Pulpmx Point/Counterpoint

Does Jason Lawrence matter anymore?

Is J-Law worth caring about anymore?

Swizcore: Sigh… The long and short of it is, no.

As a fan of moto, it’s been a long time since he has given us any reason to think that he would regain the glimmer of hope he last showed at Daytona of 2009. He’s an enigma and when you couple that with the fact that everyone loves a comeback story; that equates to the continued persistent inquiry of “where’s J-Law?”.

Maybe he has psychological issues(diagnosed or not), maybe he’s simply burned out or maybe he just grew tired of the expectations placed on him by his teams and the fans. J-Law hasn’t been the same since his regional SX title of 2008. Perhaps that title brought with it an irreversible sense of pressure that the free-spirited, laid back J-Law couldn’t handle; his career-kryptonite if you will. Remember those stomach issues at round 1 of the outdoors following his SX Lites title? Nerves, pressure and stress can wreak havoc on a stomach. Food for thought.

Looking beyond his legal issues and social conflicts of the past, Jason has had the capability to reassess, refocus and re-commit himself to the prosperous racing career he strayed from in the midst of the 2008 national series. For whatever reason he has not. It’s been his choice and he has chosen not to. His signing with Suzuki City to race the Nationals this year once again brought the “where’s J-Law” cry to a fever pitch. He was pre-entered for Hangtown and the team was there to support him. For him to not show and not let the team know where he was and why he wasn’t there is simply inexcusable.

There have been multiple attempts to return and at this point, it’s apparent that his heart and mind are simply not in it, so why should we continue to care about if he’s going to race again? There are many tragedies stemming from his abbreviated career, not the least of which, the thoughts of what could have been.

Matthes- Swizzle’s in the “no” camp as to whether Jason Lawrence is worth caring about and I get that, I understand why because the kid obviously doesn’t care about himself so why should we care about him?

There are things that he’s done that I know about that, if I shared them with you, you would come away saying that he’s a dick. He doesn’t care about people and he deserves everything that’s coming to him (in the form of apathy and sponsors dropping him).

Here’s the thing though, I believe that he’s got real issues when it comes to what’s going on in his head and I hope he’s getting some help. For that reason, I believe that he is worth caring about because he needs to get right in his head and when you ride a dirt bike, often that’s when you’re happiest. Jason has to get out there and start riding, sure he’ll get beat bad and probably won’t make the top ten but the rebuild has to start somewhere. And he knows this, he knows he doesn’t have “it” anymore (someone who is close to him once told me that he can’t ride as good when he’s sober, hence why his skills seemed to drop off after he got out of jail) but he has to get out there and do the dirty work to get better.

I believe he’s worth caring about because to me, getting him out on the track is where the healing begins.

Swizzle- When it comes to Jason as a person, I absolutely hope he finds happiness and levity in life but as a fan of moto I can’t be concerned with someone who doesn’t pour their heart and soul into racing like the other 39 guys on the gate.

I held out hope for his committed return to racing twice, it’s obvious he’s not the guy he used to be, so at this point I just hope he finds what it is he’s looking for in life and that it doesn’t negatively affect anyone.

Matthes- Wow Swizcore, you should write for Hallmark with that kind of sappiness. Anyways you can’t have it one way or the other, you can’t care about the person but then say you can’t be concerned about him as a racer. They are one and the same! That’s my point anyways, he’s probably happiest when he’s on the race track and he needs to get out there. For his team, his sponsors and most importantly, for himself. This thing could go one of two ways, he could be afraid to get out there, stay in his shell and let his handlers try to explain the situation. (On that note, can you imagine the sell job to ARMA Energy Nuts that Lawrence’s agent put on them? Trying to sell the point that he matters and that people care?) but soon, the questions will stop and people won’t care anymore. Jason will fade away and we’ll hear about him in a Ben Riddle-type situation down the road.

Or, he comes out for battle, puts his head down and gets beat bad for a while. He tries to focus on his life and getting better one day at a time. I’ve never had a substance abuse problem (unless cheeseburgers count) but I’ve watched enough of A&E’s Intervention to know that you can’t look at the big picture, you have to take it one day at a time. So Lawrence comes out, gets beat but works hard and gets inside the top ten eventually. From there he becomes a solid pro, not winning but making enough money to be ok and be a good rider and member of the professional ranks. That’s about the best he can do at this point in my opinion but it’s got to start somewhere.

Because I’m afraid that without racing, without people caring about him- the worst will happen.