Haiden Deegan Wins 250 WSX at Denver

When push came to shove, Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan wasn’t afraid to put it all on the line versus his Monster Energy AMA Supercross rookie teammate, Cole Davies, in the Denver 250 WSX main event at Empower Field at Mile High.

With a couple laps remaining in the contest, Deegan track down, caught, and more or less – legally (according to AMA race officials) – bullied his way past Davies, taking the inside line off a long straight into a left hand bowl turn, making contact with Davies, who’s currently No. 2 in 250 WSX points behind Deegan, and forcing the New Zealander up and over the berm, through the Tuff Blocks and off the track.

Said NBC Sports announcer Ricky Carmichael of the infamous Denver pass: “I’ve seen a lot worse angles and moves than that. It’s for the championship and you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.”

Said Deegan on The Pass: “Two laps to go, I wanted that win. … I was going to do anything for it.”

Added Davies of his substantial race lead prior to the incident with Deegan: “I should have capitalized on that better, so that’s on me. I shouldn’t have put myself in that position.”

With the win Deegan moved 25 points out front of Davies, 196-171, with one race, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250 ESX/WSX Showdown (Salt Lake City, May 10) remaining on the schedule. Should Davies win next weekend, with (albeit high unlikely) Deegan not scoring a point, the two would be tied at 196 points – and Deegan would win the 250 WSX championship based having more higher placing podium finishes than Davies.

Also making the podium for Monster Energy was Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks, who placed 3^rd. The podium for Marchbanks was his second straight in 250 WSX racing and moved him into 6^th position in the overall standings, and just one point (131-130) back of Cody Schock (Yamaha) for a top five overall position.

In 450 class racing at Denver Monster Energy’s Cooper Webb (Star Racing/Yamaha) did what he needed to do in order to preserve his class championship points lead ahead of KTM’s Chase Sexton. Webb ran a smart, consistent race for 2^nd place (to Sexton’s win), giving him a nine-point cushion (347-338) on the title heading into Salt Lake City.

“I was off. It was a tough day,” admitted Webb, who nearly crash, with Sexton, at the start of the race. “You could say a million things, but in general… I tried to latch onto Chase, but he was really on it today. I felt consistent. My lap times felt good, I felt I hit the whoops solid all day. Pretty much identical every lap. There’s a lot of money at stake. There was podiums at stake. I was just trying to go as hard as I could for as long as I could.”

In 3^rd place for Monster Energy in the 450 class at Denver, with another great race, was Justin Cooper (Star Racing/Yamaha). The podium finish was Cooper’s second straight, third of the season, and moves him six points (261-255) ahead of Malcolm Stewart (Husqvarna) for 4^th place in the overall season standings. And just a click outside the top ten in the Denver 450 results was Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Christian Craig who placed 11^th – his best finish of the season.

Denver 450 class results                                               250 WSX class results

2^nd – Webb (Monster/Star/Yamaha)                                              1^st – Deegan (Monster/Star/Yamaha)

3^rd – Cooper (Monster/Star/Yamaha)                                            3^rd – Marchbanks (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)

11^th – Craig (Monster/Star/Yamaha)                                              5^th – Davies (Monster/Star/Yamaha)                  

Overall Standings (16 of 17 rounds)

450 class                                                                         250 WSX class

1^st – Webb, 347 points                                                                  1^st – Deegan, 196 points

4^th – Cooper, 261 points                                                               2^nd – Davies, 171

9^th – Hill, 180 points                                                                     6^th – Marchbanks, 130 points

Notes & Quotes

• Should Sexton be able to win the Salt Lake City 450 main event, Webb would have to finish in 5^th place or better in order to secure the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series 450 class title. Webb has only placed outside the top four once in 2025 (Anaheim 2).
• There was nearly a disaster at the start of the Denver 450 main when, admittedly unintentional, Webb was forced by Stewart to jump into Sexton’s line – nearly ending Sexton’s, and almost Webb’s, race. But the two survived and would go 1-2 on the podium.
• (Justin) Cooper also played the role of point insurer during his race to 3^rd place. Had he passed Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha teammate Webb late in the race, and it looked like he had the speed to do so, it would have cost Webb an additional two championship points.
• “When there’s two guys duking it out for the championship, you don’t want to be the guy intervening with it.” – Cooper, regarding pulling out all the stops to pass Webb for 2^nd place.
• With his championship clinching 1^st place ride at Denver, Deegan has won titles in all three SMX divisions, including the outdoor nationals and SMX World Championship.
• “Deegan, with championship on the mind, just hip checked his teammate off the track.” – NBC announcer Leigh Diffey on how he saw the Deegan/Davies pass at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium.
• Davies, running former Yamaha great Bob “Hurricane” Hannah’s No. 100, pulled a picture perfect holeshot in the main and, arguably, would have walked away with the Denver 250 WSX victory had it not been for issues with lapped traffic. Davies’ fastest lap time of 50.378 (Lap 3) was nearly a second faster than Deegan’s fast lap of 51.278 (Lap 5).
• “What a bummer. He was riding real well.” – NBC’s Carmichael of the aggressive move in a corner by KTM’s Julian Beaumer who took out then 3^rd place racer Michael Mosiman (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha).

Up next: 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross comes to a crescendo with Round 17 this Saturday, May 10, at Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.