Honda HRC Progressive’s SMX Playoffs opener went about as badly as an opener can go without involving hospitalization. Thunderstorms rolled through Columbus, Ohio on September 14, wiping out qualifying and shrinking both motos, and the saturated track proceeded to chew up the team’s results across all three riders.
Hunter Lawrence, who entered Round 1 as the number-one seed in the 450 class, went down twice in moto 1 and finished 21st, his bike twisted from the crashes and the pack long gone. He rebounded to eighth in moto 2, which was enough for 15th overall. He currently holds sixth in the 450SMX championship standings with 32 points, 10 behind Jorge Prado’s lead. The points gap matters less than it sounds at this stage: the next two rounds, including the September 19 date in Carson, California, pay double and triple points respectively, meaning Columbus was the cheapest round in the series to have a disaster on. Lawrence acknowledged as much, saying he’s “shaking off the championship hangover” and expecting to return to form at Round 2.
Team manager Lars Lindstrom was candid. The team needed to absorb a bad weekend, and this was structurally the right place for it. He also flagged something worth watching going into the 2027 season: Honda HRC Progressive’s mud program needs work. A single-points opener is forgivable. The same performance in a double- or triple-points final would not be.
The 450SMX overall went to Haiden Deegan on Yamaha, with Ken Roczen (Suzuki) second and Jorge Prado (KTM) third. Lawrence was 15th on the combined sheet, teammate Christian Craig 17th.
In the 250 class, Chance Hymas was the team’s best result, finishing ninth in moto 1 and fifth in moto 2 for seventh overall. He sits fifth in the 250SMX standings with 33 points, 14 behind Levi Kitchen’s 47. Jo Shimoda, making his return to racing as the reigning 250 champion, rode moto 1 without goggles after losing them early, which limited his ability to push. He finished 12th in moto 1 and 13th in moto 2 for 13th overall, currently 11th in points with 20. Shimoda said his shoulder isn’t fully recovered but is ride-capable, which is roughly what you’d expect from a rider who was sidelined and rushed back for the playoffs.
The 250SMX overall was taken by Levi Kitchen (Kawasaki), with Daxton Bennick and Ryder DiFrancesco (both Husqvarna) second and third.
Absent from the 450 class entirely was Jett Lawrence, who is recovering from a September 9 operation to remove hardware from his right ankle. The reigning 450SMX champion is sitting out the series and targeting the 2027 AMA Supercross season opener as his return date. For a team that changed leadership at the top just days before the race, with Kelvin Fu assuming the HRC US presidency on September 12, losing its title defender to surgery before the first gate drop is a notable complication. Hunter Lawrence and Hymas are carrying the program while Jett heals.
Weather-related adjustments compressed the entire day. With no qualifying run, gate picks for moto 1 went to championship standings, giving Lawrence the number-one gate in the 450 class, while Hymas drew fourth and Shimoda 11th in the 250. Moto 1 was shortened to 15 minutes plus one lap, moto 2 to 12 minutes plus one lap. Race officials canceled qualifying and moved straight to the afternoon program after lightning persisted through the morning.
Carson is the reset. Double points on September 19 mean a rider who finished outside the top 10 in Ohio can leapfrog several positions in the standings with a single clean afternoon. For Lawrence in sixth and Hymas in fifth, the math is straightforward. For Shimoda in 11th, it requires something closer to the performance he showed through the summer before the injury slowed him down. The mud in Columbus was an outlier. Whether the team’s 2027 mud-program concerns stay in the notes file or show up again is a conversation for after Carson.
Source: Honda. Images courtesy of Honda.
