eli [Tomac] was the dangling carrot in front of me and just naturally I wanted to try and get as close as I could and I mean we were both feeling it. We were both, if you watched, making sloppy mistakes that we don’t normally make due to the fatigue”
