Five Things We Learned from Australia WSX

Main image: Grant Reynolds @fiftysixclix

Eli Tomac’s KTM is Not Perfect: In Vancouver, Tomac’s debut on a Red Bull KTM went awesome. A few mistakes, yeah, but he and Ken Roczen were really pushing the pace and the track was tough. Eli and the bike looked fine, and it didn’t seem like the big transition would be all that big. Well, it did not look that way in Australia, as Tomac nailed his starts but then the mistakes started coming quickly. He dropped back off the podium spots, and in general it was not a good night. WSX in Australia featured some of the driest dirt the top riders will ever face on a supercross track, so no doubt it was much different than not only Vancouver, but much of what Eli will face in 2026. But how do we break down this performance? Valuable data the team can use to get better? Or a sign that all is not well? Maybe both?

Haiden Deegan Will Be Fine: Second 450 race for Haiden Deegan and he looked better than the first and had the speed to run with all of the big hitters in a pretty stacked 450 lineup. Was he loose? Of course! This is a throttle-happy kid getting unleashed on a 450 on super slick dirt. Also, the FIM fuel was giving  his bike some problems, leading to unpredictable power and mistakes in the rhythms. Overall, though, Deegs showed he can be fast on a 450. We might not see him race one again for a while, though.

Deegs Still Has Some Deegs: There are surely people hoping that Deegan, who has firmly entrenched himself as the bully of the 250 class, will get a taste of his own medicine in the 450 division. These are grown men there who are not to be trifled with. Will Danger Boy calm down the antics? Maybe not. In the second main, he passed Joey Savatgy but then started engaging in a game of cat and mouse and look backs, and then he crashed. Afterward Savatgy went to the pits to ask Haiden why he was riding that way. Haiden and his mechanic Brent Duffe explained that they don’t know if Joey can be trusted on the track (Joey made contact with his own teammate, Christian Craig, in the previous main, although Joey says that was incidental). When Joey responded saying he doesn’t understand why anyone should be scared of him on the track, Haiden quickly said he’s not scared of anyone! Okay, Danger Boy is gonna Danger Boy. Love it or hate it, it is still there.

Christian Craig Might Be Back: It’s been a hell of a slog for Christian Craig in 450SX, an injury-shortened rookie year with Rockstar Husqvarna has been followed by more struggles, more injuries, and a switch back to Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing last year that didn’t pan out on any level. CC was coming back from ACL surgery last season but was so off the pace that he was routinely getting lapped in mains. Flash forward now, on a Quad Lock Honda, and he’s been much closer to the front, and then in Australia he jumped all the way into the lead. Like, he passed Deegan and Tomac and pulled away to win the final main. International races are notorious for not actually predicting how the next season in AMA racing will go, but…if you’re Christian Craig and you’ve been searching desperately for confidence, you just got a whole bunch.

Cooper Webb Doesn’t Just Cooper Webb: Cooper Webb’s best stuff comes at the 20 minute mark of a springtime round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, when the points matter, the track is hammered, and pressure is in the air. So that’s why he doesn’t always light up these off-season races, where the guys who are just naturally crazy fast (see below) often rule. Webb didn’t win Australia but he put up a nice reminder of what he can do by simply checking out with the second main event win. He usually wins with heart, grit and strategy. Sometimes, though, he just wins.