Even though Haiden Deegan has been dominating the points in 250 AMA Pro Motocross, the same has not been true for second place in points. It’s almost like the competition is playing a game of “Hot Potato” with second place, each rider only keeping it for a round or two before tossing it to the next guy.
Last week at Spring Creek, second in points, Chance Hymas DNFed the second moto when he sprained his ankle in the first turn. This allowed Levi Kitchen to take over second in points with his 1-1 moto scores. At Washougal Kitchen had an off day in front of his home crowd, and he was only able to manage a 12-4 on the day. This left the door open for Tom Vialle to move into second in points with his 1-2 moto scores.
Tom has been fairly consistent all season, with podiums in five of the eight rounds so far. However, heading into Washougal, he had not been on the podium since Southwick. At Spring Creek, he was in a good position to benefit from his competition going down in the first turn, only to go down himself in the sand whoops, injuring his hand in the process. He was content to be back on the podium at Washougal, especially given his injury, as he said in the post-race press conference:
“It was a good day. We got another P1 in qualifying [his third in a row] and I don't know why I've been great in the second qualifying every weekend. So that feels pretty nice to start the day that way. And I had a great first moto, felt really good on the track and second moto, Haiden passed me, I think I didn't have the same flow and he was ripping when he passed me, and I follow like four or five laps, and I had a few small mistakes. And actually, I hurt my hand last weekend and I couldn't train all week. So, of course I'm not very happy to finish second. But overall, my goal was to maybe finish two times in the top five this weekend. That would have been great with my hand. And I felt great this morning, not so much pain. So, it was good to be riding and fight for the win again.”
“Actually, the second moto last weekend I had a few crashes and I hurt my hand pretty bad. And I thought Wednesday it was fine, but I actually couldn't ride on Wednesday. So, I got a little bit scared for the weekend and I don't know, like it got really better from Thursday and Friday. I had a little bit pain this morning, first practice and then it got better during the day. So, to be honest, was not really painful by the moto, maybe in the second moto. But no, it was pretty good. To be honest, my hand was good. So that's really nice. I'm going to recover a little bit next week and it should be good for the next races.”
Even not at one hundred percent Tom was on at Washougal, and when Tom is on, wins are very much possible. The first moto he was able to get to the lead and stay there. Deegan was in second and fell, they tried to remount a charge and get back to him but was unable to bridge the gap. The second moto started out much the same way, but this time Deegan was able to make the pass for the lead. Deegan had made bike changes for this moto and was better, and he bounced past Vialle through the bumps in some tight corners. Vialle couldn't stop it.
“First moto I had a good flow and I think we stayed at between three and four seconds the whole moto and he wasn't really catching me. So, I was like, “Okay, I'm just gonna try to keep my rhythm” and was pretty good and he kind of gave up the last two laps. So, I had a good moto the first one and second moto, I was like, “Okay, we're gonna try to do the same” and Haiden was riding better and maybe my flow wasn't that good. And I had a few lines where I was not comfortable on the track. And yeah, I couldn't do much.”
Quite incredibly, Vialle has yet to win a 250 Pro Motocross overall this year, and he has just two moto wins so far. Deegan has admitted he might go into championship management mode and protect his points lead. There could be some opportunities.
After Washougal the series is now in a two-weekend break before Unadilla. This should give Vialle’s hand plenty of time to heal up. Will he be able to maintain second in points until the end of the season? Or will he be just the next rider in line to drop the hot potato?
