Ryan Villopoto and Chad Reed, two multi-time champs, both gave slightly different views on Haiden Deegan’s set-up v riding style issues on the 450 as the American star seeks the last couple of percent to get on terms with the Lawrence’s consistently outdoors with Deegan himself admitting it is taking more time that he wanted saying in his vlog after Unadilla: “It really is a learning year, so I’ve got to learn the body and continue to learn with the bike. So it’s going to take time, and as much as I want it to happen overnight, it’s just the reality is it’s not.”
Talking on the Title 24 Podcast, RV said: “I personally don’t think Hayden is riding the 450 like a 450. I want to say he’s still trying to ride it like a 250. And and I think that’s bringing out a fair some of the negatives that potentially you’re seeing.”
Reed said: “I see Haiden, he’s off of his normal setting like like I would say that I didn’t always watch him on a 250 and lovey set up. You know, he ran a tall subframe, you know, longer rear shock, like super tall in the rear. But then it always worked well. And again, a light spike is completely different. It’s so docile, so stupid. Just basically you throw the kitchen sink at it and it works mostly. OK, where you’re talking a half mil here or a millimeter here and a 450 just goes to thing.
“You know, as a Yamaha rider, I love my bike. It’s one of the best bikes I’ve ever ridden. So it’s not I’m not digging on the bike, but he set up to me. It looks low in the rear again, which I don’t always hate because I ran it low in the rear. But it just looks it looks like it’s always on a razor’s edge.
“I agree to disagree that it’s him riding it because sometimes like if we’re talking about the normal co-host of Ricky (Carmichael), I mean, Ricky didn’t ride a 450 the way you’re supposed to ride a 450. And I would beg to differ. You (RV) didn’t ride a 450 the way you’re supposed. Like, you guys were aggressive and I loved your guys style. So I believe a 450 can be ridden, you know, in anger.
“It just needs to be set up and there needs to be a window. And I just they have not found that that window yet. And I do believe that Hayden strong enough. I do believe that he’s got enough under his belt. That’s just my opinion. Maybe I’m completely wrong and I’m thinking he’s better than he is. But I just genuinely think that he’s up for the fight. And when you see him get a holeshot and really not be able to do anything with it, to me, there’s more to it. And I guess the naked eye can’t see some of the things that we see but I see a lot of I see a lot of stuff happening fast. And he has to, you know, pull back. I actually give him credit for pulling back and not cartwheeling, because especially as we know and we’ve talked about it, you know, Unadilla will bite you really, really fast.
“And he was he was throwing down in that second moto. I have to think that they made a couple of little just because, you know, the first moto, he had a hole shot and really got dropped. And the second moto, he kind of came from a little waist back and kind of was digging into that lead. But just didn’t seem like he had that next level to go to to be able to hang it out and comfortably, you know, not throw it down the track.
RV added: “Yeah, you know, and I think some of that, too, right? Like, obviously, when the gate drops, you have all that adrenaline. Doesn’t matter if the things set up maybe perfect or not. Like, you’re going to give it hell for as long as you can. And I do think that he’s fitter than he’s shown in the past, I think, especially on the 450. Like, I think that that may be that’s what you’re what you’re specifically talking about, that setting or that what needs to maybe be refined a bit for him.
“I think he’s fighting with a little bit of the motorcycle or him maybe riding a little too high on the RPM, whatever, whatever he is dealing with. I think once once that either he figures it out or Star figures it out for him with the motorcycle chassis, things like that, that you’re going to get him up front for longer. And the longer he’s running and being able to run the pace with those with Jett and Hunter and Jorge, the better, the quicker he’s going to learn because he’s able to adapt very quickly.”
Watch the full review of Unadilla below:
