Anytime East meets West in a 250SX Showdown in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, fans can count on excitement and massive points swings. It can be hard for a rider to maintain a podium streak in a field with twice the depth. However, that is exactly what Haiden Deegan was able to do in Philadelphia. Deegan was able to log his seventh straight podium (only missing Anaheim 1 with a fifth) and extend his points lead to 17 over teammate Cole Davies, who took over second in points from Julien Beaumer.
Haiden Deegan started the race off in third and then got shuffled back to fourth when Davies passed him on his way to the lead. About midway through the main, Deegan found his flow and made his way around Seth Hammaker and RJ Hampshire to move into second. He even started catching Davies but ran out of time. He spoke about his young teammate in the post-race press conference:
“I mean, the boy's horny, you know, he's out there, he's sending it, and honestly, I feel like that was kind of how I was last year where you're just gonna do almost anything to try and win," Deegan said. "At this point I'm in the in the championship. I mean we got two rounds left now and obviously, Cole's ripping like that and to be honest though, towards the end of that main event I thought we had more time. I looked up on the little circular thing and I thought it said five minutes to go, so I kind of screwed myself a little bit. When the flames went off, I was like, ‘Oh, guess he won.’ I mean, it's chill though. I'd rather have him in front of me than anyone else, so it's good. And we made up some good points though, and he's [Cole] in P2 now, so he knocked that boy out of second.”
Note, Deegan referring to Beaumer there in the last sentence.
With a 17-point lead and two 250SX West Division races left on the schedule (one being the finale showdown), Deegan admits he may be in championship mode now. He is trying to minimize mistakes and is not willing to take the risks to get a win, like he would even a year ago.
“Yeah, it just took me a little bit to find my flow, and that's like right in the middle, right there is where I really found my flow," he said. "Like, it was like the best I've felt in a long time. I really just logged in perfect laps and didn't make any mistakes after I got around, Hammaker and Hampshire. And yeah, it was just flowing, slowly reeling in Cole. And then he ended up getting the dub, I got second. But I mean, it felt good. Like I was just flowing the track and that first part of that race, I just was a little too slow. I think I didn't sprint hard enough, and I just got to work on stuff like that. I don't know whether it's in my mind, like championship mode where I just try to be smart and not go down those first few laps, that's hindering me. Which, I mean, it's working. So, I don't want to change it too much, but yeah, I definitely need to pick it up those first few laps.”
For the two-time SMX World Champion and the 2024 Pro Motocross Champion, a 250SX Supercross Championship is the last box for Deegan to check off in the 250 class. Comparing his results this year to last year’s 250SX East Division results, where he was only on the podium four times in the first eight rounds, seven podiums so far in 2025 proves we are looking at a much more mature and settled Haiden Deegan. Learning to take a second place when one feels a win is in their grasps is not the easy thing to do. But it is what wins championships. Only two more rounds until we find out if this strategy pays off.
