Washougal was expected to be one of the stronger stops on the Pro Motocross schedule for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan, who then qualified quickest in 450MX before recording 4-2 moto finishes for third overall. Conversation gets his take on the weekend, as well as the ongoing adjustment to life in the premier division.

Image: Octopi Media.

I know that you are sick of these beginning of the moto crashes and having to catch up from the back, but that was yet again an all-time moto… Your first moto to go from 40th up to fourth, tell us about that moto from your perspective.

Yeah. I was like, ‘Finally, [a] holeshot – let’s see what I can do. This is it. I need to get my moto win, I’m going to send it.’ [I] sent it into the second turn, crashed. I’m like, ‘Alright. Well, that did not go well.’ I looked down at my bike, and I just was like, ‘Damn, no way I just did that.’ It’s all good though. Got up, it was crazy. 15 minutes in, I was like, ‘Damn, I’m in fourth already. That’s wild.’ But the boys out front are so far ahead. Like [Jorge] Prado, 20 seconds, and they’re obviously ripping. It’s hard to close that gap and kind of just stay where I was. I was proud of my effort, though, to get through the pack that quick. And the hard part is, if you fall in the first turn, you’re like, ‘Well, I still want to go for this podium.’ I’m still happy I was able to salvage a fourth.

Those front-runners were way out in front by the time you were able to make it up to fourth, but how did you manage to make that many passes in such a short amount of time?

I was going for it – I was pretty mad. I was like, ‘I’m pissed. I can’t believe I just fell.’ So, I was sending it pretty gnarly. Had some close calls with some guys… I think I went under a guy at one point, but it was just how to send it. To be honest, that’s how I did it.

I wanted to kind of pick your brain about what you see. This was the first time you’ve really been able to be right up on those two. And then Jett [Lawrence], again, kind of mid-race when he fell. What are you seeing? Where are they making up those little bits of time?

Yeah, I see it, for sure. I got, obviously, behind Jett for a little bit there. And it’s like I see it – it’s not like, ‘Damn, these dudes are shocking fast.’ That’s not what goes through my head. It’s me… I make these little mistakes, but I’d say I need to get my bike more dialed in too. I feel like those guys – this is their third or fourth year, they have a good set-up, and that’s not my excuse, right? I don’t want to make that an excuse, but truly, I’m still building myself up to this bike. And it’s just a longer learning curve than a 250. It’s like when I’m behind them, and I hang onto them for a few laps, it’s nothing crazy. I’m not like these dudes are out of the world. I just need to get a little better. And it’s not like a huge gap that I got to fill out, but it starts with pulling a holeshot. That’s really what needs to happen is I need to go run up front and feel that pace getting pushed from the back. That’s what I feel like I need. And I almost had it in the first moto, but I tucked it. So that’s not great. But it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just little stuff I’ve got to work on, and I’ll be right there.

And did you guys figure something out with starts? I mean, both your starts today, the second turn wasn’t great, but the first turn in both motos was really good.

Yeah, for sure. I feel like even last weekend my starts were good. Obviously, I went down in that first moto, but I mean I had two good starts again. Two great starts today. Got my first holeshot of the season and just working with the team, got the bike right – that’s kind of what it’s coming down to. I haven’t had much time to do a lot of start testing in racing. You can do as much as you want at the practice track, but when it’s time to go racing, it’s a different animal. So now that I’m racing, racing, racing, I’m seeing what I need to add to the bike and change. Just working with the team to get the bike right.

Image: Octopi Media.

This weekend, we hyped you up a lot. You’ve been good here in the past, and the Lawrence brothers haven’t been as good. You didn’t get the win today, like we kind of expected you to, but moving forward, can you take us and give us some insight into what the boxes you want to check for the rest of the Pro Motocross season are and what’s realistic for yourself?

Even though it was another third, it’s like I still can take the positives. It was my first time qualifying first, and I pulled my first holeshot on a 450, so there are two goals checked. Maybe the fans or the spectators don’t really see what I see or what I’m achieving as much as my team would. The goals that I have written down. And obviously one of them was to pull a holeshot, and one of them was [to] qualify first. There are two checks off the list, and just little things like that every weekend, trying to check these goals off and not rush the process. I’ve got a long career ahead of me, and I just take it step by step.

In your 250 days, you’re kind of famous for going out of your way to find motivation in any situation, so how motivating has this summer been for you?

The motivation is really – I’m getting beat, so I want to get better. And that’s kind of where in the 250 class I was so dominant, I could kind of win on demand. It was like I needed to go find some motivation from somewhere, but I don’t need to go find it [here] – I’ve got motivation. Getting third place is my motivation. Like, ‘Hey, yes, we achieved some goals. We got that done, but we want to win.’ So it’s like you go back to work, and that’s the motivation to keep me going at it, but obviously, I’m still human. I’m an athlete. You go through the highs and lows of this sport… the big part is just showing up every day, even at the practice track and at these races, just being there for every lap in every round.

Returning here now on the 450, were you able to find anything today kind of from those prior 250 experiences where you’re like, ‘Okay, I can get past certain things with the bike?’

I feel like I’ve said it a couple times. The 250, you kind of could bulldog it. The 450, I believe when I get a little stronger, which I’m working on, I’ll be able to bulldog that a little bit more too. For now, it’s just learning how to properly ride it. That’s really what it’s down to right now. Properly shift that thing, hop through bumps, all that stuff. And it’s going to take a team effort too to get the bike dialed in, which I mean, Gilly’s really good. My team’s been there to help me all the way, so there’s no slack over there. But right now, so far, it’s just like team and me, we just got to keep building, and that’s all.

Speaking about getting stronger on the 450, even since your 450 Pro Motocross debut, whether you’ve been coming through the pack, whether you’ve started up front, you’ve seemed to be strong in all your motos. When you say getting stronger from race one to now and even going on, what have you improved on that maybe we don’t notice? And what is it that you are still looking to improve on in that sense?

Yeah, you could be like, ‘Oh damn, he’s strong because he starts last and goes to fourth two weekends in a row, which is good.’ That’s pretty gnarly. There are some bad dudes that I was passing for sure. But it’s like strong is not always being the fittest or all that. It’s like being strong on the bike mentally, knowing exactly where to put it, exactly how to hop these bumps technique-wise. There’s a lot more to it than when I say strong, it’s kind of a wide variety. It’s not just straight bulldog. There are just things I need to keep working on.

Image: Octopi Media.

On the 250, you had a fleet, literally a fleet of 250s, to kind of bounce ideas off of with bike set-up. Can you just take us through how it’s been? You said Gilly’s amazing on the bike set-up, but you’re really relying on yourself.

Yeah, that’s exactly the hard part, right? I can’t really… [Cooper] Webb will help me a little bit, but he’s also got his own bike setup, and it’s quite different from mine, and he’s got his way of riding a dirt bike. It’s not like we can do a little back and forth as much as we can, but it’s just hard to really test anything the same because we’re just so different, with such different styles of riding. That’s really the hard thing is being able to test and find the right setting on these 450s. Obviously, I don’t have a guy to go test for me. I don’t have a teammate that’s my style to go test for me. It’s all up to me. It’s all up to my words to the team. It’s like if I say something wrong, I may feel something, but maybe it’s not right. I don’t really get a second option from people to be like, ‘Hey, this is what it feels like.’ It’s like it’s all on me. Right now, just kind of learning the bike. That’s a big thing is learning the feel of it and trying to give back good knowledge because no one has really won outdoors since [Eli] Tomac on this thing. And it’s been a while. There’s not much development, I’d say, towards the way I ride. It’s just to continue to develop each weekend. And that’s another thing is not to go do something stupid at one of these races and then now I’m done developing the bike, and I’m out. It’s like being there for every lap, every round is going to be key to getting this bike dialed in for next year.

What is going on with you and Justin Barcia?

Me and Barcia are cool. There’s no beef over there. He obviously stuffed me off the track, but I’m like, ‘That’s chill.’ I’ve done a whole lot worse, and he’s done a whole lot worse. That’s just racing, it’s the last lap. I expect anyone to do that. And I low-key had a feeling he was going to do that. [I] came outside. I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s a bad idea right here.’ Yeah, goon riding with him. Looks like he’s just having fun with his career right now is what I’ve noticed. So obviously I’m young and having fun, enjoying life out there. So I was like, ‘Shoot, we’ll go have some fun and goon ride.’