The penultimate round of the 2025 Monster Energy Supercross championship saw Chase Sexton fire back in the season-long battle of 450SX, reducing the points gap to nine as a single round remains. In 250SX West, Haiden Deegan claimed his maiden Supercross championship, with an aggressive late race pass seeing him earn the number one plate a round early. Both riders spoke to the media following the main events for this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Chase, take us through that early race pass. It seemed like you sniped really quickly. Were you even anticipating making a pass there?

I was really fired up from the first lap, I felt like it was a little dangerous from my perspective. I think he [Cooper] got cross-jumped by the guy at the front, and I was in third, so I got the worst end of it. Luckily, I was able to see it and not crash, but I was seeing red at that point. I wanted to get to the lead, and knowing I could run some good laps, I knew that if I got out front I could break away, that was the goal.

You’re only nine points down at this stage with one to go, are you willing to bar-bang to win the championship at the final round?

It is for a championship, but I’m not going to do anything dumb. Even tonight, for me, that’s pretty aggressive for my standards. I’ve definitely cross-jumped Coop before, but we all get emotional and fired up in the moment, and that’s why I was seeing red at that time. But I’m not a dirty rider, I just do what I can and let the rest happen behind me, that’s my goal, but tonight’s pass was about as aggressive as it gets for me.

People are trying to create some drama between you and Coop, but I feel there is a lot of mutual respect between the two of you. Talk about the respect you have for each other, and is this rivalry what the media is making it out to be?

I have a lot of respect for Cooper. I grew up riding Yamahas, so we’d always park together at Loretta’s. I was on 85’s and he was in the B class, and for me, I looked up to him pretty much my whole racing career. So it is cool to battle him, and we’ve had some run-ins obviously, but there’s nothing but respect. When you’re going for a championship, you have to be rivals and you have to want to win, but you’re not going to do anything blatant or stupid. We both have respect for each other, and it is cool to see now from where we’ve come from. I just remember those days racing the 85 9-11 class, and he was in the B class at Loretta’s, and it’s just pretty cool to see the journey from there.

You guys have been having some fun with your finish line gestures, and the camera caught yours after you came off the track here. Can you tell us what that gesture was?

Yeah, I pulled a little grenade move. I did it twice, actually, but I messed it up the first time. It was funny, my buddies and I were sitting at the coffee shop this week, and they were telling me you should do this, you should do that, and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve got to worry about winning the race first,’ and then the last lap I was thinking about what I was going to do. Coop has a new one every week, so I kind of need to follow that up.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Haiden, this is now the trifecta after winning the Pro Motocross championship, the SuperMotocross championship, and now Supercross. How complete do you feel?

Yeah, this is really nice. We have a small circle, and we work hard, we grind, and I know we have a lot of outside noise, but we stay locked in and get these championships. I’m just in shock because this is my fourth championship, and that’s crazy to me, so it was nice to tick this one off.

We were just talking hand gestures, and I saw a ‘too small’ from you over the finish line. Who was that directed at, and secondly, after the finish, it looked like your whole squad was telling you that you won the championship, so take us through your feelings there.

[Laughs] I’ve been wanting to do the ‘too small’, and it’s not to anybody, I just wanted to show that I’m the top dog here. And then I got back to the podium, and they were like, ‘We don’t know if you won it.’ The AMA was looking into the rules to make sure I won it, because I had a 25-point lead, and the rules stated that I won it. So, it took a little while to figure it out, a little stressful, but we got it.

The elephant in the room is, do you like to win that way? We saw that Cole Davies had a two-race win streak going on, and it looked like he could’ve gotten a third and tightened the title up a bit more. On the podium, there was a lot of booing, a lot of cheering, so can you explain that confusion?

Yeah, as much as I am friends with Cole, when it comes to race time and for 500 grand, this is a new Lambo [laughs]. So it’s like, I’ve got a lot on the line for myself, and it’s just two laps to go, and I want to win. That’s what I was raised to do is win on a dirtbike, and I’m going to take the shot if it’s there and he left the door open. If you watch it back, it wasn’t a horrible, dirty move. I tapped him, and he went over the berm. It was a little unfortunate, actually, because it looked like he got stuck, and I was like, ‘There is no way that he is stuck, I’m going to win the championship now,’ which was kind of crazy to me. Obviously it’s not the way that you want to win it, but it’s racing, and that’s how it goes, and I’ll do anything to win.

Were the results from tonight what you expected?

Yeah, I had a chip on my shoulder – I needed to win. As fast as I’d go at the practice track, things weren’t quite clicking on race day, and finally I just dug in, did a good heat race and main, and it’s a good chip to get off the shoulder.

Now you’ve won the title, was the beginning of the season more of a struggle than what you had expected it to be?

My goal this season was to be as consistent as I could, and I think I’ve podiumed in the last eight rounds. That was the goal. I definitely want to win, but more than that, it was consistency because that’s how you win these 250SX titles, it’s just being on the podium every weekend, and that’s what ended up happening. It was pissing me off at the start of the year with how I was riding and the speed wasn’t there, and then eventually the days were getting better at the practice track and it was working. Now we’ve got the championship done and one round left, if any of those east guys want to slide me some money, I’m down. Just kidding [laughs].

With Julien [Beaumer] and Levi [Kitchen], you’ve said that you were cool until they started beating you and getting wins, can you see that same tension brewing between you and Cole, because he is pretty fast?

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t want to make a rival out of him because I’ve got to train with him every week. It’s more just making a statement that I can win. He was in front, and I was going to catch him and pass him, which was a statement to show that I am the fastest Supercross rider on a 250. I felt like I did that in the end, because at the beginning they were sprinting pretty good, but I try not to make it much of a rivalry because we train during the week, but also it’s racing. He wants to win, I want to win, and it’s going to happen, that’s just how it is.

How important was it for you to deliver on the expectation for you to become a Supercross champion, especially at this point in your career?

Leading into the season and even during it, I just wanted it so badly. I’ve got second twice now, and that rubs you the wrong way, especially with how good I’ve been in outdoors and SMX, I thought now that it was time to go win the Supercross title. And I was working so hard for the Supercross title, my speed wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be, but I was working hard, and I still have a lot of things that I need to work on and improve on for next year, but I am just amped to get this.

Now that Supercross is wrapped up, are you able to get onto the outdoors early? And how is that preparation going?

Yeah, outdoors-wise, I am riding really well and it’s the best I have ever felt. My bike is set up good and I’m excited for the outdoors. Every time I get to outdoors, I have a smile on my face, then when I get back to Supercross, it kind of goes away. I love the outdoors, it’s my happy place, and I’m excited. Now that we have the Supercross title, I’ll probably focus on getting the bike more dialed in for motocross and doing some of those long Florida motos.

Haiden, you’ve got the number one everything on right now, and you’re not afraid to talk some smack while doing it. Is it time to talk some smack on the 450 class?

That’s wild. No, I’m going to stick to talking crap in the 250 class, I love it. I think the more I talk, the more people – I have a lot of great fans behind me and supporters – but I also have a lot of people who don’t like me, and that’s what motivates me to wake up at 6:30am and go grind every day. That’s why I talk, because it motivates me, and these haters motivate me too, but right now 250’s is what we’re focused on.

Does winning this championship, 450-wise, solidify what you’ll do next year?

This title was definitely going to influence when I was going to a 450, because now I’ve got to move up. But I’m not really sure, I’ll probably get on it soon and start feeling that thing out, but we’ll see how it goes. As of now, just Supercross and outdoors on a 250.