Deegan Dominates Round 1 of Pro Motocross
Round 1 of the Pro Motocross series kicked off at Fox Raceway with beautiful weather conditions in Pala California. Haiden Deegan displayed an impressive effort in showing his ability to come from behind and run up front all while putting on a show for his hometown crowd.
With expectations set high for his second pro season, Haiden did not disappoint all those who showed up to support him. Moto 1 drops the gate with Tom Vialle leading the field through turn one followed by Levi Kitchen. Kitchen made his way to the lead in the first half of the moto before putting a few seconds between him and second place. Deegan soon followed up by making the pass on Vialle for second. With slightly faster lap times and after a quick off-track excursion, Deegan was able to chip away at the gap between him and Kitchen. With just two laps remaining and Deegan within striking distance, Kitchen falls victim to something never seen before. An out-of-place track marker made its way lodged into his boot. Kitchen was forced to nearly pull over and rip it out allowing Deegan to get by. Deegan sprinted the final two laps to secure his first moto win of the season.
Pro Motocross press release stated this from Vialle's off-track moment: Following the race, officials determined that Vialle was in violation of Rule 1.6.20 Track Cuts/Unfair Advantage of the series rulebook after the Frenchman went off track early in the moto. As a result, Vialle was docked one position to fourth, which moved Hymas into third.
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Moto 2 started with Deegan grabbing the holeshot and Kitchen soon to follow. The top two finishers from Moto 1 found themselves putting a comfortable gap between them and the rest of the field early on in the moto with about only one second between them. Deegan makes another brief off-track mistake late in the moto. Picking up his pace in the final laps and with a late push from Kitchen, Deegan crosses the line just 1.9 seconds ahead of Kitchen for a 1-1 sweep.
In dominating fashion Deegan takes his third win of his Pro Motocross career and starts the season in the points lead. However, the day wasn't over just yet. The 250 class press conference was delayed for nearly two hours as AMA officials diligently reviewed footage of Deegan's off-track mistakes. With a lot of speculation in the air if his win should be taken away from him it was later determined that his 1-1 finish stands and he did not gain any advantage when off the track.
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An exciting start to the 2024 season. Will Deegan continue his momentum at Hangtown?
