Haiden Deegan says he is all in to race for his country despite his broken collarbone and, the wrist injury from last year was much worse than people knew, which is why he didn’t race for team USA at Matterley Basin.
Deegan said in his latest video: “I mean, I broke my collarbone and had surgery on it because I want to race in my country. Like, last year, it was literally, I couldn’t race because it was in jeopardy of my career. No one knows how bad, you know, the scaphoid injury is. I’m pretty sure it’s the only bone in your body that has backwards blood flow, and that could be a major problem if you don’t figure that out correctly, so that was my most important was to go get that wrist right. So, yeah, we’ll be doing the Argentina as of now World Supercross, and I know I have a lot of friends in Australia, so we might be making it over to Australia to race as well, so that’s exciting.”
On the SMX drama, Deegan said: “I mean, you heard them going wild. I got thousands of DMs and messages afterwards saying that was the most entertaining race I have ever seen. Whether you like me or not, I had the crowd going crazy, and that’s what it’s come down to. I was entertainment, how many people you can bring to the sport to watch it, and, you know, a race, if I would have just teed them up once and went on with my way, and the crowd’s silent, and we do our thing for the rest of the race, it’s how to mix it up a little.
“Also, a lot of people were kind of, that takeout, it was like, imagine if you hurt him situation, and it was, the only reason I broke my collarbone is because when we connected… my whole goal was to try and bump him to the right, the whole point was bring him back to the pack. Hammaker was right there – it was kind of working. I mean, dude, you got to think – it’s a split second decision. We’re racing dirt bikes. It comes to your mind the last second. It’s not like you have five minutes to sit on this decision and think about it.”
“So, it was really, I mean, the only reason I broke my collarbone to be hooked like then, it just slammed me, and I tried to keep my hand on the clutch, so when I went down, I could get up as quick as I could, there was no delay in that, and unfortunately, when I obviously hit my hands and it slapped my shoulder, I must have hit like a hard part of the track or just a bad spot on it and it broke it. But to be honest, if it didn’t break it, I had my hand on the clutch, so I was getting back up and I was going. The battle wouldn’t have stopped. I promise you that.”
On growing the sport, Deegan says he wants to be at the forefront, “We need more fans from the outside. Whether you like me or not, that doesn’t bother me because, you know, I’m trying to go to the sport, make money, and make money for the other riders, too. These guys are, dude, some of these guys are barely surviving. It’s wild to me that this is kind of where our sport’s at right now. It needs to take a massive spike, and that’s where it’s at. My mental state is it’s, dirt bikes really is gnarly on the mind. I mean, that’s like the reason why I feel like I’ve excelled so well, so quickly. It hasn’t taken me a while to, you know, get my feet wet in this sport. I feel like I was able to excel really quick just because of my mental side.
“Every time I go to that starting line, I tell myself I’m going to win. Every time, you know, I get to the track, every time I set for qualifying, I tell myself I’m going to win, or be the fastest. It’s this mental state of, no one can beat you as cocky as it sounds. That’s the mental state I’m in. And whether I win or lose, I go home thinking, well, how are we going to get, how are we going to go back to work and figure out how to win the next race? It’s a constant chase of winning and winning and winning, and that’s what keeps me mentally driven in this sport and wanting to do it. And also, I mean, I’ve had some of the highest of the highs and lows in this sport.”
