Most Impressive: San Diego
January 20, 2026
It’s just round 2, but we have some guys starting to rise to the occasion. Here are the Most Impressive from San Diego.
450 Class: Hunter Lawrence
What a turn-around from the weekend before. Don’t get me wrong, A1 was a decent start to the season for Hunter, but he was 30 seconds back from the top 2 and outside of a podium spot. This weekend? He held his own against those same guys (Roczen and Tomac) and was fighting for the win until the very last lap. But forget about last weekend, it was a rebound even from his heat race earlier in the day, where he was passed and dropped by Sexton. We asked Hunter about this in the media scrum, and he mentioned he doesn’t like the heat races: track is too prepped and they’re too short. That’s okay, he looked great in the rougher and longer main event!
With his brother Jett being out, Hunter is the lone title hopeful in the 450 class for Honda HRC: can he rise to the occasion? Obviously it’s too early to answer that question with confidence; he has yet to win his first 450 supercross, but no doubt this is the most competitive we’ve seen Hunter in 450 supercross. He’s off to an impressive start!
Here is what he had to say:
“I definitely feel more confident on the bike; we tried a lot of things during the week to help where I felt like we struggled [at Anaheim]. That’s one thing I pride myself on: being able to show up in the main event when it counts. We were close, it was a good race. I feel like the first 15 minutes was just trying to get it under my belt, as I feel like the last five minutes is where I can make up that gap. Honestly, for me the heat race is the hardest race of the night—it was just a frustrating one—but I shook that off and put all the chips on the main. I really love what I can do in 20 minutes and just hit my marks. All day, I look forward to the main event.”
250 Class: Levi Kitchen
Despite the first turn crash (once again), Kitchen is the Most Impressive 250 Rider from San Diego. He’s been super fast (maybe even the fastest 250 guy?) in these first two rounds, and his ride through the pack after the first turn crash was epic. So much urgency, making a ton of passes within the first third of the race: he was in dead last in the first turn, but worked his way up to 6th by lap 7! That’s crazy; it took him only 7 minutes to pass 16 riders. From there, he caught up to Anstie, made a quick pass, and was charging up to the podium. 1 more lap and he might have ended up 2nd!
He needs to clean up his first turn crashes, but other than that, Kitchen has been ultra impressive. I think he’s the only one that can match Deegan’s pace (if not top it).
The goal is obviously to get better starts, but not much else needs to be improved:
“The day was pretty good. I had another good qualifying session, and the heat race was alright, but I started pretty far back. In the main event, I had a really good start, but I clipped a tough block in the first turn and fell. I was able to move my way from last to fourth. I finished two spots higher than last week, from starting last, but I need to stop starting last. The goal for next week is better starts.”
Our Opinions
Scott's Opinion: Hunter was ultra impressive so this was an easy selection for me this weekend. I could give it to Tomac... but we kinda expect him to win right? Especially when he starts up front. Hunter actually impressed me. As for Levi... well, his pure speed and aggression moving through the pack is what he has lacked in the past. And now he has it! Just stop crashing in the first turn...
