HAIDEN DEEGAN - GRIT 252 250SX

GRIT-252 | 450 SX

June 4th, 2024 11:00 pm

Yamaha's Haiden Deegan had a point to prove as competition began for this Memorial Day Weekend. He'd steadily gained momentum throughout the Supercross season, and wanted to reiterate his work ethic when the championship was beginning to be written. As forecasted, he was competing for the pinnacle of the leaderboard throughout qualifying sessions...and stormed into the opening moto with an intensity that could be rivaled by few in the sport. Tom Vialle would lead, while Levi Kitchen took second, and Deegan occupied third...but Vialle was beginning to lose a bit of time, and would be surpassed by both of the aforementioned on the fifth circuit. It was now a "two-horse" race, per se, between the former teammates (i.e. Kitchen and Deegan) where Haiden relentlessly hounded the Washington native for what seemed like an eternity. The number forty-seven (of Ktichen) wasn't folding under pressure, however, and looked to sprint to the checkered flag with the winning designation with continuous excelling lap-times. However, Deegan's corner speed and stylish scrubs over the largest of jumps were indicative of how bad he wanted to win...and the Californian began to narrow the gap as the final few laps came to fruition. Though he would undergo a brief mistake which caused him to drift off-track (in turn two, with around five minutes left on the clock), Deegan quickly rekindled his efforts and initiated his campaign to the front once again. Shortly thereafter, it was in the right-handed bend just after the finish-line, with only a couple minutes of total competition left to complete, when Kitchen would unfortunately catch an Acerbis track marker in his right boot! It caused the Kawasaki rider to divert from his flow for a few seconds, and Deegan immediately capitalized. Slashing through the left and right-handed corners thereafter, Haiden was relentless in engaging in speeds that were enough to nullify the countering maneuver put forth by Levi...equating to a moto win as the fifteen-lap contest concluded! As racers regathered on the starting line in the hours to follow, Deegan's confidence was continuing to exponentially rise. It amplified further with a brilliant start, where he immediately put the entirety of the field behind him and focused on "hitting his marks." It appeared as if he'd memorized the track, flowing from corner to corner while dodging the roughest bumps on the circuit. He could sense that Kitchen was constantly there, however, and a game of milliseconds (between the two combatants) were swayed as the race continued to take its course! For the duration of thirty minute (plus) contest, Deegan withstood the pressure put forth by Washington's Kitchen. However, another drift off of the racetrack (before the inbound tabletop/step-up) jump when approaching the infield triple, was large enough of a mistake for many in the crowd to question if he (Deegan) could hang on...but he would do so, ultimately taking the moto victory, and overall win!

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