Did you notice any other kinds of changes in him? Other than just being faster and stronger, were there any mental changes?
To me, he’s had a great progression. It’s easy to forget about his first years in the States with all his injuries. He’s had a great chance to slowly build himself, which is kind of how he works. When he first was riding for the team, like in practice he wouldn’t jump all the rhythm sections and by the end of the night he was in it. He works that way, in a slow evolution, which is a really smart strategy. You limit yourself to risk. What we’re seeing isn’t really like a progression of the last few months, but a progression of the last few years.

Speaking of the mental side of things, from the outside he sure seems like he doesn’t get too caught up in the highs or lows too much. Is that something that just comes naturally to him? He’s not a veteran yet, but he seems like he handles things as well as, and maybe better, than some of the existing veterans.
Jett’s the same way. Their father, Darren [Lawrence], gets credit for a lot of things and I think that’s one of the things. He’s really good about keeping Jett and Hunter process oriented. It’s not only about the athlete I am today, but who can I be in three or four years? I just don’t see much urgency, which can be perceived as a weakness, but in terms of developing it’s really smart.

In your role with the race team, does he ever come to you with certain asks in testing components or dialing in a certain setup? Can you feel this out or find a better way to do that?
I think I match Hunter better than Jett. We have a similar height, he’s a little taller, but we weigh nearly the same and I think we leverage the bike in similar ways. I really match well with him and with what he’s looking for. We develop a little differently than other teams, we trade bikes all the time. Sometimes when we test we won’t have a test bike, we’ll just have one bike and it’s musical chairs. I think the benefit I can add is, I can validate what he’s feeling. Sometimes when you’re a racer it’s difficult to put what you want into words. My experience in knowing what’s going on in the motorcycle, as far as what’s in there, what’s changed, I can help him communicate what he’s asking for, and help the technicians have a better idea of what direction to go.