It has been an exciting start to the season for the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 squad, as one of their riders has won every round so far to start the year. And their three-man team now sits first through third in points. Saturday night at Anaheim 2, Michael Mosiman found himself in the lead in the main event, with his teammate Haiden Deegan running second. During the midpoint of the race, it even seemed like Mosiman might be able to bring it all the way to the checkers. It wasn’t until lap 12 that Deegan was able to make the pass, as he spoke about in the post-race press conference:
“The goal is to start top five and get to the lead. And yes, got a decent start and just slowly picked them off. And by the time I got to second, I mean, Mosi was riding great,” said Deegan. “He was so consistent. I'd make a little push, and it was inches like it wasn't enough. So, I had to play my cards right and wait till the end when maybe fitness related and mistakes caught up to the other riders and I was able to capitalize.”
It hasn’t been all roses under the Star tent, as just last weekend when Deegan made a pass for the lead on his teammate Max Anstie, who held the red plate. The two came together which resulted in Anstie laying in a berm. Team manager Wil Hahn said he had to sit Haiden and Max down during the week, and the press asked Deegan about that discussion.
Deegan joked: “No, he was just like, ‘Max, you're too old to be bullying the little kids still.’ No, I'm just kidding. I'm just playing, I'm just playing. No, we'll keep it, lay it down, we're cool, it's good. I'm focused on myself. I'm focused on winning these races and that's what I'm doing. And I have big goals ahead of me and the last thing I'm doing is getting dragged down or focused on something that's just really not necessary.”
Still when Haiden went for the pass Saturday on Mosiman, it seemed everyone in the stadium held their breath, wondering what he would do. Love it or hate it, Deegan owns it and even joked about it after the race:
“I was like, ‘Shoot, I might have to park him just so the fans like me some more!'" said Deegan. "No, I'm just playing. I tried to make it a clean pass and make it stick. That's always my goal. I don't like to do a half-ass pass. I like to make a pass; make it stick and go. And that's what I did and just rode a comfortable race after that.”
Mosiman is having a great start to this supercross season, going 5-3-2 and is now sitting second in points. He also joked about a possible run in, saying he’d rather not have anyone know he’s now second to Deegan in the standings. “Yeah, don't tell anyone. I want to stay under the radar. So, don't tell anyone. ‘Haiden, I'm not second in points,’ and I don't need a target on my back.”
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA  | 143 |
| 2 |  Max Anstie | Newbury, England, United Kingdom  | 108 |
| 3 |  Michael Mosiman | Sebastopol, CA | 107 |
| 4 |  Ryder DiFrancesco | Bakersfield, CA | 107 |
| 5 |  Levi Kitchen | Washougal, WA | 100 |
Mosiman continued on about his season so far after being plagued by injuries for so many years. “Yeah, just trying to keep getting steady finishes. I'm not trying to do anything crazy. I'm just riding my laps, and it feels awesome to be able to go really far down and to reinvent myself, like you said. It's been a lot of work and a lot of belief. To just give you an example, so I got injured 2023 or something and then I was going to miss a certain amount of races. My pay got cut to zero and they told me, ‘Hey, we're not resigning you for next year.’ So, now I'm injured, I have surgery, I don't have any pay. We [wife and I] were like, ‘Well, we don't have a ride here.’ I think it was like one night we were realized, okay, there's nothing keeping us here anymore. So, we immediately went to Florida. My wife got a job to try to make things come together and through surgery, through everything, not even knowing if I would race again professionally, I missed like three days of training. I just never quit training and working towards something but I had no clue what it would be. And so, now it's coming full circle to be established in this championship three rounds in, three solid finishes, no big issues in any main events has been awesome.”
It’s been four years since Mosiman has had two podium finishes in a row. He is just trying to fly under the radar and put in some quiet yet sneaky good rides. Deegan on the other hand is the complete opposite, as everything he does gets attention. Yet there is something else that bonds these two, Deegan mentioned on the podium after the race that he notices all the extra work that Mosiman puts in at the test track and he respects it. Will that keep Mosiman out of the danger zone in the future? That is a story for another week.
