Haiden Deegan is without question the man to beat in the 250 class in the AMA Nationals. The brash young American likes to talk the talk, but he also walks the walk and nobody can deny he is the future for American motocross.

While he might be a long way from the top 450 riders at the moment, his confidence, technique and dedication will probably see him pushing the likes of Jett Lawrence and Jorge Prado in the not to distant future.

Below is some stuff he told the media as we all listened via the official press conference for the AMA Nationals, or Pro Motocross as they like to call it now.

Winning Round One

I just kind of came in with the same goals last season, to go 1-1 at the first round and set the standard. That just kind of gave me some confidence too. That first race in general, you’re always like, kind of like, ‘Where will I stand?’ Obviously, I knew I was going to come out and be pretty good, but once you win, it kind of sets the bar. Yeah, now first rounds done.

The Long Haul

It is the first round. We got 22 motos. It’s cool to get a 20-second gap, but you know, save that once you have a championship wrapped up. So yeah, go out there, kind of get into a lead and just pace second place. Pretty much is what I did, rode my race, and yeah, you don’t want to override it because we got 11 rounds or whatever, so I’m going to do that.

The Pressure of Performance

The first round, everybody wants to be the fastest guy right off the bat, so I know it was kind of everyone going everywhere. And it’s just not a risk going down or anything. So just waited a little, let everyone get in their groove, then started making passes and then got to first. You just don’t want to rush to the beginning because you get thrown away pretty quick. Especially Fox is super-slick, so yeah, just had to wait it out.

Racing Near Home

I grew up 20 minutes away from here. And I’ve been riding here since I was like probably six years old, so it’s definitely cool in general to do it in front of the hometown crowd as well. I’m pretty comfortable on this track, I know it like the back of my hand – even though the track layout is different, I still I know this place right in the back of my head.

Bike Set-Up

I’m like in a position where I want to go so fast, I got to have my bike stiff. And that’s what I was doing at The Farm. I was going speeds pretty fast, every time I go stiffer and stiffer, I go faster and faster, but it’s just harder to hang on. So it kind of just depends on how good shape you are to hang on to it, but I was actually thinking about going even stiffer after this race because all the gee-outs and stuff, I was like blowing my hands off. I don’t know, we’ll figure it out at the next race, the bike was a little off in that second moto, but I figured out.