“I didn't really think we could come back that close to the lead,” said Tom Vialle. “But we passed a lot of guys, and the track was…actually after the race, I was like, ‘Oh, it's really tough to pass, but I don't know, we actually made a lot of passes during the main event.’ The track was slippery. It was really easy to slide or make some small mistake. And I really tried to stay focused and of course, stay ahead Haiden. And that was pretty good for me tonight.”
Stay ahead of Haiden Deegan. That was the only mission for Tom Vialle, who led Deegan in points and wanted to keep a gap before the final round two weeks from now in Salt Lake City. Both Deegan and Vialle got bad starts (outside the top ten) and had to battle each other while racing through the field. A few times, Deegan got close to making a critical pass, but Vialle was masterful under pressure, making passes to continually keep a rider between himself and his main rival.
“I got behind Tom a couple of times and it was like, Tom would make a pass and I just stuck behind the guy and then I'd get around that guy and I'd get right back to Tom and then another guy,” Deegan said. “The best chance for me to try and pass Tom was when he got behind Pierce [Brown] because Pierce is a good rider so he's very hard to pass. And I was like, just give me my chance to try to get around Tom, but Pierce ended up making a mistake and Tom stuck right under him! Pierce went [crashed] right in front of me. I was like, ‘Damn it!’ But, I mean overall it was good, you know, we got on the podium. We're out and clean, we're safe and we'll just continuing to keep learning.”
![Tom Vialle]()
Tom Vialle Align Media ![Haiden Deegan]()
Haiden Deegan Align Media
With Deegan 13 points behind coming into the race, there were theories that he might try to get aggressive with Vialle to make something happen in the standings. But Vialle was not worried. In fact, when he got a bad start, he was actually relived to see Deegan back there as well.
“It was actually good because I knew after the start, I knew Haiden was right with me, because when I had the bad start, I was like, ‘Okay, this one is gonna be tough, but I saw actually Haiden was right in front of me, so I was okay,’ “Vialle said. “We are together in that. Of course, he was behind me and trying to push, we actually came back from pretty far to the front and I think I had a small gap, like he was really not like close [enough] to me to make a move. So, I tried to stay like that. I didn't really want him to get closer. Was pretty stressful, but I tried to push till the end, and we came back to second and third. So, it was a good race.”
Now Deegan is 15 points back with only one race left. He’d like to win this title, of course, but might take the two weeks remaining to focus on AMA Pro Motocross Championship prep.
“These next two weeks…point wise, it kind of decides how your week is gonna be,” Deegan said. “I gotta start getting ready for outdoors. That's what we're coming to do next. And with such little time after supercross, when you have these two weeks to work on stuff, you gotta go get some outdoor testing and get the bike good. So, the plan is to go get some outdoor testing in.”
| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Anstie | 18 Laps | 53.607 | Newbury, England, United Kingdom  | Honda CRF250R | |
| 2 |  Tom Vialle | +1.111 | 53.326 | Avignon, France  | KTM 250 SX-F | |
| 3 |  Haiden Deegan | +1.731 | 53.694 | Temecula, CA  | Yamaha YZ250F | |
| 4 |  Daxton Bennick | +19.638 | 54.284 | Morganton, NC | Yamaha YZ250F | |
| 5 |  Chance Hymas | +25.052 | 54.484 | Pocatello, ID | Honda CRF250R |
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Vialle | Avignon, France | 172 |
| 2 | Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA | 168 |
| 3 |  Coty Schock | Dover, DE | 132 |
| 4 |  Pierce Brown | Sandy, UT | 131 |
| 5 | Max Anstie | Newbury, England, United Kingdom | 125 |
As for Vialle, he said he hasn’t even had time to think about his strategy for the Salt Lake City showdown finale yet.
“I have to go home and think a little bit,” he said. “But when I come to the race, I just wanna do my best and of course, you, you can come to the last one, [make a] stupid mistake or try to do stupid stuff, but I'm just gonna do my own race. I’ll work a bit of starts this week because I was pretty far [back] in the main event.”
Deegan, meanwhile, indicated that if he doesn’t win this 250 Supercross Championship, it’s not that bad, because it will actually extend his years in the class so he can gain more experience before going to the 450s.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Deegan said. “I've looked at it too, you know, if you win the supercross title this year, you have one year to defend and you're on a 450 at 19 or just turning 20. So that's a big step. I mean, my goal is to win this title, but I have a long road ahead of me, I'm young, but so we have plenty of time. It's no rush. I mean, obviously the goal is to go try and win this championship. We're pretty far back right now but, you know, it's not over till it's over. As you guys have seen with, Levi [Kitchen] and RJ [Hampshire]. Levi had a huge lead, one race and RJ is back in the points lead so anything can happen. But, yeah, definitely, we do pay attention to that type of stuff [250 pointing out rules]."
Vialle has been through all of this before with his MX2 class FIM Motocross World Championships. But he told us on Friday that every season is different, and he can’t just assume that experience will be the same here.
“I mean, yes, it can help and not, you know, like it can go either way,” he said. “So, you are just trying to stay focused on myself and not really think about that or the other rider. I stay focused on myself during the whole day, during the practice everything. So, I will just try to stay and stay like that during the last race.”
