Round six in Seattle saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Eli Tomac back on top in 450SX, securing his third victory of Monster Energy Supercross 2026 to move to within a single point of the championship lead. In the 250SX West division, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan added another win to his tally, stretching his streak to five in a row. Both riders spoke to media following the main events for these Debrief interviews.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

The redemption, if we can compare and contrast, take us back to earlier in the day. How much pressure or tension was there on your shoulders, if any?

Yeah, I didn’t have the greatest practice, but I still was a little better in my second one, I should say. My first practice, I didn’t get a good lap until maybe the second or maybe even last lap, so I was kind of, I don’t know, struggling a little bit. But at the same time I was watching the other guys and basically everyone was making mistakes and there was nothing easy about anything about this place. There never really is. So we made some small adjustments but nothing too crazy. And that’s that. And other than that, you got to tackle this place and do your best to conquer it. And one place I was definitely lacking was a triple on the tabletop. I didn’t do that until the main, but thankfully I was able to do that. So yeah, there was some catching up to do, but at the same time, watching everyone and just knowing how tough the main events are, didn’t let it get me down at all.

I don’t know if it surprised you, but it surprised me. Cooper [Webb] gets out front and then he actually kind of puts a lead down and I felt like that was very surprising to me, especially in those opening laps.

So yeah, he had really good sprint laps in the beginning, but at the same time I knew, of course it’s a long race. And then I noticed I was making good time in the whoops. And then once I was able to get the triple on the table, I’m like, ‘Okay, I can run with him.’ And then of course it was just kind of like this battle between who’s not going to miss a rhythm section or that triple on the tabletop, who can get to the whoops a little bit cleaner. But yeah, Cooper did open up with some good laps there.

I heard you actually joking with your team about this right after the finish, but the rhythm before the finish line, you were actually going roll-in and I thought that was induced by lappers at one point and I was very surprised at basically how the rhythms broke down.

So I was saving that for end of main event. I looked at it today and after seeing everyone enter with a double, sometimes there’s so much room in those bowl turns, you don’t think of those things, but you can actually go inside and you can start with a roll. And what happened is I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve had enough of this stress and this rhythm – hitting it so perfect.’ Because if you hang it all and then go up the next ramp of a rutted or just the next rutted ramp and then they get these hooks in them, if you unload your suspension wrong, that’s when things can turn bad. So that inside line just got me off all the ruts, into the opposite line. So that was key for me. It allowed me to kind of breathe and take a breath just somewhere on the track.

That long rhythm just seemed to give everybody so many fits all day. And I mean if it wasn’t so tricky, what was the theoretical line that you were hoping to put together in there?

Yeah, I was a little surprised at the first practice. It was kind of just the inside and then we were jumping across the start and entering that way and that was a pretty technical way to go through that rhythm. And then of course looking at it, we’re like, ‘Well, why not try the outside, getting across the flat and then going triple in?’ So I felt like that was going to be the main event line or the easier line throughout the day. But of course it was technical. But that was one of the most technical rhythm sections I think we’ve ever had in Supercross to where there was all these different combinations, ways to miss it or make it right. It was giving everyone kind of a headache all day.

There was a point when all three of you guys, you and [Ken] Roczen and Webb were starting to bunch up a little bit. I’m wondering if there was ever a point in your mind where you started to think about whether to go defence or offence, or was it just focus forward the whole time?

Well, when I was in front it was just focus forward and really focus on getting that triple on the tabletop. That was a big, big spot to make good ground for me. Of course I made my pass there, but it was just, if you missed, it’s like that’s a lot of time. It was, I don’t know, maybe three quarters of a second or something. But yeah, of course there was some tough lappers too. There were some tough lapper situations in there. That’s how it goes and that’s the way this place is. It’s hard to get away and it gets tight and you’re just like, ‘Man, I just got to get these rhythm sections.’

This is the first rutted, really soft track conditions we’ve seen this year. Is there anything that you learned from the bike that you didn’t know before?

Yeah, I mean of course it’s polar opposite of last week and we did some small adjustments, nothing too crazy, but happy overall. This is as bad as it gets because you can still do the rhythm sections, but there’s some scary ruts out there. So of course I was happy with what we were working with in the main.

At the beginning of the year, you definitely seemed like you had a huge smile on your face and you were very happy to win the race. I mean, I don’t know if I’m reading you wrong, but it doesn’t seem like you’re the happiest to get this overall. Where’s your mind at right now?

It’s just the typical mid-season stuff and I don’t have the red plate, so I’m not happy about that. And I had a couple tough weekends, so it was frustrating and that’s probably it. It is just mid-season, it’s game time. Of course I want to have fun, I want to smile, but at the same time it’s like, ‘I just lost the red plate. I was having a couple tough races, I really don’t want to something happen again.’ So it’s game time.

Yeah, you mentioned the past couple of weekends haven’t gone your way. We’ve seen that two bad crashes last week you were slow to get up. Is there any lingering aches and pains that you’re dealing with?

No, I was able to recover pretty well. So last week after having the second crash, it took me a while to get going. Kind of just, I was like, ‘I don’t want to throw it away again by any means.’ I hit the ground pretty hard, I was pretty beat up, so it took me a couple laps to get going. Kind of tweaked my leg a little bit so I wasn’t able to squeeze totally right. But other than that, I’m fine now. Everything’s all right.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Winning is great, I would imagine. But to a race like that, how much fun was that from your perspective? You were just in control.

Yeah, 100 hundred percent. It was funny, because I was in the semi before the race, I was telling the guys, I was like, ‘I want a battle. I haven’t battled anyone all season really.’ I mean it’s nice to win, but a good battle makes each of us get better and I feel like I needed that too if I want to keep excelling at my race craft as well, going back and forth like that. And I figured eventually someone was going to put up a challenge, so it was good. I kind of made a little mistake there in the middle, that red cross, I was so scared to jump. I didn’t know whether I was good or not and I was losing time and Levi [Kitchen]got me, and I just played it by lap, played it smart. And I mean obviously I have such a huge point lead, I’m not going to be stupid and try and lead a race.

It seemed like you were kind of playing some games out there and I say that respectfully because it’s so good for the fans and for us to witness. At any point though, does it ever feel kind of risky?

Yeah, I agree. It was getting a little rowdy, but I mean we were going so slow on that track because it’s so rutted that our running into each other, whenever I would run into him, it was so minor. We were hitting each other so slow. There’s not too much that could go bad. And I don’t know, I just wanted to win. I was like, ‘I want to keep my streak going. I’m not just going to lose like this.’ But we made it work.

How does a points lead this affect the plans for this break?

This was the exact plan, was go race West Coast and get a big points lead. I mean you guys can literally play back my first press conference, it was the goal. And I mean I kind of stated what I was going to do, so just sticking to the plan, get ready, hop on that 450 and just start grinding outdoors. I have huge goals set this year for that, so just start cranking out those motos and get strong.

In the first pass it kind of looked like you let Kitchen by, was that the case and if so, why?

I just didn’t really need to take that risk of getting hit too hard. I was like, ‘Ah, he can have it.’ I’m just going to try and stay latched on and if I can win the race, then I win the race. If not, I mean it is what it is. I have a big points lead.

Was there an intent to kind of go back and forth with him? Was that fun for you?

I wanted to battle. That was my goal. I was like, ‘I want someone to put up a battle’ I hate to say the races get boring, I mean I am cocky, so it is what it is, but it was nice to have a race where you holeshot and win. That’s amazing. But a good battle like that I feel like makes me better as a rider. I feel like these races where I’m just out there alone, it’s nice but it’s not really making me too much better, I’d say. These battles though, just kind of critique that race craft.

Could you hear the fans all around the track following you?

Yeah, that was gnarly. Every lap. I mean we were within a second probably the whole race, so the fans were just going wild and obviously it’s his hometown, so I was like, ‘Unfortunately I have to beat you in your hometown.’ I maybe messed up my interview a little but it is what it is.

So you had a little bit of a gap on Levi at first. Did you get a sense of where he was catching you and once he got by, did you see any lines that he was doing differently that maybe were a bit faster?

Yeah, I wasn’t risking that red cross. I was just starting to roll and I looked back and I was like, ‘Oh shoot, he’s doubling.’ And by the time I picked up on it, he was already right on me. And I know how that works and you can taste blood like that, they put a sprint in. So I was like, ‘I’m going to let him have it and I’m going to try and stay latched on and hopefully we can do something at the end of this race.’

What’s better, winning a race running away or a good battle like that?

That one is more exciting. I haven’t been that stoked in a long time after a race. I was ecstatic for sure. I even went to do a little emote after and I just was like, ‘Nah.’ I was like, Levi came up, I’m like, ‘Yeah, this one feels good, I’ll be a good guy.’ And yeah, it was fun. That was a good battle. I think that one will go down in the history books for sure. So it was good.

We saw you and Levi talking after, what was said between you two?

A good battle like that, it never really got too out of hand and we went for 15 minutes plus one lap battling, so it was just a good job really. I mean that was a dog fight. None of us had it easy.

What did you mean to say on the podium? Can we get a second shot at that? And also, after the race you actually dapped Levi up. Can you tell us why you dapped him up? Because usually it’s a little more controversial than that.

Yeah, no, I meant to say there’s new chef in the kitchen, but honestly no. But listen, honestly, it’s fine. It’s going to get more views. It’s going to get posted everywhere that I said it backwards so I could care less. Yeah, it don’t matter. But yeah, I actually wanted to do an emote and he rode up to me and I was like, ‘Ah, come on, I can’t really do this straight to his face. I’m going to be cool, I’m going to be cool.’ But I really did, it was my goal at this race and it was team orders like, ‘You got to beat him at his home track. You got to beat him where he thinks he can win.’ So it was good, five in a row.