Budds Creek saw Chase Sexton make it five in a row as he took one step closer toward the 450MX title, on a weekend where Haiden Deegan clinched his first-career 250MX crown with a round of Pro Motocross 2024 to spare. Both riders were available to the media following the final motos for this Debrief feature.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

You’ve been on a roll here of late. It looked like you were very comfortable in the second moto, but had a tip-over and then all of a sudden you’re back in front again… Tell us about that.

Yeah, first motos, I don’t don’t know if I’m just too tight or… Yeah, first motos haven’t been the greatest, but second motos have been kind to me. As soon as I even do the sight lap, I’m like, ‘Okay, I feel better than the first one,’ which I don’t know why. But yeah, I felt good. Both my crashes today were just stupid mistakes. Not mental mistakes, but me focusing on lappers and not paying attention to the line I’m in and just tipping over, so it gets me pretty bummed down and honestly it kind of pissed me off. I just dropped the hammer after that, I knew I had the speed to win still.

Like you said, when you got back up, you were a man on a mission – you weren’t just racing, you were attacking it.

Yeah, I think the whole year I feel like I ride almost smoother when I’m more aggressive, which I don’t know why that is. But, yeah, the bike likes when you’re aggressive and push it, so I pushed her deep that second moto.

I’ve seen you win a lot of races across the finish line and obviously you’re happy. The second moto you seemed super, super pumped. Were you and what caused that?

I just kind of wanted to put a stamp on today honestly, and kind of set the tone for the coming in into next weekend and for SMX. Every race, you’re always going to prove something and I’m not one of those guys that just rolls over. I’ll push to the end and I know anything’s possible, so I was just stoked. I knew my speed was good and I feel like last weekend my second moto was really – for me – one of my cleanest races. This one today felt like my speed was even better and I had to do it for the whole race, which was a more difficult task, but it made it interesting, I guess.

With your results this summer, have you gotten to the point where even if you don’t get the greatest start, you have the confidence that maybe by mid-moto you’re going to find your way to the front?

Yeah, I think the last two years it really got me to this point. 2022 battling Eli and then last year just getting beat by Jett [Lawrence] every moto really just put a chip on my shoulder and taught me a lot about racing. Because those two racers are completely different and I tried to take both of what they do well and mix it into my riding, and I feel like this year has kind of been a show of that at least. So, I feel way more calm, way more collected and just overall more patient than I have in the last few years. Budds Creek has not been that good to me, I don’t think I’ve ever been on the podium here, which is tough. But yeah, today I was able to win, so I was still stoked on that.

The first SuperMotoCross race last year, you nailed the set-up coming out of the gate. Does this five-race winning streak lead you into that and give you that added bit of confidence to take on Jett when he returns?

Yeah, I mean outdoors and SMX are quite a bit different. It’s going to be interesting. I’m happy to have Jett back. Obviously, I feel like the outdoors, I see that there’s a lot of guys that can go really fast and everyone seems to have… I mean, just stepped up their game from last year, which is exciting. So, I don’t know. I think for me, I’m just going to go off instinct like I did last year at Charlotte and not overthink it because then once I started overthinking I lost my flow and then you saw how it ended in LA last year. So yeah, we’ll see how it goes and just go with the flow.

And wanting, needing that momentum, does that add a little extra pressure to the last two rounds?

Just as a racer, I just want to win. I don’t really care how I do it. And going 1-1 is nice. You can gain a lot of points doing it that way, but if I’m not all there in the first motos, I’m not going to push it over my head and force something that doesn’t need to be forced. So, I didn’t hold back. I mean I give it a good effort, but second moto is kind of when I shine and it seems that when I come into my own. That’s a big thanks to my trainer, Peter [Park]. He’s been with me since 2021 and my fitness, I feel like every year, gets better and better starting in 2022 and now, I feel like I can really outlast a lot of guys in the track. So, that’s a big shoutout to him. And, Yeah, second motos have been my friend.

You mentioned not being able to do as well as you would’ve liked at this track in years before, but what made today better than it has been here?

I put a big emphasis this week on just trying to get better at this track… Not get better, but really focused. Today after I got second in the first moto, I’m like, ‘Man, that’s pretty good.’ I don’t think I’ve been inside the top six or seven in the first moto ever here on a 450, so second was good. And then I won the second moto here, I think I did in 22, so I could go fast here. Even last year I was fast, but I just seemed just to lay on the ground of this track. I was pretty, not nervous, but I was pretty anxious this week to get to this track and just go out there and try and at least get on the podium. My average finish – I looked at it – was 4.00 because I’ve been fourth place every year, so today was better.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

We know that the celebration is still going on back at the truck, but we’re glad you were able to come over. Congratulations, Haiden.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Definitely, it’s been a long season. A lot of work. This MX title is nothing but easy, man. I had to put a lot of work in to get this position – a lot of work from the team, my family, the support from the fans motivated me. The non-supporters motivated me, and just everyone, honestly, just a huge aspect to get me to this point.

Moto number one, you nailed it, then it looked like you took a deep breath and sort of soaked it all in…

Yeah, 100 percent. I just wanted to make a statement, that first moto, that’s all I cared about. I was just like, ‘I want to go and see how far I can get a lead,’ and I got it up to 25 seconds on point, and then fell, obviously a dumb mistake, went into neutral, trying to gain more time, but it is what it is. I think I made a statement in that first moto. And the second moto, I was kind of buried on the start and then literally the only thing I could think about was holding that title up now that I won the championship. So it’s kind of hard to race and think about that at the same time. But now that that’s passed, so we got the championship and then obviously next weekend, I get to race Ken Roczen, so I look forward to that.

Obviously you had an incredible start this season and then you rolled with that momentum. Heading into this final round, are you going to change your approach at all knowing that you are the defending SMX champion?

I’d say it is time to get on some Supercross hybrid tracks and start getting prepped for the SMX title since I got the Pro Motocross title now, so there’s still money to be made and a win to add to the books at the last round. So obviously I’m going to try my best to do that, but yeah, definitely time to start working towards defending my SMX title.

You won the championship last year in SMX. Do you feel like you’re going to have to do a lot of testing or do you feel like you left it in such a good spot at the finale that was pretty Supercross based?

Yeah, I’m sure there’ll be something here and there we could try, but as of now just go to what we started on last year. These bikes handle a little bit different compared to my old bikes, so I’m sure there’s some things we have to tweak, but not that anything crazy.

Have you had any talks with the team about Motocross Nations? Do you know what’s to expect there yet or are you still working towards something?

Honestly, I haven’t got talked too much about it. There’s really nothing yet I haven’t got talked to about it and it is kind of up to the team to let me know what the deal is.

Last year, I think it was 3-3-1 in the SuperMotocross playoffs. The best race was Los Angeles, which was the most ‘supercrossy’ of them. But now you’ve got all of this momentum, the championship from motocross, where is your confidence level this year versus coming into SMX last year?

Yeah, I definitely have a lot more confidence. Coming in last year, obviously I was racing some fast dudes as well last year, so was honestly I want to win the championship, but it’s going to be really, really hard. And I ended up winning, which was super cool. But I feel like this year, besides SMX outdoors and everything, I feel like I just have a lot more confidence. I’ve matured, gotten faster and just after Fox going 1-1, I was like, ‘Damn man, we have been putting in the work.’

You’ve done so well so quickly on a 250, do you see any idea to kind of fast-track your career into a 450 ride sooner than most might do?

No, not as of now. I mean, just do that… I mean, I still got to win a Supercross title, that’s still the goal list. I got to knock one of those off. And then you have your year to defend. So as of now, my goal is just to try and get that 250 title so I can move up to the 450. I’m not going to move up 450 without a Supercross title. So we got to get those goals knocked off first and winning some 250 titles, more of them.