Haiden and Cooper Return to the Podium at Ironman
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan scores runner-up overall finish at the Ironman National, and Justin Cooper secures second in the 250MX Championship / Aug 27, 2023 /
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan returned to the podium at yesterday’s Pro Motocross season finale, scoring a runner-up overall finish with a 2-3 moto score at the Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana. It was a strong debut season, where he finished fourth in the points standings and earned Rookie of the Year honors. Justin Cooper overcame adversity to finish second in Moto 2, ending the day fourth overall (13-2) and securing a runner-up finish in the 250MX Championship. Stilez Robertson joined his teammates in the top 10 with a 12-11 moto score. Daxton Bennick was 12th (20-7) and Levi Kitchen was 15th (7-37). In his first race with the team, Gavin Towers won both motos to top the podium in Friday’s Scouting Moto Combine.
Deegan showed speed straight away at the Ironman Raceway and qualified second. After the gate drop in the first moto, the Californian got a good start and was fifth after the first lap. He put his head down and made his way to the runner-up spot where he would finish. In Moto 2, Deegan was seventh after the start and fought his way up to third, notching his ninth podium of the season and securing second overall. It was a year of milestones for the 17-year-old, who finished fourth overall in the 250MX Championship and sits second in the combined points heading into the SuperMotocross Playoffs. Deegan was also honored with Rookie of the Year for his outstanding achievements.
His teammate Cooper had a good start to the day as well, qualifying fourth. Unfortunately, the New Yorker got caught up in the pile-up after the start of Moto 1 and found himself 31st after the first lap. Undeterred, he fought his way through the pack to cross the line 13th. Cooper then got a good start in Moto 2, despite the gate pick, and was sixth. He ran a strong pace and made his way into the runner-up spot but lost too much time to close the gap to the leader. His 13-2 moto score secured second in the 250MX Championship with 399 points, which also has him seventh in the 250SMX standings.
In his third race back after being sidelined with an injury, Robertson continued to make progress and qualified 10th. He had a good start in the first moto in sixth but ultimately was shuffled back to 12th. The Californian got another good start in the second moto, but unfortunately a rider went down in front of him, and he found himself 20th after the first lap. Robertson kept pushing and fought his way back to 11th, ending the day with a top-10 overall finish.
Bennick continues to show strength during his transition to the pro ranks. The 17-year-old qualified 14th but also got caught up in that first moto crash after the start and had to make his way from the back of the field to 20th. In the final moto of the season, Bennick got a great start despite having a less-than-ideal gate pick and was 11th. He continued to ride a strong pace and made his way to seventh to end the day 12th overall.
Kitchen hit the ground running at the Ironman Raceway and set the fastest time in the first session to earn his first 250 fastest qualifier honors. Unfortunately, after the chaos at the start of Moto 1, he found himself 24th. The Washington State rider then launched an impressive charge and crossed the line seventh. Kitchen got a better start in Moto 2 and slotted into the runner-up spot. He battled for a podium position and had the leader in sight, but unfortunately crashed and withdrew from the race. Kitchen finished the year fifth in the 250MX points standings and sits third in the 250SMX combined points.
Ironman Raceway also hosted the final round of the Scouting Moto Combine, where Towers enjoyed an impressive debut race with the team. The amatuer rider dominated the competition with a win in both motos for the overall victory.
Next up for the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team is the first SuperMotocross Playoff race and Round 29 of the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship at the zMax Dragway at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on September 9.
Jensen Hendler – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager“It was another up-and-down day, but overall, it was a good weekend for the team. We had a great qualifying, with Levi being first, Haiden second, and Justin fourth. Unfortunately, that pile- up at the start of the first moto put an end to the championship. Justin fought his way back to 13th and then finished second in Moto 2 to end the day fourth overall and finish second in the championship. Haiden put in two great motos and went 2-3 for second overall. It was a great rookie season, and we’ll keep working to get some more wins this year in SMX.
“Stilez continued to make progress and had a good second moto to finish 10th overall. Dax also had to come back after that pile-up in the first moto. He got a great start in Moto 2 and finished seventh to end the day 12th. Levi had a great start to the day and showed a lot of speed in his motos, but unfortunately, he had that Moto 2 crash and was 15th.
“All in all, it was a good season. We’ve got a lot of young guys, and we made a lot of progress. I’m proud of our team. We’ll get back to work to prepare for the SMX rounds and look to get our guys back on top.”
Haiden Deegan – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“Today went well for what I was dealing with. Qualifying went well. I just sent it and qualified second overall. The first moto was a hard one for me. We still got second, which was good, but I still didn’t have anything in me to catch Jo (Shimoda). We just tried to rest in between the motos and tried to come out swinging in the second moto. I got a decent start and came out seventh and made my way up to third for second overall. It wasn’t the result we were wanting, but overall, for what the situation was, we’re happy with second overall.”
Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“Our last race at Ironman was very up and down. We had a chance at the championship, and we were looking to at least push it to Moto 2, but I got collected in a turn-two pile-up. That was pretty unfortunate. It sent me right to the back from the start. I tried to work my way up as far as I could, but we were stuck back there. It was pretty hard to get through all those guys. From there, the championship was over, and we headed over to the line 13th. I had quite a bad gate but was able to manage a top-10 start. We started picking guys off and got all the way to second. I was trying to make a push for the win but wasn’t able to make it happen. Overall, it was a good last race. I rode really well in the second moto, and we finished fourth overall. The team did a great job, and the bike was working awesome. Now we’re looking to get ready for these last three SMX races.”
Stilez Robertson – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“It was an okay day. I qualified 10th and went 12-11 for 10th overall. I got good starts in both motos, but I didn’t ride well in the first moto. In the second moto, I got a good start but ended up running into someone who was down, and that put me back to 20th. I came back through the pack to 11th and rode a lot better than I did in the first moto. I wish we could’ve eliminated the mistakes and put it all together for one good moto, but it is what it is. We’re healthy and ready to put in a really good off-season and get ready for supercross coming up.”
Daxton Bennick – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“It was a good weekend. I qualified pretty well, and then in the first moto, I was up there in the first turn but unfortunately got caught up in that pileup. I got back up dead last but came through the pack to 20th. In the second moto, I started around 10th, worked my way up to eighth, and ended up getting seventh. I was really happy with my second moto. This was a really good start to my pro career. It’s not really my rookie season, it’s more like my warm-up. I’m looking forward to moving onto supercross now and making a statement.”
Levi Kitchen - Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“I’m happy with how the day started, but obviously not how it ended. I felt we had the speed to win today. It just didn’t go my way. We’ll get back to work and come back swinging for SMX.”
2023 Pro Motocross 250MX Ironman Resultshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2355/M2F2PRESS.pdf
2023 Pro Motocross 250MX Results Championship Standingshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2355/M2F2PRESS.pdf
2023 SuperMotocross World Championship 250SMX Combined Pointshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2355/X2F2SMXPOINTS.pdf
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