Where Are They Now: Jason Lawrence

Okay, alright. So, you were at least for keeping the option open if you had a good time and there was nothing about being back at the races, on the line, in the spotlight. That was cool. You're good with it.
It was fun.

Because I would imagine for a long time that was not the kind of spotlight that you wanted.
Yeah, I was kind of trying to stay away from that.

Yes. So, I was afraid once you did it and people were going crazy that you were gonna be like, “Ehh… No.” But it was good?
It was fun for sure. That's all stuff that comes with it and I think you start to miss that stuff whether you think you will or not. So, I mean, I had so long off that it was so exciting to do all that, that it was just an awesome experience.

And you had hilarious your breakdown of it. How hard it actually is to ride with the giant gas tank, the soft suspension, how different, like you thought you were gonna be able to show some people what's up?
I could say it like this. If you're gonna be my speed in the woods section, you would have to be probably better than Jett [Lawrence] in the outdoor section. You’d need to [be that fast] have a real chance to win it. That's how I put it. [Laughs] I'm not like Jett on the outdoors and the woods were tough. But I think if it's something that I wanna race that it would be, I'm not trying to say it's easy, but it would be easy to get a lot better real fast. You know, that would be really realistic to say like I have a steep learning curve. I didn't fall one time. You don't fall one time, you're not really trying. I don't think anyone doesn't fall at least one time. There's like 60 or 70 front fenders around the course, you know, I'm thinking you guys all fell. So that was crazy. It was fun.

But it always seemed like, I guess our theory was, that you were riding a ton through the years.
Yeah, I was, but more so in the 2010 to ‘13 stage I was riding all the time. But then when it fell off and I would have no presence on Instagram or something, it wasn't because I didn't feel like putting nothing on Instagram. It's because I wasn't riding, you know, there was like huge hiatuses right there. So, I mean, if I were to have lined up healthy in 2013, I think I still would have been really competitive because I was still riding at that whole point. But then after that, like I had a deal with Suzuki City at the time who was helping me out and then just years of not really racing, it didn't make sense for them to keep helping me. And then I had a big lull for a couple of years until Lojack [Yamaha], they hooked me up in 2020. So, like 2015 to ’20 I didn't really ride much.

Okay. So, this is starting from scratch. This isn't like you've been motoing for 10 years now.
No, it's been a pretty big break. It's pretty gnarly. Like yesterday, it's like I'm throwing up. I was throwing up. It was such a shock to me. I mean, I'm riding in my buddy's house on a YZ250 with no pressure or no expectation. And then I come here and it's just, it was gnarly. It was real gnarly.

Yeah, I was trying to ask you, you were not throwing up because you have a virus. It was just that gnarly hitting a supercross track.
It was, I went out the first time and I really only rode one time before I started throwing up and I broke the track into half and I was doing like two rhythm sections and a finish line section and I was like, scared to jump the finish line. I had the rhythm sections. I'm like doubling all the way through them and I was so worked up just after that. I couldn't believe it. I don't know if I'm not breathing or what, but I think it's like if you had to just sprint, you sprint it as hard as you really could, you'd probably throw up. So that's where I was at. And then it was just super hard for me to get anything solid down. Like on the way back, I was like dry heaving kind of. And then I just want to sleep, dude, sleep. So, I feel a lot better right now. Actually, I slept like most of the day.

But again, it’s okay. Pressure. Spotlight. GNCC. All okay. Yesterday, physically tough. You're planning on coming back for more. None of this stuff is making you say, “Nah, I'm good.”
No, I mean, this is kind of like what I expected. If I wouldn't have gotten sick, which in hindsight I could have avoided by, eating a little smarter or something and even making sure I had more food in me, but I was actually surprised at like how I did at the track. My God, I was kind of surprised, without anybody being there, I had expected, there's gonna be other guys and I'm gonna watch them for a while and then I'll just go in and tail behind them. It's gonna be so much easier. But instead, I got there and it was like, “Hey, here's this new track with ruts and the ruts are telling you, ‘here you go, bro, you're gonna go triple, triple, triple right here.’” And I'm like, “Well, damn.” I wish the track was like a smooth palette. So, you didn't feel like a bozo going two-two. It was hard. And I was actually pretty hyped on it. Like, I think it did something for me. I was thinking if I could ride this, like they had a little whoop track and I was going through the whoop track, which I was surprised. I actually, check it out [lifts his shorts to show bruises on his knees].

That's from the track? Gripping the tank though like that.
Both of them a little bit. I was in the shower, and I was like, “Damn” but that was fun. And I was, I was surprised because you could ask Randy Lawrence, he was my trainer. He would argue with me about going through the whoops because dude, I don't do the whoops. Like I can say it now because I'm not a full time supercross. I'm scared of the whoops! [Laughs] The whoop suck, dude, they suck.

So, like I would just go around them all the time in practice, and it definitely wasn't good for you, but I was surprised at how I was able to go through the whoops and I was like, surprised with the bike too. For not riding a bike set up like that or even riding a modern, like a new, new four stroke. Yeah, I was surprised how quick I was able to feel pretty good on it.

But at the same time...you were very humble about GNCC. You're not trying to make any claims now, with arenacross, maybe two months from now you're ripping, and you feel different...
Yeah see, I think I could do really good at GNCC but I tried to not go into it like that. Not just in case what kind of happened would happen, but just, that's not a good look to come in, even if you are going to win and you come into it and you're gonna come in there like, “Hey guys, here, I'm gonna come straight to the top and I'm gonna win.” It's like you better win, then, first of all, and even if you do win, that's not the way to do it. So, I thought it was awesome to do that. I was gonna do the sportsman race maybe. But then they had the industry invite class. So, like that was me right there.

But same thing with arenacross, you're not trying to make any claims. You're not saying, "Give me three weeks and I'll whoop these dudes."
No, not at all. I don't have any grounds to stand on by saying that. But I'm in a good situation because Kyle's [Peters, also of Phoenix Honda] done it so many times. I kind of thought maybe it was gonna be me and him riding on an arenacross back the first time. And I'm like, “Yeah, I'm just gonna follow the dude around.” I thought it's gonna be great. It wasn't like that. But I think I'm in a great spot to have somebody to learn from whatever there is to learn about arenacross. It just seems like maybe it's intense, seems short, seems physical, seems fun.

But David Eller and this team here, they give you an apartment upstairs, they're just making life as easy on you as they can. Do you even have a deal or anything or? It was just like, “Hey, give it a shot.”
No, we're just on like a, “What's up, bro? High five. Can I come try this, try that?” It's cool. So, I mean, things are moving fast. I'm gonna go back to the point of how I say they do so many series, which is cool because when you were just upstairs in the conference room, I was sitting down there and they're like, “Hey, there's another series that we could do this weekend, the sprint enduro, you'd probably be good at that.” So now I'm thinking like we try the sprint enduro.

This is Thursday, you're talking about trying a race this weekend. You might try it, who knows?
I would maybe do that. Yeah, I [could] do whatever, you know? These last couple of years blew up in moto. I think as far as, you might not be able to make money doing it, but if you had the support and what it took, you could probably travel the US almost every week and hit like a Stankfest or a Big Hill Jam or a Two Stroke Festival, a vet race. It's like these are all things that I wanna do and however much racing I have to do to make that happen is kind of like what I'll do and I think this is the best spot to do it.

Okay. So that might be what's brewing here. Where is J Law gonna show up this weekend? Type of type of program?
That would be cool. Kind of similar to like the General [Ryan] Sipes, except just a little better, you know. More entertaining [laughs].

I was not sure how in and out of touch you were, I was gonna use Ryan Sipes, but I'm like, “I don't know if he's paying attention.” You are paying attention. Was that always the case you always engage with watching stuff?
That's like my only thing is motocross and I know like everything about it. I feel like I'm kind of like an encyclopedia for dirt bike racing. I heard RV say it too and I'm not saying he's not because I know he is too, but he seems like he feels exactly how I feel. I kind of think I know like everything about the nineties until now motocross. You can't beat me at it. I've heard him say things like that too.