On Friday at Hangtown, we asked Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team manager Jensen Hendler to reflect on the opener at Fox Raceway. Hendler explained that really, Pala has never been a good track for the team’s bikes. We also cruised through the team pit on Friday, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Everyone had a plan of attack on Hangtown, and they expected to be better.
For example, Justin Cooper didn’t even finish on the podium at round one, but also wasn’t worried. He didn’t even do any testing after the race or make any bike changes. He liked the way everything felt, he just needed better starts. To fix that, the team finally received a shipment of metal starting grates back home and spent all of Wednesday doing hundreds of starts. Better starts and a switch to the Hangtown track was expected to fix any problems for Justin Cooper.
Haiden Deegan, meanwhile, did finish on the box with impressive 6-2 scores at Fox Raceway, but he actually wasn’t happy with his bike. The rookie told us he had been struggling with the front end for a few weeks and it still didn’t feel right at round one. Hendler told us a lot of testing during the week had cured the problem for round two.
Indeed. Deegan and Cooper jumped out 1-2 in the first moto and held on to finish that way. Star was back on the board.
Even bigger, this marked Deegan’s first career moto win, and in just the seventh Pro Motocross moto of his career (he raced two events late last season to learn test the professional ranks). Even better, he withstood heat from his veteran teammate the whole time, putting the hammer down and running his best lap of the race with two laps to go. Deegan might be just 17 years old and new to the pro game, but he has the 30-minutes and two laps fitness dialed in, already.
![Deegan earning his maiden moto win in Pro Motocross.]()
Deegan earning his maiden moto win in Pro Motocross. Align Media ![Deegan's maiden moto win in Pro Motocross came in just his seventh career moto.]()
Deegan's maiden moto win in Pro Motocross came in just his seventh career moto. Align Media
“First moto was able to get the holeshot and that’s the key to these races, especially if you’re trying to find that winning speed, still, and that’s definitely what I’m looking for,” Deegan explained. “To get a holeshot like that, for me, it gave me some confidence and I led the whole race, super amped on that. I just need to keep building on that. Second moto not as good a start, worked my way through the pack, got to fourth. Yeah, it was good.”
Deegan knew a holeshot could do big things for him, and when he found clear racetrack on the first lap, he let loose, throwing down big whips.
“Oh yeah I’m still a kid so I still gotta get saucy over every jump, you know! A lot of the older guys are like 'You’re wasting energy” but you’re really not if you’re having fun doing it. First few laps, you’ve got to throw a couple of whips!”
As soon as Deegan crossed the line, he was greeted by his dad, Brian, the legend of X Games and freestyle, and a former competitor in the series. Brian had been engineering this moment for Haiden for a long, long time. He was a proud dad.
“Oh yeah definitely, I mean shoot, fourth outdoor national, that’s hard to do,” said Haiden. “He knows how hard it is to do, he raced outdoor nationals, and this 250 class is more than stacked this year, so he was hyped.”
In moto two, Deegan started about seventh and had to tough it out for fourth. It held him to third overall, but the rookie is second in points. It’s been a heck of a start to motocross after a Rookie of the Year campaign in Monster Energy Supercross. The next challenge will be racing on tracks he’s never visited before, like next weekend at Thunder Valley.
“Yeah, I’ve heard it’s a good track for a Star bike, so I’m excited!” the kid said about racing at elevation, where those Yamahas usually do well.
As for Justin Cooper, he couldn’t get the rookie in moto one, but did holeshot and lead moto two. Clearly the starts were fixed, but he also couldn’t hold Hunter Lawrence back in moto two. His title rival got by and took the overall with 3-1 scores. Cooper’s 2-2 netted second.
“Yeah, first moto, we were just 1-2 off the start and we settled in,” Cooper said. “I put in a couple of charges. I was honestly waiting toward the end to put in a charge, I was banking on him [Deegan] slipping up or fading a bit. He was strong to the end, and that was impressive. Then I made a mistake with like two laps to go, and that was it. We were both similar speed and I had to overall settle for second at the end.”
In moto two, Lawrence got the best of him. Like most riders, Cooper was surprised with the Hangtown track prep. For a long time, the Nationals offered up super deep and wet conditions in practice, which led to massive ruts in the races. A lot of riders felt tracks without so many ruts could unlock better racing, because riders wouldn’t be “locked in” to one line around every corner. This year’s Hangtown was much drier than past years, but this time the theory might have gone too far. Riders were not expecting it to be quite so hard and dry, and that made it hard to pass.
“It [the track] wasn’t dug deep, and we saw higher speeds compared to previous years, I feel,” Cooper said. “It’s kind of weird, when you ride a track the previous years at a certain pace with how rough it is, the speeds feel a lot faster when it’s not as rough. Braking points are going to be off and things like that. It wasn’t really comparable to what we’ve faced here [in the past]. It was pretty one-lined and high intensity. Overall, it was a good day and compared to last week, it was a really good day as far as my starts were concerned. Last week was pretty scary. A lot less work today, but I definitely didn’t execute in either moto. Stayed in second and really couldn’t make up much ground.”
Cooper is now third in points, and he looks forward to the next race at Lakewood.
“Results wise, yes, I do enjoy it,” he said. “I don’t know what it is that clicks, but it’s definitely a good track for me. Yeah, going to elevation next weekend, it’s always that one-off race where you don’t know what to expect. I’m excited to go, and I think it’s gonna be a good one. Every year that’s the one-off race that can shake things up.”
