LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Haiden Deegan has dominated the 250 division in the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX), winning all four motos of the first two rounds. And it won’t mean a thing if he finishes off the podium and Tom Vialle wins in Round 3 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The reason is SMX’s unique points structure that rewarded double points in their second round and triple points this weekend for the finale.
“I’m not worried about it,” Deegan said in Friday’s news conference. “The goal is to just go win. Just do the same thing that I’ve done the last two weeks.”
The problem is, he has not done the “same thing” in the past two weeks. Deegan had bad starts in both motos in Round 1 at zMax Dragway. It didn’t matter because he rode through the field in those races, but a rider can go to that well only so often.
"[I] just hope he gets starts like he did at Charlotte and we start up front,” third-place Levi Kitchen said. “That’s really what we have to pray for.”
Non-plussed, Deegan interjected: “I still won though,” drawing a resigned look from Kitchen.
“I’ve won every moto and still, if Tom wins, [I] still have to get third to win the championship,” Deegan said. “It’s crazy how that format works but it keeps you on your toes and it’s awesome and really good for me too because when I have a challenge in front of me, that’s when I excel.”
When the SuperMotocross league merged aspects of Monster Energy Supercross and Pro Motocross, compromises in the formats were made. Motocross contributed the two-moto, Olympic-style format. Supercross shortened those races from 30 minutes plus two laps to 20 minutes plus one. That doesn’t provide much time to overcome a bad start.
“Charlotte, I made it hard on myself,” Deegan said. “It did distill something in my head where it doesn’t matter if I get the start. I can still win.
“But beside that, I want to make it a lot easier on myself — two holeshots in the last round made it a lot easier to win.”
Deegan also has something to prove. He’s the defending champion of the 250 SMX division, but despite winning one overall race last year and the title, he failed to score a single moto victory. Deegan was the model of consistency and that is not the way he prefers to ride.
“It’s a good goal to try and sweep a series,” Deegan said. “Obviously a championship is what everyone remembers. That’s the main goal and obviously you have to do stuff get the championship, but the 1-1 is also a goal too that I want to achieve.”
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