After successfully defending his 250 West Supercross title Haiden Deegan has spoken about looking back on an all-time 250 career that puts him in the legends category of the class, as he looks ahead to his highly anticipated 450 career that will begin in May at Pala
250 career
“The goal is just to be like the most dominant rider. I know I’m going to the 450 class here soon, so I kind of go accomplish everything I need to in the 250 class. There’s a few more things I needed to learn before I really moved up to the next step.That’s why I did another year of Supercross, and the first round was a little unfortunate. I went a little south there, but we regained her, and yeah, I’ve won seven in a row.
“Yeah, I’ve achieved all my goals that I’ve written down.I wanted to win six out of the nine or ten rounds there is. I’ve now won, I mean six on paper, but seven theoretically, and we still got two left. We won the championship, and we got the championship three rounds early, so I was able to mark off all the goals that I had.Yeah, it’s always cool being able to back it up. Just like my outdoor championship was able to back that one up, and first year SMX backed up the next year. Yeah, I think it’s kind of like a statement that you’re the guy.”
450 ambition
On his 450 goals a realistic Deegan said: “Yeah, my main goal is, I mean, the first year I want to go do as good as I can and, you know, be there every weekend, running up front.Gain that experience with the vets and continue to progress on that 450. I know it’s a big bike, new challenge, so all that stuff takes time. But, obviously, I’m a winner at heart, so the goal is to get to that point of winning, whether or how long that takes.Could be the first round, could be the last round, could be next year, but all I’m going to do is work towards it.
“I mean, the goals obviously go do good. The goal is to get to, you know, a winning pace and winning position. But, again, it’s, you have one year, that first year, to kind of go out there and prove yourself and see what you can do on a 450, just like I did my rookie season on a 250.And, theoretically, like, your team, yourself, you don’t put that pressure on you to, you have to win. It’s kind of like a, it’s not a freebie year, that’s not what I’m trying to say. But, it’s like a year where it’s not like you have to win.It’s kind of, you know, go get your feet wet, feel it out. Obviously, as a competitor, I want to win. So, that’s what I work towards.
Preparation is, you know, pretty much the same, because we’re going into outdoors.And, really, outdoors, the way to win it is just be a dog and be able to push that whole 35 minutes. So, big thing is, I mean, it’s a bigger bike, heavier bike. You got to be stronger.I’ve been trying to get stronger in the gym and do those moto, so your fitness is good. There’s not much to it besides working hard. That’s the way you’ll be able to win it.
Money
I feel like having my parents there is a lot of help because, I mean, racing and winning and as much as it sounds nice, it is a lot of work, a lot of, you know, stress on the mind. It’s far from easy. So, to have your mom and your dad by your side to help with things, help with coaching, help with the money aspect of it because I’m bringing a lot of money at a young age. And, to have someone guide you there is also great and investments and all that stuff.
I’d say the biggest record is there’s been no other rider to bring this many people to the sport. The Deegan name is brought in thousands and thousands of new fans to the sport. So, I think that’s a record in the first place.
His own Deegan Compound
I think the whole compound thing is we found a good piece of land really close to where I train and I’m going to be here with Star for a while. So, kind of build a home base and I feel like it’s my style and the way I live.It could be a place where I live for a long time, like my parents got a compound when they were young and they lived there for multiple years. Shoot, 10 plus years.
And I feel like this is kind of what I’ll end up doing, building this huge compound.I want to, you know, every time I bring in some more money, put a little bit to the side for the compound, building tracks, building a skate park, building a pool, basketball court, just make it like my own danger land, pretty much. Make it my own like fun park and all that’s probably fun while I’m a kid, but I’m sure when I get older, I probably won’t be going as hard as I do right now. But I mean, it’s still nice to have all that.And it’s another another thing, too. You live there forever, have kids and they get to use the property, too, just like I did with my parents.
Watch the full video below:
