With one rider still injured and the other making only his fourth start this week in the premier class at Thunder Valley Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, the expected heated rivalry between Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan is developing into a slow burn.
After both riders finished on the podium at Hangtown two weeks ago, Jett’s and Deegan’s body language spoke louder than their words. In the traditional podium-style seating for that press conference, with Jett in the center as the overall winner and Deegan to his left as the third-place finisher, the combatants leaned as far away from one another as possible.
To a question to all three riders on the podium about uncommon respect for a rookie, Deegan responded first.
“It’s good for me if I can battle with them, even if it’s for a little bit, even if it’s for a lap or a section and just get that pace; they have a fast pace,” Deegan said. “So I think it’s really, honestly, all it’s going to come down to is that I keep starting up front with them and keep learning that pace and keep advancing each weekend.
“They’re on it, right? So it’s my second race, though, and I got to take it step by step and not get ahead of myself. I don’t want to put myself backward either, so I’ve got to be smart with it, but any chance I can get to run up front with these boys is good.”
Deegan’s humble response was directly counter to his attitude heading into the season opener at Fox Raceway, in Pala, California, during which he sported a handmade t-shirt decorated with statements such as RIP Jett prior to the pre-season press conference.
The question had legitimacy. Deegan finished third in both motos at Hangtown, far less than the domination he showed in the 250 division, but impressive for a rookie.
Jett and Hunter Lawrence largely ignored the question and talked about race craft and track conditions.
Following Jett’s 1-1 sweep at Thunder Valley, he refused to utter Deegan’s name.
“It’s hard to learn much when you’re out front on someone else, but you kind of get a feeling a little bit on where they’re going to pass,” Jett responded to a question regarding the pressure from behind by both Deegan and Hunter. “And you can kind of read ‘what’s his name’ like a book, where he is going to try and pass.”
At Thunder Valley Motocross Park in Lakewood, Colorado, Deegan picked up where he left off in Hangtown’s motos. He got a strong start in Moto 1 and challenged Jett for several laps until he crashed twice in the middle stage.
To be fair, Deegan’s pressure on Jett was partly because he exceeded track limits for seven laps, but no one could question his intensity when the two riders were within a bike-length.
Both the crashes and track-limit infractions underscore the limitations of a rookie. Through three rounds, Deegan’s strength is also his weakness, whether it’s a desire to prove himself the way Jett did when he went undefeated in his rookie season, or if he wants to regain the sense of domination he had in 250s, or if it is simply the competitive streak that runs through the bloodline.
And that suggests a rivalry is still in the making; that as Deegan matures on the bike and earns more podiums, he will exorcise the mistakes.
With an average moto finish of 3.67 to Jett’s 1.83 before the seven-position penalty for the rider of the No. 38, Deegan, who turned 20 in January, is trying to find a balance between bluster and confidence. If he can learn to stay within the boundaries of his bike’s grip and the edges of the track, he will continue to be one of the three strongest riders on a given week.
Without last week’s penalty, he would have sat to Jett’s left once again, this time on a tiebreaker over Hunter.
“it’s nice being able to see how fast those guys are and trying to keep up with their pace and trying to better myself each weekend,” Deegan told NBC Sports prior to the features. “It’s cool that I have a challenge in front of me. I haven’t really had a big challenge like this in a long time, probably since my rookie season, on a 250. So new chapter and new challenge and I love working towards it.”
Meeting that challenge will be a tall task, however. With his Thunder Valley win, Jett now has 26 overall Pro Motocross wins in 30 starts and he is undefeated in three High Point Nationals, failing to win only one moto is six tries.
