Image: Supplied.

Home hero Hunter Lawrence stood atop the AUSX Open Melbourne podium at an intense Marvel Stadium tonight, as Quad Lock Honda Racing and Joey Savatgy clinched the 2024 Fox Australian Supercross SX1 Championship.

Crashes ended the nights of two of the biggest names at the high-profile event, with both fastest-qualifier Jett Lawrence and Cooper Webb sidelined from racing after separate incidents in the second of the three SX1 races.

At the front of the field, Hunter Lawrence was joined on the round podium by Jed Beaton (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy) and outgoing champion Dean Wilson (Quad Lock Honda Racing), the latter of whom did an impressive job of riding through a shoulder injury sustained a week ago.

The action began from the first gate-drop, when Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing’s Webb scored a crucial holeshot while all of the main contenders were swamped off the start.

Webb charged to an 8.3-second win over Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC Progressive), who was forced to scramble hard to move forward from a mid-pack start. Series leader Savatgy also recovered well to take third after being buried off the gate, ahead of CDR Yamaha Monster Energy duo Matt Moss and Beaton.

Team Honda HRC Progressive’s Hunter Lawrence rebounded outside the top 15 to finish sixth, while Aaron Tanti (Boost Mobile Honda Racing), who had held down P2 until a crash in the final lap, crossed the line in 18th, and Wilson finished 10th.

The second SX1 final – where a chaotic opening couple of laps claimed some of the biggest names in the field – saw Hunter Lawrence able to get past holeshot-winner Hayden Mellross (KTM) to take a seven-second win over Savatgy.

An early crash claimed Jett Lawrence, who was then forced to DNF the night due to a damaged bike, while another tangle between Webb and Moss on the second lap saw both of them also hit the ground hard and fail to finish. Up front, Savatgy was able to work his way from a top-five start to take P2, while Beaton put in another solid ride to finish third.

Tanti and Clout rounded out the top-five, while Wilson continued to grit his teeth through the pain to finish sixth. Race three also went the way of Lawrence, but he had to fight to the final lap to get past a determined Wilson to make it happen.

Mellross again scored the holeshot, but was quickly passed by Wilson and Savatgy. After several laps of trading blows, Savatgy found his way past Wilson, but picked up a flat rear tyre soon afterwards and quickly went backwards.

At the same time, Lawrence was working his way forwards from another mid-pack start and closed in on Wilson, but the Scotsman refused to let the Australian past. Another multiple-lap battle ensued before Lawrence finally found an opening, and to the delight of the record crowd, darted to the lead on the final lap and took a 0.8s win.

Beaton put in a strong performance to finish the race third, with Tanti fourth and Luke Clout (Empire Kawasaki) fifth. Despite finishing a lap down in 18th place, Savatgy had done enough to seal the SX1 AUSX title – finishing the 2024 series with 115 points to Wilson’s 109 points, while Clout held on for third (96 points).

Detailed results