SAN DIEGO, California: Haiden Deegan won a packed second heat at Snapdragon Stadium last after finishing off the podium in the opening round in Anaheim last week and that sharpened his race craft.
In the Main Event, Deegan took the lead after contact with his teammate Max Anstie and held that advantage until the checkers.
Anstie led the first five laps of the race with Deegan on his back tire. After winning last week in Anaheim, he was prepared to give the position to Deegan in order to hold onto the red plate, but Deegan was not nearly as patient. When Deegan tried to slide in front of Anstie, Deegan’s back wheel contacted Anstie’s front tire. Anstie hit the ground and fell to fifth, where he remained until the checkers.
Deegan apologized after the feature, but Anstie remains skeptical of how the two will have to race one another in the future.
“Obviously I know who I’m racing,” Anstie said in the post-race media scrum. “I know I’ve watched the stuff with Jo Shimoda. I watched obviously Haiden’s career and, fair play, he’s good at those type of moves and putting himself in positions that are very, I guess blocking, and not allow me to come back with [a move]. I wasn’t planning on putting up much of a fight there. It was like, ‘okay, look, he’s fast, he’s ripping.’ I was just kind of like, ‘okay, the job’s done, he’s made the pass,’ but I wasn’t expecting a little brake slide.”
Deegan scored a more-than 10-second win over Cameron McAdoo, who returned from injury this season.
“To be honest, this is what I expect,” McAdoo said. “So when I have a lot of emotion when it comes to this, it’s not because I’m surprised, it’s not because I’m so stoked to get second. I want to win. I expect myself to win. But what it took and what it takes for me to come back to here, especially this last 10 months, is pretty special.”
Michael Mosiman took the final podium position to earn his second consecutive top-five.
Levi Kitchen overcame a poor start to advance 16 spots from his holeshot position and finish fourth.
In-Race Notes
Trouble continued for Kitchen as he put his bike on the ground in the first turn early in the Main Event. He regained his mount and finished Lap 1 in 12th.
Anstie took the early lead ahead of Deegan in a reprise of what they did in their heat.
McAdoo rode in third in the opening laps with Chance Hymas (fourth) and Michael Mosiman (fifth) also up front.
Kitchen climbed to 10th halfway through the Main.
Deegan and Anstie make contact while racing for the lead on Lap 7 and Anstie hit the ground. That will cost him the red plate. Anstie fell to fifth.
McAdoo moved into second with Hymas third.
After the contact among the leaders, Deegan held a five second advantage over McAdoo.
With six minutes on the clock, Kitchen was up to sixth after overcoming his Lap 1 crash.
In 2025, Deegan waited until Round 3 for his first win.
McAdoo slowed with three and half minutes remaining and allowed Hymas momentarily past, and then McAdoo battled back.
Kitchen fought his way to fourth with a minute on the clock, making a pass on Anstie.
Deegan extended his lead to more than 10 seconds with time running off the clock.
