And so it begins. Haiden Deegan is now a full-time 450 class racer. We will see how the riding goes this weekend at Pro Motocross round one at Fox Raceway. But the talking? The attitude? The cockiness? That part is still here, just like it was in the 250s.
Deegan appeared this week in a new Monster Energy Dirt Shark video on YouTube, and the line that’s catching attention on the socials is this:
“The way I look at it is the way Jett [Lawrence] presents himself is that no one can beat him,” says Deegan. “So the way I’m coming in is, what if this rookie can beat Jett? What are they gonna do now? That’s what I’m working towards, but no matter what he’s going through [broken foot] he should go win. He should beat me. It shouldn’t be a problem for him so we’ll see.”
There are rivalries created by fans and media, and often athletes try to lean away from that. No worries when Deegan is around. He leans in as far as possible. In this case, he keeps the focus on Jett, publicly and privately. A few weeks ago he posted an Instagram reel using a song performed by Jett’s girlfriend. Now, he used his opinion of Hunter Lawrence to try to frame Jett’s situation.
“Hunter’s trajectory is going up right now,” Deegan says. “I’ve heard the joke, that he’s [known as] Jett’s brother. I think Jett is Hunter’s brother now. He’s kind of taken the crown and he’s going to hard to beat. I’m excited about the challenge to get to the point where I can run with those guys and it would be nice to go beat them.”
Like it or not—and with Deegan everyone has an opinion—Deegan is a master of creating a narrative. As a 450 rookie, he has put himself in an enviable position. If he wins, he’s overdelivering. If he doesn’t, he’s really just there to learn and improve. It’s a win-win regardless of outcome.
“Rookie season, I'm going against some dogs,” he says. “These dudes are bad dudes. I want to kind of do what I did my 250 rookie season and just be there every weekend learning every weekend. I mean, rookie season 250, second race I was already winning motos so I want to just take it step by step and do it properly. In the 250 class, I didn't miss one single gate drop my whole 250 career and that's the first time that's ever been done in history so it's like just showing up gets you to the top.”
Look at that! There is some humbleness there, some respect toward how tough the 450 competition will be. That fuels it all, though. Haiden knows the goal is high and the competition is tough but that is what makes him dig.
“You can ask my parents, I come home every day and I am so sore,” he says. “I’m working so hard, I want this so bad. I want to prove the people wrong. I’ve already done that enough to where I don’t use that as bait as much anymore, but for my own self, for people in the 450 class that have said stuff about me. I want to stomp people, stomp the haters. I’m just going to work myself and work myself until I get to that point.”
It’s rare that a motocross racer uses language like that. This is the nexus of Deegan. That combination of self belief, powering the trash talk, which then creates the motivation to back it up, over and over in a cycle. Say big things, force yourself to do them.
“I'm confident and cocky,” he admits, freely. “I like being cocky because it puts me in a corner that I have to get myself out of if it goes bad. If I say I'm going to go beat you, and then if I don't, then I'm going to feel this guilt like, ‘Oh, I didn't accomplish my goal.' I don't care what the people say, but for myself internally, if I don't accomplish that, I'm going to have this guilt that I didn't do it right or work hard enough. So, I like putting myself in a corner where I’ve got to get the job done.”
Here’s a wild one from the interview:
“I want to take your throne pretty much, that's what goes through my head,” he says. “Like I want to line up to [Eli] Tomac and be like, show them, you know, this is the new beast mode.”
Wow. Is Haiden really going to try the head games with the established vets? He knows it worked in the 250s.
“I think a big thing is getting mentally into people's heads,” he says. “Even as much as people want to say it doesn't work, I promise you it does. Like I mean 90 percent of the time it's going to work, right? I mean a lot of the guys that I raced in 250s, I got in their head and it's like they kind of disappear. I mean I messed with Juju [Beaumer], I've messed with [Max] Anstie, I've messed with [RJ] Hampshire and all these guys. I feel like the second I start messing with them you kind of see this downhill [trajectory]. I feel like it works. Personally, I feel like the mental game is huge. Whether that's mentally manifesting you winning or getting mentally into someone's head and telling them things to switch their mind, I feel like it really does work. And as much as I mean, the older guys want to say it doesn't, I really believe it will.”
How will the riding go starting this Saturday? No one knows for sure. We do now know Haiden Deegan has not changed his approach. The words might come back to bite him, but that motivates him to make sure it doesn’t.
