Haiden Deegan on top at Southwick

The rough sands of Southwick played into the hand of Monster Energy’s Haiden Deegan (Star Racing/Yamaha) as the sophomore Pro Motocross Championship 250 class racer would exorcise a speculation-fueled demon, winning the opening moto, then following a low speed get-off, ripping back to a 2nd place finish in the all-important Moto 2 to win the Crestview Construction Southwick MX National on Sunday. And joining Deegan on the Monster Energy-dominated podium, with a victory in the second moto, was Monster Energy’s Jo Shimoda (Honda) who went 9-1 for 3rd place.

With the victory, his fourth in five stops on the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship tour, Deegan extended his overall points lead to 42 ahead of Monster Energy’s Chance Hymas (Honda), 238-196. Hymas would place a respectable 4th at Southwick, going 3-5 on the day.

Deegan opened the racing on the all-sand Southwick Motocross 338 track with an absolute Monster holeshot in Moto 1 and rode away with it, leaving the battle for the next two podium positions well behind the roost of his cupped knobby rear tire.

“I had to prove a point when I got here. After last year kind of the narrative was that I couldn’t ride a sand track,” said Deegan. “So I had to come here and show everyone I could.”

In the second 250 moto Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen grabbed the holeshot, then had to grab another one when a red flag on the opening lap forced a restart. Deegan then moved up front, only to tip his YZ250F over in a corner at the end of a downhill, had the bike somewhat gently land on top of him, and was able to get up and continue racing. Shimoda then caught moto leader Tom Vialle (KTM), who inherited the lead when Deegan crashed, and passed the former World Champion for the moto win. Pressured on the last lap by Deegan, Vialle threw it away and Deegan ripped past him for 2nd place and the overall win.

“That second moto Tom (Vialle) dropped like a bike length… and I just seen blood,” said Deegan

Added 250 Moto 2 winner Shimoda, who noted that during through the first several rounds of the season he’s been suffering from a torn ligament in his foot, saying “If I dabbed my foot it was kind of ‘Game over.’ “But my fitness seems to be okay because I’m doing a lot of stuff off the bike. So I just have to get a good start and try to fight with these guys.”

Rounding out the top ten in the 250 class at Southwick for Monster Energy were Kitchen in 6th, Jordon Smith (Star Racing/Yamaha) in 7th and last race’s winner, Ty Masterpool (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki), in 8th.

On the 450s Monster Energy’s Justin Cooper (Star Racing/Yamaha) continued to keep pace with the front runners, going 5-6 and just missing the podium in 4th place. Also putting up a very good 450 class finish at Southwick, his first top five run of the season, was Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Honda), who placed 5th.

Overall Standings (5 of 11 rounds)

250 class                                  450 class                      

1st - Deegan, 238 points             4th - Cooper, 176 points

2nd - Hymas, 196 points             6th - Ferrandis, 152 points

4th - Kitchen, 177 points             7th - Anderson, 14 8points

Notes & Quotes

• “Deegan did exactly what he wanted to do. A lot of talk about the sand, and him (Deegan) not being able to ride the sand. You could tell he was motivated coming in here.” – NBC announcer James Stewart
• “Last year Southwick was probably his (Deegan) worst track. He wanted to show everybody he could ride sand – and he did,” added NBC announcer Jason Deegan.
• “It was a big motivator. If feel I could win on this track (Southwick) I proved I’m pretty much unbeatable.” – Deegan
• Shimoda would get his first moto win of the year when he took top honors in Southwick’s second 250 moto. “My qualifying wasn’t great, which put me to a really bad gate pick – 26th I think,” he said, which lent to his 9th place Moto 1 finish (9-1 for 3rd overall).
• “His mindset says that if he’s within ten seconds (of the bikes in front if him), he knows they’re in trouble… and they know it as well,” said Stewart of Deegan’s late moto charges this season.
• “Definitely didn’t go a smooth as I’d like. But I’d much rather have a day like this now, where it doesn’t mean much points-wise.” – New Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha team addition Max Anstie, who crashed and broke his bike in his very first race with the Star/Yamaha team.
• “This is the first time I actually felt good in pretty much a month,” said Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jordon Smith, who’d been battling an illness for some time.
• The start of the 450 Moto 2 would be tough on Monster Energy’s Jason Anderson (Kawasaki), who went down in a heap of riders and, after a great 4th place run in the opening moto, ended up with a 31st place in Moto 2.

Up next: Round 6 of the 2024 Pro Motocross Championship heads to Michigan’s famed RedBud MX for the July 6th running of the BOB The Cooler Co. RedBud MX National. For more information on the AMA Pro Motocross Championships, link to www.promotocross.com