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Competition Post: Kane Taylor
On display during Budds Creek championship press conference.
In a teaser of what’s likely to come, the Pro Motocross champions press conference following the Budds Creek National this past weekend saw Jett Lawrence and Haiden Deegan seated alongside each other and pressed on their pending 450MX rivalry that could eventuate in 2026 – offering a rare glimpse into what we may become accustomed to from next year and beyond.
The comparison between the pair gained serious momentum throughout this year’s outdoors, particularly because both Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and Lawrence (Honda HRC Progressive) had disposed of their respective 250MX and 450MX competition early in the piece, causing attention to shift as to when these two would meet in one year’s time.
Not only was this a fan, media, and average pundit thing, but it also reached both riders, too, with sneaky jabs taken at each other throughout the season – which was especially the case on social media. Taunts were rife as they continued to show up on weekends and capture race win after race win, trophy after trophy, and eventually, the number one plates in each division.
Then, as if pouring fuel on a fire, Deegan was officially announced to the 450MX division as part of a multi-year deal with the Star Racing organization commencing for Pro Motocross in 2026, adding substance to a conversation that was still relatively speculative up until that point.
Image: Octopi Media.
As for the riders, there hasn’t been a great deal of interaction between the two – it’s almost been a more indirect thing – with the Deegans making a big deal about the Lawrences’ ‘blocking’ them from racing last year’s AUSX Open event in Australia, or the commotion between Hunter Lawrence (Honda HRC Progressive) and Deegan when they were dicing for the 250MX outdoor title in 2023.
Put simply, all signs point to the two not having a type of fondness for one another – and they certainly have polar opposite approaches when it comes to how they conduct themselves and their racing. The Lawrence camp are quiet achievers – they let the riding do the talking, largely avoiding the need to engage in drama even when they are poked and prodded by their competition.
The Deegans, on the other hand, appear to thrive on controversy. They love the commentary that comes in the aftermath – even if it is negative – because that gives them fuel to say ‘we proved you all wrong’ when they make the walk up to the podium. We’ve seen that time and time again with Haiden and his competition, with his list of rivalries more than you could count on one hand by now. And it’s good for the brand. Usually.
It’s a strategy that has worked so far in the feeder 250 category, and worked really, really well to say the least. It’s had a significant impact on the likes of Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Jo Shimoda (Honda HRC Progressive), and Julien Beaumer (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) throughout their championship duels with Deegan, where he’s so often enjoyed the upper hand when it counts.
Image: Octopi Media.
It is also an approach, however, that has many people wondering whether it will work in the premier class, where Deegan will meet an entire top 10 of previous 250 champions, as well as multi-time 450 title holders. It’s a different ball game, and we sit here with the question of how will he fare against Jett Lawrence? But that assumes that he can get through multi-time 450 champions Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), which is far from a certainty.
Nevertheless, both Jett and Haiden’s futures did finally collide at Budds Creek, with the two directly commenting elaborately on each other for really the first time in their young careers.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it,” commented Lawrence when questioned on Deegan’s arrival. “I’m always up for new challenges. I feel like when I get challenged, when someone comes in that is really good, I feel like I ride better – and it creates new motivation for me. No one wants to lose in this sport, so whenever I do lose, I get pretty pissed.
“I’m looking forward to it – obviously the fans want to create a rivalry – we are the closest in age, I would say, outside of the other competitors, so yeah, people seem to be trying to create the RC [Ricky Carmichael] and James Stewart kind of thing, which is cool. The sport needs a rivalry, and I think it’ll be good for the sport.”
Deegan added directly afterwards: “I’m excited, although I have a little bit of work to do, obviously. Those guys are pretty gnarly in the 450 class, so all I can do is work hard and eventually be running up there with the boys, but as of now, I have a lot of work to do – or whether it is a lot or just putting my days in, but we’ll get there.”
An interesting note is that neither mentioned the other by name, which likely points to the underlying animosity that is swirling beneath the surface of their otherwise nice and respectful answers. Neither congratulated the other on their title or overall season, either, which suggests that this interaction was a forced process (hats off to whoever seated them together), prompted only by the unavoidable circumstances of the question and proximity.
There isn’t any love lost here, by all indications, which is interesting because they’ve only ever really met on the one occasion that Hunter and Haiden had a quasi-rivalry outdoors in 2023. What it means is that it undoubtedly sets us up for a wild decade of competition, considering both Jett and Deegan are just getting started in their careers.
I anticipate that when the two futures do collide, fireworks in one way or another won’t be all that far off between the two camps. Add in the fact that Brian Deegan is an expert at playing the antagonist – as he did in Freestyle Motocross with Travis Pastrana in the early 2000s – and all the ingredients are there for… entertainment, to say the very least.
As mentioned, a lot of this presupposes that Haiden will clear Chase, Hunter, Eli, and more to be able to reach Jett on a regular basis, which again, is no sure thing and something that will be an intriguing piece to follow in its own right.