Haiden Deegan Scores Career-Best Runner-Up Overall in Millville
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan bounces back from a first-turn crash to earn his best result thus far aboard the YZ450F at the Spring Creek National / Jul 21, 2026 /
It was a wild day of racing at the Spring Creek National, with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan once again showing his ability to fight back from adversity. The 20-year-old turned a first-turn crash into one of the rides of the day, charging through the field to gain 36 positions in Moto 1. That set the rookie up for a good position for the overall result, where he sealed the deal on his first runner-up overall finish (4-2) aboard the YZ450F.
Deegan showed speed from the start at the Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota, topping the timesheets in the first session and qualifying second in the combined times. Then it all went awry after the first gate drop. Deegan got a good start but crashed in the first turn, rejoining at the back of the field. The six-time 250 class champion put his head down and broke into the top 10 with six laps to go, setting his fastest lap of the moto on Lap 14, where he gained three positions. He then closed a four-second gap to Tony Cairoli, passing him with two laps to go, and after battling with Justin Barcia, made the pass on the final lap to finish fourth.
In Moto 2, it was a better start with Deegan in sixth. He made a couple of passes in the opening laps, and he set about closing the gap to third, claiming that final podium spot on Lap 6. The rookie continued to ride a strong pace, but the frontrunners had already opened up a sizeable gap. In the latter half of the moto, the leader crashed, with Deegan advancing to the runner-up spot, where he rode to the checkered flag, equaling his best moto result in the class and earning his best overall result in second.
“Yeah, today was pretty solid,” said Deegan. “I got off to a good qualifying session, then in Moto 1, I crashed in the first turn. My first turns are a little bit of bad luck right now, but we're going to get that one figured out. In the second moto, I got a decent start, made my way up to third, and then got into second place, and got second overall. It was my first second overall in the 450 class. There's only one place further you can go, and that's first, so we’ll just keep on working.”
The day started out well for his teammate, Cooper Webb, with the North Carolina rider qualifying ninth. He then got a good start to the first moto in fourth and ran inside the top five for the first four laps before dropping back to sixth. Webb battled there for most of the moto, but ultimately crossed the line eighth. In Moto 2, the three-time 450SX Champion got another great start in third, but shuffled back to seventh in the opening laps. He worked his way back to sixth and maintained the position before unfortunately crashing on Lap 11. Webb rejoined in eighth but started to lose more ground with a flat front tire and had to come into the mechanics’ area to change the wheel. Unwilling to quit, Webb went back out to salvage some points and came back from 32nd to 25th, ending the day 15th overall.
“It was a bummer ending to the day at Millville,” said Webb. “I qualified ninth today, which was solid. In Moto 1, I got a good start but struggled a bit. I was fighting the bike and wasn’t super comfy, but we made a change for Moto 2, which was much better. I got a great start and was feeling good, running sixth. And with about five laps to go, I got a flat front tire, landed on a jump, and crashed. I thought it was flat, but I tried going another lap, and it was indeed flat. I came into the mechanics’ area to do a wheel swap to collect some points, but I was just too far back and too late in the race to make up many positions. So I’m pretty bummed to end it that way. It would’ve likely been an 8-6 for, I believe, sixth overall, but it happens. We’ll just keep on keeping on.”
“It was a decent day here,” said Rich Simmons, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s 450 Team Manager. “Qualifying was good. It was just an unfortunate incident for Haiden in the first turn. He was up front and went down, but it was a big effort from him to come back to fourth, which gave him an opportunity to get on the overall podium. He had a better start to Moto 2 in sixth, but that gap to the front guys was too big by the time he got into third.
“Webb was in a great spot for the overall, and then, unfortunately, he went down and ended up having a front tire go flat. So it was out of his control, but that’s just part of racing. I think overall, it was a good day. The team did a good job and just kept improving the bike throughout the day. We'll just keep working and move on to Washington.”
On the heels of his first runner-up overall in the premier class, Deegan continues to build on an impressive rookie 450MX campaign, sitting third in the standings, while Webb holds second in the SMX 450 combined points. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing now prepares for the Washougal National at Washougal MX Park on July 25, the final round before the summer break and Round 8 of Pro Motocross and Round 25 of the SuperMotocross World Championship.