Being Haiden Deegan’s mechanic is a pretty good gig but Brent Duffe revealed to us just how many hours a week he works to keep the bikes in tip top shape for America’s superstar kid and just how the haters fuel Deegan.
Brent told us of his daily work week: “It’s a lot of work being a race mechanic at Star, because we’re race and practice mechanics. How many hours a week do we work? 70, 80 hours – we put in a lot of hours.
“At Star, you do both. You race on the weekend, you fly home on Monday, you’re working Tuesday, Wednesday, flying on Thursday. The practice bike, we’re not riding on dry tracks, we’re riding on wet, rutty tracks.
“The bikes get a lot of wear and tear, so we’re always servicing practice bikes and engine swaps and tires and chains. There’s a lot of work there, but Haiden, when he first got on the 250, man, he was hard on that bike because he just rode the heck out of it! As he’s matured as a rider and gotten better, he’s been so much more gentle on the motorcycle.
“That being said, he’s still hard on stuff, but he is a lot easier on the bike than he was when he was 16, 17 years old. And nothing stands out on the 450 that he’s a heavy wearer on anything, so I think he’s making my life easier.”
On Deegan’s work ethic and the haters Brent said: “One thing I will say about Haiden, he’s the hardest working guy I know. That’s not to discredit Justin (Brayton) and Christian (Craig). Those guys put in the work, but Haiden will put in the required work, the training program, and then some. He starts early, he stays late. If there’s an issue or if there’s something he wants to improve on, he puts in the hours to get it done. So Haiden’s a really, really hard worker, and every time people have doubted him and said he can’t do this, he’s always taken that as a challenge that he wants to overcome.
“I’ve always said in these interviews, the people that talk bad on him and say he can’t do this, I’m so thankful for them, because if it wasn’t for them, he wouldn’t have any fuel. So that’s what pushes him to do better. Hopefully he doesn’t have people hating on him his whole career, but if he does, he’s going to have a heck of a career.”
Watch the full interview below:
