Haiden Deegan’s day started off great in Seattle, as he set the fastest lap time in both timed qualifying sessions, on a soft and difficult track. Haiden definitely had the speed to win, and it seemed he would carry that momentum into the night show, but then, well racing happened. A pair of crashes in the heat and the main event kept Haiden off of the top step of the podium, though he was able to rebound for third. He spoke about his main event crash in the post-race press conference:
“I actually kind of missed the bike sit up. I realized that literally the first rhythm. I was like, ‘Damn, I'm way too soft.’ And I hit that triple after the finish and instantly my front just blew through and tucked and I was like, ‘Going for a ride’ and got back up and I was probably mid pack or so. I mean it's the first lap and you go down and my goal was just to get to the podium or pass the guy in second in points so I can make that that points gap bigger. And just kind of dug hard and it was definitely a scary race because, obviously my bike wasn't exactly where I wanted, so I was over riding and getting pretty sketchy. But I mean, in the end we made it happen and got on the podium and gained two more points.”
He went on to talk about his heat race crash, as well as why he is so off on set up when it comes to race day. “In the heat race I kinda, since it was the first track, I didn't know whether Cole was gonna rip that outside or not. He had to cut down to the lower rut and my front wheel got stuck on his foot pegs, so that was that one. And then the main event, yeah, first lap just tucked the front and I ride my bike really hard when I race, but at the practice track, I ride it pretty like smooth, like I float around the track pretty well and maybe it's cause I know the track so well I can flow around at the farm, but when I get to the race, I'm really aggressive and I feel like now I gotta figure out how to make my bike handle that cause so far, I mean here and even Indy, I just felt like I was just blowing through way too hard.”
It can be hard for a rider as aggressive as Deegan to bring that sort of intensity to the practice track. Nor would it necessarily be safe to ride that close to the edge all of the time, so it is understandable how he can be so far off when it comes to race day set up. Still being able to adapt and rebound even on a bad day is what champions have to do. And with a 14-point lead and only three 250SX West Division rounds left (with two of those rounds being East/West Showdowns), a Deegan championship is looking likely.
We would be remiss to mention Deegan in Seattle and not bring up the Julien Beaumer scuffle. After a block pass for the final podium position in the main (which was only made worse by Deegan looking back to see if Beaumer fell or not) the two had words after the race. A little helmet grab by Beaumer and a helmet slap by Haiden, had the fans eating up the drama. Still Deegan was able to shrug it off afterwards and just chalked it up to “boys being boys.”
“It definitely gets a little rowdy, but I mean, all I can say is its boys being boys, and he grabbed my helmet first and I was like, ‘Don't touch me.’ But I don't know. It is what it is. It's racing and I don't know. Someone said he said he's gonna get paid back or whatever, but yeah, we'll see.”
Some riders prefer to let their riding do their talking, but that is not Deegan’s style. And whether or not fans love the off-track banter, it sure makes this 250SX West Division championship that much more exciting to watch!
