Haiden Deegan wins 250 feature, RJ Hampshire and Tom Vialle crowned champions

By wazup on May 12, 2024 Comments Closed / 71 views

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Haiden Deegan scored his third 250 win of the season ahead of RJ Hampshire and Jordon Smith, but the divisional titles went to Hampshire and Tom Vialle, who finished eighth in the rundown.

Vialle entered this round with a 15-point advantage over Deegan and needed nearly all of it to keep the challenger from taking the East title.

In the 250 West division, Hampshire needed only to finish ahead of Levi Kitchen, who crossed under the checkers in fifth.

Deegan won his heat and grabbed the early lead in the feature as the rider he chased in the 250 East struggled early. Vialle barely finished in the top nine in his heat for the automatic advancement to the feature. With a poor gate pick, he finished Lap 1 modestly but needed only to finish 11th or better to take the title.

“I had a bad race,” Vialle told Peacock’s Will Christien after finishing four points ahead of Deegan. “Today was really hard but I was like this is the moment. I have to do the start. The last five laps, I was really nervous, but I made it. I’m really happy coming from Europe to the US and getting the Supercross [championship] in only my second year.”

In the 250 West division, it was a winner-take-all affair and Hampshire rode a safe race at the end to finish in the runner-up position in the race and five points ahead of his title challenger.

Jordon Smith challenged Deegan for most of the race, but an aggressive pass in the closing laps went awry and he hit the ground to give Hampshire second.

Jo Shimoda briefly got around him, but fell to third in the final rundown.

In-Race Notes

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — It’s a beautiful day at Rice-Eccles Stadium with bright blue skies. Clouds are forecast for the start of the race, but no rain until the middle of the night.

So much for the forecast. As the 450 riders line up, dark skies are on the horizon even as sun shines on the track.

Three championships are on the line this week with the closest belonging to the 250 West division. RJ Hampshire and Levi Kitchen are tied in points. In 250 East, Tom Vialle has a 15-point lead on Haiden Deegan. Jett Lawrence is 20 above Cooper Webb in 450s.

There are bright skies over the stadium but lightning has struck nearby so the evening program is under weather delay.

As we wait out the lightning delay, rain has rolled in. This could change everything. If Jett Lawrence has a weakness, it is that he does not race well in the mud. Rain barely clipped the track, however, so the course will be fine for the Features.

Features

450s

Jett Lawrence will win his third straight 450 title with a race finish of 17th or better.

250s

It’s a clean start and Haiden Deegan takes the lead.

Nick Romano and Jordon Smith slot into second and third.

In the 250 West challenge, RJ Hampshire in fourth leads Levi Kitchen in seventh.

Tom Vialle overcomes his bad gate pick and slots into ninth, which is enough to take the championship unless he fades.

With 12 minutes to go, Vialle moves up a spot to eighth.

Nine minutes to go and Vialle is seventh.

Deegan still leads the race.

Hampshire (fourth) leads Kitchen (sixth).

One minute later, Hampshire moves into third around Jo Shimoda.

Kitchen passes Nate Thrasher for fifth with sixth to go, but is he running out of time? There is six minutes remaining.

Jordon Smith is catching Deegan for the lead. In third, Hampshire is willing to be patient.

Deegan and Smith make contact racing for the lead as time is running off the clock. Smith hits the ground and this battle is over for the moment.

This puts Hampshire in second and Shimoda moves to third.

Last Chance Qualifiers

450s

Grant Harlan takes the lead early and holds it till the end.

Devin Simonson and Fredrik Noren finish second and third.

In the final turn, Kevin Moranz comes for way back to take the fourth and final transfer position.

250s

This includes both East and West riders. Four will advance.

Coty Schock got the holeshot in his heat before crashing. He gets another good start and leads the LCQ.

Schock yards the field and beats Anthony Bourdon, Preston Boespflug and Max Miller. They will go into the Main.

Heats

450s

In Heat 1, Jett Lawrence gets pushed wide by Cooper Webb and hangs onto the spot. Justin Barcia showed a wheel, but Lawrence has the lead.

Webb settles into third.

The top five are spread out: Lawrence, Barcia, Webb, Dean Wilson and Vince Friese with two minutes on the clock.

Lawrence wins his heat over Barcia.

Webb may have shown his hand in the contact with Lawrence. His only hope to win the title is if Lawrence hits the ground.

Wilson holds onto fourth and Justin Hill rounds out the top five.

Friese, Shane McElrath, Jeremy Hand and Malcolm Stewart also advance.

Click here for complete 450 Heat 1 results

In Heat 2, Justin Cooper gets the early lead but Chae Sexton hangs tight and they swap the lead.

Hunter Lawrence slots into third.

Sexton lands short on a table top. He loses momentum but retains the lead.

Fast qualifier Sexton hangs on to the lead by nearly five seconds over Cooper.

Lawrence takes the third position with Jason Anderson and Dylan Ferrandis rounding out the top five.

Mitchell Oldenburg, Colt Nichols and Kyle Chisholm also advance to the Feature.

Adam Cianciarulo was running 10th on the final lap, but he got the final transfer position on the last lap when Fredrik Noren crashed.

Dylan Ferrandis, Fredrik Noren, Kyle Chisholm and Colt Nichols also advance.

Click here for complete 450 Heat 2 results

250 East

The 250 East riders are first up on the grid.

Coty Schock gets the early lead, blows a corner and hits the wall on Lap 1; he’s okay, but this will make it difficult to finish third in the standings.

That hands the lead to Haiden Deegan.

Tom Vialle is riding eighth, which will give him a bad gate pick if he cannot pick his way through the crowd.

With time running off the clock, Vialle falls to ninth. Remember, only nine riders automatically advance to the feature.

Deegan wins over Daxton Bennick and Seth Hammaker.

Fourth-place Jalek Swoll and Pierce Brown round out the top five.

Nick Romano, Max Anstie, Chance Hymas and Vialle also advance to the Feature — but Vialle is going to have a terrible gate pick.

Click here for complete 250 East heat results

SX 2024 Rd 17 Salt Lake City Haiden Deegan closeup.jpg

Haiden Deegan: “Controversy like the incidents this year, just builds character. I just turned 18; I’m still building as a character.”

Dan Beaver

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Dan Beaver

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250 West

The 250 West riders get off to a clean start.

Levi Kitchen gets a great start but RJ Hampshire is right with him. These riders are tied in points for the championship.

Hampshire doesn’t allow Kitchen to get away and stays withing a second.

Nate Thrasher is third.

Kitchen holds on for the win over Hampshire.

Thrasher stays third.

Fourth-place Jordon Smith and Jo Shimoda round out the top five.

Phil Nicoletti, Cole Thompson, Julie Beaumer and Ryder DiFrancesco also advance directly into the Main.

Click here for complete 250 West heat results

Qualification

450s

Jett Lawrence needs to finish 17th or better to clinch the 2024 Supercross title. He jumps to the top of the board early in Q1.

Lawrence remained fast, but he winds up second to Chase Sexton, who set his fast lap of 52.139 on his final lap. Sexton won this race last year.

Justin Cooper landed third on the grid.

Coming off his first 450 podium last week, Hunter Lawrence was fifth fastest.

Click here for complete 450 Qualification 1 results

Sexton picks up where he left off and paces the first half of Qualification 2.

Sexton hangs on for the fastest time of this session and the fastest time overall.

It’s hard to believe this is the first time he set Quick Time in 2024.

Lawrence is second fastest with Justin Barcia rounding out the top three in Q2.

Fourth-place Malcolm Stewart and Jason Anderson complete the top five.

Overall, Justin Cooper’s time from Q1 slots into third with Stewart fourth and Hunter Lawrence fifth.

Click here for complete 450 Qualification 2 results
Click here for complete 450 Qualification times

250s

With this as an East / West Showdown, the West division riders qualify separately from the East — and the West fittingly hits the track first here in Utah.

Jo Shimoda is fastest early, but RJ Hampshire is faster than Levi Kitchen in the opening laps.

Hampshire ends up on top of the board ahead of Julie Beaumer and Jordon Smith.

Kitchen lands fifth and Shimoda fell to sixth.

Click here for complete 250 West Qualification 1 results

Among the East riders, Chance Hymas posts the fastest opening lap.

Deegan tops the board ahead of Seth Hammaker and points’ leader Vialle.

Hymas dropped to seventh.

Click here for complete 250 East Qualification 1 results

Qualification 2 begins with the East riders and midway through the session, Vialle and Deegan are trying to decide who will be fastest. Right now: It’s Vialle.

Seth Hammaker and Chance Hymas jump to the top of the board, but Deegan is fastest overall from the first session. This is the first time Deegan has posted Quick Time.

In Q2, Deegan is third and Vialle is fourth.

Click here for complete 250 East Qualification 2 results

Jordon Smith is fastest halfway through the West riders Q2 session.

RJ Hampshire saved his best for last and sets the fastest time in Q2 over Smith and Julien Beaumer.

Kitchen land fourth with Shimoda fifth.

Overall, Deegan’s time stands.

Click here for complete 250 West Qualification 2 results

Click here for complete 250 West combined Qualification
Click here for complete 250 East combined Qualification

SX Rd 15 Philadelphia 2024 Adam Cianciarulo works the crowd.JPG

Adam Cianciarulo: “I’m very content and at peace with what I got from [the sport]. What dirt bikes has taught me is that I’m more than a dirt bike racer.”