Despite all the hype before Pala, Haiden Deegan is smarter than many people give him credit for, while hoping and wanting to win from the off, Deegan is able to re-calibrate and ride within his comfort zone and not make any mistakes while he is still figuring out the 450.
The hype and reality don’t always match but at some point they will converge, until then, Haiden is being smart as he works towards his goal of winning, but doing so step by step.
Deegan said: “Just trying to find that comfort zone. Gilly’s a really good suspension guy, and he’s the best. So it’s just going to take time.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but really just running through setup after setup after setup and find that comfort zone, whether it works on the weekend or doesn’t, it’s the risk I have to take right now. It’s the time is now to do that, your rookie season. You kind of have a little buffer to kind of go try things.
“And that’s what’s nice about it, especially now that I’m out of the kind of the championship points. It’s like, keep on trying to build the bike better and better and focus on that a whole lot. So that’s been the main thing, and Coop’s been a big help just running through setups and stuff and going back and forth on bikes.
Deegan said on his day at the Wick: “I felt really good today. I felt like I was floating on this track. Well, obviously, it’s a 3-2. I didn’t win, but it’s a good, good race in my books. Just steady progression, being there each weekend. And yeah, I feel like it was good. I was able to flow the turns really well. That 450 obviously has got a lot of power. And we’re just searching to get a good bike set up. And it was good this week.”
And the real mindset for his rookie season was made clear – he is just looking to progress: “As a winner, it’s hard to accept not winning, but it’s kind of what you got to do at the moment. You don’t want to get too spun out or get too big of a head during the race and do something stupid.
“I mean, a lot of people are crashing right now and making mistakes. And I just want to be consistent. I just want to be there each weekend and try not to have any dumb mistakes. And I feel like that’s been the best. I’ve never been really someone to come out in a new class to just shock the world right away. I feel like my thing is just continue to build and build and build and I’m just going to keep doing that, and I think one not crashing is key.
“You can’t get ahead of the game. It’s really just work hard. And that’s the key to it. And most things I need to clean up, things I need to work on. And I’ll just continue to work.”
Deegan then compared his set-up on a 250 to riding the 450: “I feel like my 250, I was really able to manhandle that bike. It’s it’s a little easier to do that. So I wasn’t really big on a set up. I kind of ran the same thing. I mean, every season for the whole year, really. But now it’s a new step in my career, the 450 class. And you’re going to have to figure out those bike setups, whether it’s each week and it’s a different setup. It’s just how it goes. Finding that comfort zone, it’s going to take time and I’ll just keep working towards it.”
It’s not the explosive start to his 450 career everyone wanted to see, but he is getting there and, at some point, Deegan will spice the hype up again when he feels he is ready to battle the Lawrence brothers for the win. Once he wins once, the cockiness, the mind games, the chirping will all be back.
He feels he’s getting closer. But until then, he is being realistic and enjoying the small wins of progression.
