Haiden Deegan captures first 250 class MX Nationals Championship

Monster Energy’s iconic M-claw logo glowed brightly above the bright red Maryland dirt on Saturday as Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) wrapped up his first MX Nationals title, winning the opening Budds Creek MX moto and scoring a 3rd place overall race finish to win the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship’s 250 class overall crown.

“It’s been a long season. Lot of work. This MX title hasn’t been easy,” said Deegan. “Lot of help from my team, my family. I put in a lot of work to get to this point. I just wanted to make a statement in that first moto. That’s all I cared about.”

All totaled, Deegan would have nine moto wins on the season to go with five overall moto wins, scored six Motosport.com Holeshots (including Moto 1 at Budds) and led 99 laps.

And while Deegan would win that opening 250 moto at Budds, it’d be Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen that’d win the overall, going 3-1 for his second-straight win on the MX Nationals tour.

“Last two weeks have been really good. Nice to have that break and to reset,” said Kitchen. “But obviously Haiden pretty much smoked me. Going into next year he (Deegan) needs to know I’m here to play.”

Deegan was absolutely dominant in the opening 250 moto, wheeling from the inside start position to the holeshot and leading through the Lap 17 checkers for the win. Kitchen, who was feeling the effects of an illness, fought hard with Monster Energy’s Chance Hymas (Honda), before Hymas caught and passed Kitchen on Lap 12. With a few corners remaining on the final lap Hymas would wad up and fell from 2nd to 8th. Kitchen would take 3rd in the opening moto, which allowed Deegan to wrap up the overall title in the day’s first 250 moto.

In 250 Moto 2 Kitchen pulled the holeshot and, basically, a carbon copy of Deegan’s first moto as he, despite a couple runs at the lead by Hymas, led wire-to-wire for the Moto 2 win and 3-1 finish for the overall.

In 450 action Monster Energy’s Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) would again score the top finish for the big bike M-claw logo racers, placing a respectable 5th at Budds (5-6). The race also was highlighted by the return of Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Eli Tomac, who finished just off the podium (4th) in the opening moto and made the top ten (7th, 4-11). Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Broc Tickle would bring his KX450SR home in 8th place (9-10) while Justin Cooper (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) would round out the top ten in 10th after a spectacular opening moto crash relegated him to 20th. Cooper followed that up with an impressive 4th place moto run in 450 Moto 2.

Budds Creek MX 250 class results                                450 MX class results

1st - Kitchen (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)                                5th - Anderson (Monster/Kawasaki)

3rd - Deegan (Monster/Star/Yamah)                                 7th - Tomac (Monster/Star/Yamaha)

4th - Hymas (Monster/Honda)                                          8th – Tickle (Monster/Kawasaki)

Overall Standings (10 of 11 rounds)

250 class                                                                        450 class                      

1st - Deegan, 445 points (Overall Champion!)                4th - Cooper, 337 points

2nd - Kitchen, 383 points                                                 5th - Anderson, 328 points

4th - Hymas, 311 points                                                    6th - Ferrandis,  288 points

Notes & Quotes

• “Wanted to see how far I could extend the lead. Got it up to 25 seconds at one point, then fell. Dumb mistake.” – Deegan on his opening moto win.
• “Then the second moto I was kind of buried on the start. And literally all I could think about was holding the title (on the podium). So it was kind of hard to race and think about that at the same time.” – Deegan on Moto 2.
• Deegan’s win at Budds earned him the “Gary Jones Cup,” whose namesake was the first ever winner of the AMA 250 National Championship back in 1972. Deegan is the 35th racer in 53 seasons to win the Gary Jones Cup, and did so in his sophomore year of professional racing.
• “Man, I didn’t know what to do because I think me best result at this track (Budds Creek) coming into this point was like a 14th.” – Kitchen on what he did to prepare for Budds.
• Kitchen’s fourth moto win (Moto 2 at Budds) of the season highlighted his third career MX Nationals victory – all coming in the last three races.
• “It’s late in the season and I’m just trying to get on a roll.” – Kitchen on the 14-point lead he has over KTM’s Tom Vialle for 2nd place overall in the 250 class.
• “Justin Cooper over-jumps this step up, gets into Hunter (Lawrence/Honda), but was able to get up. That was a scary crash right there. Nothing you can do. Just a racing incident.” NBC announcer James Stewart on Cooper’s 450 Moto 1 crash.
• Anderson’s 5th place finish in Moto 1 at Budds was his ninth consecutive top five moto finish.
• Cooper (3rd), Tomac (4th) and Anderson (5th) were Monster Energy’s top 450 qualifiers at Budds, while Deegan (1st), Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ty Masterpool (2nd) and Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Max Anstie (5th) were the top 250 qualifiers.

Up next: The 2024 Pro Motocross Championship comes to conclusion this Saturday, Aug. 24th, in Crawfordsville, Ind., for the Ironman MX National. For more information on the AMA Pro Motocross Championships, check it out here.