What Really Happened in Arlington 2026?
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Hunter Lawrence, take a bow. Winning your first 450 SX is impressive. Doing it against this field is something else entirely. Four former champions lined up next to him in Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, Chase Sexton, and Jason Anderson. Add a red hot Ken Roczen, who had every reason to be fired up after last week’s sand incident.
The best part? He had to beat three different legends in three very different ways. He absorbed Roczen’s early race intensity. He kept Webb at arm’s length when the pressure started building. He countered Tomac’s Beast Mode.
Here is how Hunter Lawrence beat three supercross legends to earn his first 450 SX win.
Eli Tomac
The whoops were the story all night. They shaped the race, and they played directly into Lawrence’s hands.
He had a clear edge over Tomac through them. It helped that Tomac did not get the best start, but he worked his way forward quickly and was a factor the entire race. Around the rest of the track, Tomac was actually quicker than Lawrence. That is what makes this even more impressive. Lawrence would give up small bits of time elsewhere, then gain it all back and more in the whoops.
Hunter Lawrence Total Time Gained Over Eli Tomac
Because of how rough the whoops became, Tomac made an uncharacteristic switch. Instead of blitzing, he started jumping through them. It is rare to see, and it is not something Tomac has fully dialed. The conditions forced his hand.
If the whoops had stayed smoother, does this race look different? Maybe. But they did not. And Lawrence capitalized.
Cooper Webb
Consistency. That has been Lawrence’s calling card all season.
He is the only rider to finish inside the top 5 at every round so far. That is not by accident. What he may lack in early race sprint speed, he makes up for by holding strong pace deep into the race, especially when the track starts to break down.
We saw it at Anaheim 2. We saw it in Seattle. And we saw it again in Arlington.
450s: Arlington Lap Time Comparison
Lawrence did not just set the fastest lap of the race. He was the only rider to keep more than half of his laps under 50 seconds. Even his worst lap, and remember he went off track, was still more than a second better than Webb’s worst lap.
When you zoom out, the picture is clear. Lawrence beat Webb with consistency. Lap after lap, he delivered. For the data nerds, he also had the lowest lap time standard deviation of anyone in the field. That means fewer mistakes, fewer drop offs, and more control when it counted.
Ken Roczen
Managing the opening laps was critical.
Roczen was electric early, which is nothing new. He tends to come out swinging, and Arlington was no different. Lawrence handled it. By lap three, Lawrence was already putting in some of the fastest laps of the race.
There had been talk that Roczen was a little under the weather, but that does not change the fact that his early pace was strong. The difference is that Lawrence has quietly improved his ability to match that intensity. Earlier in the season, that may have been a weakness too large to overcome.
Arlington 2026: 450 Lap Time Ranks
What stood out most was how tight the lap times were. No one rider was able to stack fastest laps over and over. But Lawrence never fell off. He was never worse than 9th fastest, and 21 of his laps ranked inside the top 5.
Once he weathered Roczen’s opening charge, the momentum shifted. From there, Lawrence set the tone. Tomac, Webb, and Roczen had to chase his pace, not the other way around.