MMF

Jett Lawrence crumbles under the hostile Anaheim 2 Supercross Fans in attendance! A2 SX MMF Editorial

The Angel Stadium was packed, and the weather was spot on for some dry racing. We flew all the way from the Philippines to cover Anaheim 2 Supercross by Feld Entertainment; hence, we were all drowsy from jetlag. We arrived in Angel Stadium from our hotel at 11:30am and immediately went to the Honda paddock for the 1:20pm “autograph time” with the Lawrence brothers and Jo Shimoda. The incident from San Diego Supercross where Jett and Jason Anderson had an altercation carries a different vibe from the normal vibe in the Honda pits. We saw the young superstar seldom engaged or smiling with the fans, like his usual jolly demeanor. He doesn’t look like his normal self since the incident.

The night show began, and the crowd gave Jason Anderson a loud cheer, but to Jettson, they gave a loud boo. We were so surprised by what’s going on that I even filmed it in the video that went viral on our Facebook MxMessiah page. We were culture shocked, to say the least, because Jett Lawrence arguably is the biggest star and most liked right now in the Southeast Asia region based on Facebook metrics of the most liked and visited posts in our social media channels.

Yes, we know Jettson is next level in terms of riding and confidence, as proven by the A1 result and last year’s championships, but that was him having a happy and jolly demeanor—the normal Jettson with the right mindset. But during A2 Supercross, this demeanor is missing. This is not Jett! Then the “booing by fans” happened! Guess what happened to having a different mindset than he is accustomed to when he wins? Bad starts in all motos! After a mediocre start, he collided with Aaron Plessinger; hence, he crashed and started the race from the back!

And just when we thought he could finish the day without crashing anymore and just settle for position 2 behind Eli Tomac during race 3, he crashed in the whoops during the final lap! As a result, he lost positions and, from a secured p2, overall dropped to p6. Jett Lawrence crumbled under the negative crowd pressure!

Good thing it’s just early in the season and the series is heading east coast in Detroit for round 5. Different state, different crowd, different environment. Will we see the happy and jolly Jettson? If so, he will be back in his winning ways!

Sam Tamayo