Haiden Deegan was about as good at Southwick as he was at any other track this year. So that marks progress, actually, because if there was a race that he could have fallen way off the pace, it was in the sand. Hunter and Jett Lawrence, Jorge Prado and Lucas Coenen spent year after year of spending month after month practicing in sand. They know the ways. Would Haiden get waxed by 30-some seconds at Southwick? He could have, but he did not. This was a rare occasion where simply staying in his usual spot marked progress forward.
And progress is all Haiden is talking about now, as his pre-season talk about wanting to take it to Jett Lawrence hasn’t materialized on the track, yet.
“It's just going to take time and you have to accept that,” Haiden said after Southwick, where he took third overall. “I'm not going out there and doing 1-1s, so that just means you have to go to work and keep on figuring out what the cause is.”
There’s always two sides to the Deegan story. There’s the hype, and there’s the work. Hype Man Haiden would be bummed to not have a moto win yet, but Haiden the racer usually goes about it this way, anyway. Hype Man Haiden talks about sending it and hanging it out and talks trash. Racer Haiden is calculated and consistent. Haiden’s greatest asset is his durability. He rarely crashes or gets hurt, so he just stacks work, lessons and laps and improves. That’s how his 250 career developed, and that’s the direction he will go on the 450 now that it’s clear he won’t beat Jett Lawrence immediately. So he talks progress instead.
“That's really the big thing is just trying to improve through the week so I can show it on the weekend,” he said at Southwick. “I feel good. I just need to keep getting my bike dialed in. I feel like this 450 is taking a little time, getting the suspension right. Even the engine, it's a whole different engine package that I'm on. Figuring that all out. My starts are a whole lot better this week. I feel like the big thing for me is just trying to get that bike a gear higher and let that thing flow. 250s kind of can wind it out a little more, but the 450 doesn't work all the time. So no matter what track I'm on right now, it's just the big thing is trying to shift that thing. Not get stuck in trying to get a certain position, just try and get myself better each week. And I feel like the positions will come like today, a 3-2 and I'm right there.”
That second place in the second moto marks his best finish of the season, as Hunter Lawrence crashed back to fourth while leading which moved Deegan from third to second. As with all things Deegan, this was a polarizing race, though, because while Haiden did notch that season best, he was also unable to stop Jett from passing him when Jett decided to turn up the heat. Jett is Haiden’s stated target, and early in the moto Jett simply motored by him when he decided to go. Haiden didn’t take his own bait, though. He didn’t wad it up trying to keep up.
“As a winner, it's hard to accept not winning, but it's kind of what you got to do at the moment,” he said. “You don't want to get too spun out or get too big of a head during the race and do something stupid. A lot of people are crashing right now and making mistakes and I just want to be consistent. I just want to be there each weekend and try not to have any dumb mistakes. That's been the best. I've never been really someone to come out in a new class to just shock the world right away. I feel like my thing is just continue to build and build and build and I'm just going to keep doing that. Not crashing is key.”
It’s hard to really measure progress against the Lawrences, though, because they only show their true speed in small doses. A lot of riders can feel like they’re close, but the Lawrences have CEO-level management skills when it comes to managing a small lead. Haiden said that Jett wasn’t too far in front of him, which is true, but a lot of people have only seen Jett a small distance ahead. They’re almost never able to get any closer.
If you want to see where Deegan really sits, Jorge Prado is probably a better yard stick. At some races this year Jorge has been better than Haiden, and at others Haiden better than Jorge. They’re usually tussling over third overall. Haiden was better at High Point, Prado better at RedBud. In the Southwick sand, Prado should have been favored, but Haiden held tough in both motos. Prado was all over him on the last lap, but Deegan held him at bay. The series might provide more ways to measure Haiden’s progress as Eli Tomac returns this weekend, but for now, one can safely say he’s not with the Lawrences, he's even with Prado, and ahead of everyone else.
“Trying to find that comfort zone,” says Deegan. “Gilley's [Yamaha suspension man Ricky Gimore] is a really good suspension guy. I mean, he's the best. It's just going to take time. It's not going to happen overnight, but really just running through setup after setup after setup and trying to find that comfort zone, whether it works on the weekend or doesn't, it's the risk I have to take right now. The time is now to do that, your rookie season. You kind of have a little buffer to kind of go try things and that's what's nice about it, especially now that I'm out of the championship points. Keep trying to build the bike better and better and focus on that a whole lot. That's been the main thing and Coop's been a big help just running through setups and going back and forth on bikes.”
Cooper is Deegan’s teammate Cooper Webb. The two have been digging together both through the Southwick test day and at Daxton Bennick’s old North Carolina property, which has sand. Webb’s progressing, too.
“Best result so far of the season with a sixth is awesome,” said Webb. “Still struggling being sick, so that was a burner. Lungs were burning, legs were burning, heart rate through the roof. It was an absolute suffer. So proud of myself. It's been a long time since I've been, even though it's a sixth, for me, that's a good result. I was pumped with that and made progress. Ran with Marchbanks for a few laps, which was great. So that's all we're trying to do is get closer to that top five. And today we took a big step. Team did a great job with a bike change and even though it's not a podium, it's good to get an interview finally and keep digging. And yeah, it's nothing like suffering at Southwick. It's a crazy feeling.”
Webb is expected to be departing Yamaha at the end of this season. He’s still doing what he can to help his current teammate and likely future rival.
“Me and Haiden always gotten along great,” says Webb. “He's always been a training partner, but now we're teammates and obviously he's another level of me outdoors, but if there's anything I can help him with, I try to. We've been doing a lot of testing together, trying to get him more comfortable. Obviously, I don't have his speed, but if I can help him get a better result and the team get a better result, that's what we're going to try to do. Did a test here. I think it paid off and hopefully it can help him get a little better, get me better. Just trying to be a team player at this point in my career.”
