Slaw
We are two days removed from the Denver round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the internet is still ablaze with talk about “the pass” and the “comments”.
Love him. Hate him. Haiden Deegan will keep you talking. And that’s good. This kind of stuff fuels the sport. Fuels rivalries. Fuels passion–from fans and riders.
I don’t need to rehash the pass nor do I have any “takes” on it. It was whatever. Title on the line, I’ve seen worse. Heck, I’ve seen worse for 9th in the 450 main event. At the end of the day, this is racing.
There are reports that the AMA issued a written warning to Deegan post-race for the incident and his comments on the podium after when he basically told fans “you can suck” it.
“I want to congratulate Cole, he is riding really good,” Deegan said. “Two laps to go I wanted the win I was going to do anything for it. I saw an opening and took the chance. This means a lot [on the title]. Coming in people doubted me and thought I was all hype coming into supercross and motocross. They are just mad that I’m him and if you don’t like it you can suck!”
As for Davies, he was distraught after the race and it was cool to see everyone from AP to Justin Cooper come up and say something.
Davies is young, but he handled the situation with class, offering this post-race.
“I got a good start and was focusing on just trying to build a bit of a gap and ride from there, but I got caught up with some lappers,” he said. “I should have capitalized on that better, and, you know, that’s on me tonight. I shouldn’t have put myself in that position, but I’ll be back. And I’m going to keep working on, and keep on keeping on… [When asked for his opinion on the pass that resulted in him crashing] I shouldn’t have put myself in that position, to be honest. I could’ve been better in that department. But I’ll be back. Just a big thanks to everyone around me… There’s been a lot of sacrifices to get me here, so big shout out to them, and I’ll be back at Salt Lake.”
Deegan went on to explain in the press conference that while the two are friends, when a title is on the line, that doesn’t matter.
“Yeah, as much as I’m friends with Cole and stuff, when it’s race time and this is 500 grand, this is a new Lambo, you know? So it’s like, I got a lot on the line for it for myself and it’s just two laps to go. If you want to win, and that’s what I was raised to do is win on a dirt bike, I’m gonna take the shot if it was there and he left the door open.
“It wasn’t, if you really watch it back, it wasn’t like a horrible dirty move,” he continued. “I just kind of tapped him and he went over the berm and well, unfortunately, it looks like he got stuck. I was like, there’s no way he’s stuck. I’m like, I’m gonna win the championship right now. It’s kind of crazy to me. Obviously, it’s not the way you want to win it, but it’s racing, that’s how it goes and definitely will do anything to win.“
