Troy Dog
We’re gearing up for our annual Vurbmoto Classic at NXT LVL 101 in South Carolina on September 13-15. It’s our biggest race of the year. If you don’t believe us, just ask riders like Jo Shimoda, Haiden Deegan, Adam Cianciarulo, Justin Barcia, Justin Cooper, Cooper Webb, among others what this race meant to them. They will tell you that it completely changed the trajectory of their careers. We took them to the top baby! Now we will take you to the top. Sign up for your classes today and see if you can become King of the Classic.
Haiden Deegan is still in his sophomore season on the professional side of racing. Just kind of let that sink in. The 18-year-old has already accomplished so much in such a short period of time. He is clearly well on his way to achieving more greatness with a 1-1 score at the opening round of the SMX Playoffs.
As we know, he also enjoys cooking and stirring the pot with his fellow competitors. This makes for a very happy Editor on Monday mornings because he creates some great quotes. So, thanks Deegs.
During the 250SMX post race press conference in Charlotte on Saturday, Deegan provided us some more insight into how he operates as a human being. A little glimpse into why he enjoys saying things about his competitors. He wants them to say something back to motivate him even more.
“Everything fuels me…anything,” Deegan said. “You could say one word and that fuels me to work harder. That’s just how I work. I get fueled by anything. Any crap talk, if you guys want to say something, just say it, because it’s going to make me better.”
Deegan has obviously been really outspoken on the podium, especially during the Pro Motocross Championship, often calling out his competitors by name. Does “Chance has one coming…” ring a bell? In Charlotte it was RJ Hampshire who wasn’t safe and apparently it fueled Deegan even more.
“Dude, even RJ or whatever, he was like behind me in qualifying, yelling at me, I’m like dude…don’t do that,” Deegan said. “That’s not smart. It obviously didn’t work for him, so that clearly wasn’t smart.”
Whether you like him or not, Deegan went out and put on a show in Charlotte for SMX Playoff 1.
Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer, the rookie, who has had a stellar season already claiming both Rookie of the Year awards for Monster Energy Supercross and Pro Motocross, stepped his game up even more. He finished second overall and Deegan had to track him down late in the first moto.
With this breakout ride, was he safe from the wrath of Deegan?
“I’m always hyped for them to get on the podium for the first time,” Deegan said. “It’s definitely cool, but then once you start becoming a threat that’s when I kind of turn sides as you guys see, but he was riding good so I had to give him props.”
When these new riders turn pro it’s our job as the media to ask questions and figure out who they are as people. Who am I kidding, it’s our job to do this their entire careers, but these first few years are very important. We’re still figuring Deegan out, but at least he’s open about telling everyone what drives him most.
Photo: Mike Vizer
