Slaw Dog
He’s back.
Through two rounds of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Haiden Deegan’s podium and post-race speeches have been subdued. He’s given his fellow racers credit. He’s talk about the hardships of not winning. He’s….
And now it has changed.
It started in qualifying in San Diego, when Deegan appeared to wait on Julien Beaumer and gave him a classic MX vs ATV taunt.
The antics continued in the 250SX heat race at Anaheim 2, when Deegan caught Beaumer and made the block pass, which left JuJu on the ground and Deegan en route to the win.
Of course, Deegan went on to win his first main of the year later that night and on the podium spoke about JuJu “running his mouth.”
“You pissed off the bull last week,” he said. “Juju ran his mouth so it’s time to lock in. You don’t want to piss me off because I come out swinging.”
Did JuJu run his mouth? Not sure. But Deegan uses this to fuel his fire. He loves to be the underdog, despite being the favorite. He, like all of us, loves rivalries.
“I always love a rivalry,” he said. “It was just things I had seen on the internet, people clipping their podcasts. Who knows if he said that because I don’t really watch your videos, but if he did then cool, because now I am mad and I want to win. I kind of use that stuff as a little motivated to get fired up for the next weeks. JuJu is riding good though, he is being consistent, so we got to get our stride back and keep chopping at the points lead.”
Beaumer agreed…
“Same as him, it’s fun, we are having fun, no hard feelings, we are racing dirt bikes and we are here to win,” he said. “If we are going to race like that every weekend, we are going to race like that. I went for an early pass second turn and didn’t make it stick and he got away a little bit and he was the better guy.”
Supercross needs rivalries. It needs people on sides, watching to see their favorite rider win and the other guy lose. It’s what drives sports and fandom. Duke vs North Carolina. Yankees vs Red Sox. People live for this. And I am here for all of it.
Get the popcorn, this is going to be fun.
Images: @octopi.media
