Deegan Earns First Premier-Class Podium at Hangtown
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan finishes third overall in just his second outing aboard the YZ450F in Pro Motocross / Jun 9, 2026 /
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan continued his upward momentum at the Hangtown Motocross Classic, with the rookie earning a podium finish in just his second round of the Pro Motocross 450 Championship.
Deegan showed speed from the start at the Prairie City SVRA in Rancho Cordova, California. The 20-year-old topped the timesheets in the first qualifying session and qualified second overall. In the first moto, Deegan got a great start, slotting into the runner-up spot, which he maintained for most of the moto. As the clock wound down, Hunter Lawrence closed in and made the pass with five laps remaining. Deegan rode on to secure third and his first moto podium in the premier class.
Although he did not repeat the start in Moto 2, Deegan repeated the result. The six-time 250 class champion was ninth after the restart but quickly charged through to third by Lap 6, where he would remain to secure third overall and move up to third in the championship standings, 19 points behind the leader.
“Today was good,” said Deegan. “It was a super good qualifying – my first time ever qualifying P1 in a session, so that was cool. We were P2 overall in qualifying and then, 3-3 moto scores on the day. It was a good building day. We will just continue to build throughout the week and during these weekends. The goal is obviously to get to the front, so all you can do is keep on working.”
Cooper Webb also made improvements at Hangtown. He qualified just outside the top 10 and found himself 16th after the start of Moto 1. Webb quickly charged to 11th on the opening lap and continued working his way forward, eventually finishing ninth. In Moto 2, he crashed early, but the race was red-flagged after a big crash involving his teammate Justin Cooper. After the restart, he got a great start with the holeshot and maintained a spot inside the top five before dropping back to ninth around the halfway mark, where he would finish to secure eighth overall with the consistent top 10 results.
“Hangtown was, overall, a really good day for me,” said Webb. “There were a lot of improvements. I qualified 11th, which was a little better than last week. It was a solid day – went 9-9 for 8th overall. So I'm happy. My goal was to be in the top 10 this weekend, and we achieved that. I crashed after the start of Moto 2, and then rebounded and got an awesome holeshot after the restart. So that was really cool. I ran out front for about halfway, and then shuffled back, but we know the pace and what we need to work on.”
Justin Cooper had a solid start to the day, qualifying inside the top five. Unfortunately, a poor start in Moto 1 left him 19th on the opening lap, but the New Yorker put his head down and charged through the field to finish eighth. He had a much better start to the second moto in the top five. Then Mikkel Haarup went down right in front of him, and with nowhere to go, Cooper hit the bike and went down hard, drawing out the red flag. He was seen on-site by the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Unit, then transported to a local hospital for further evaluation and later released. Cooper sustained a concussion, but thankfully avoided any broken bones, and now focuses on returning to 100%.
“I’m bummed to go down like that at Hangtown,” said Cooper. “The crash was completely out of my control, but that’s racing. The team and I made some bike changes for the second moto, and I was excited to see what I could do with a good start. It was a high-speed crash, and I hit my head, but luckily, everything else has checked out okay. I’m going to rest up and come back once I feel I’m physically back to one hundred percent.”
“Overall, it was a better weekend and another step in the right direction,” said Rich Simmons, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s 450 Team Manager. “With Haiden, we needed to fix the starts. So we worked on that this week and a little bit on suspension, so I think overall, we made a pretty big gain. It's good for him to get up front and run with the Lawrence brothers and see what that pace is. Webb got a good start after the red flag with another holeshot. He was 12th overall last week and eighth overall this week, so it was another good step for him, and we’ll just keep building. Justin had some good momentum coming into this race, but a bad start in the first moto and a crash at the start of the second moto didn’t allow him to show that. We are glad that there are no serious injuries after that crash and are very thankful for that.”
The series now begins its trek east, with the Thunder Valley National next weekend – Round 3 of the Pro Motocross Championship and Round 20 of the Monster Energy SuperMotocross World Championship at Thunder Valley Motocross Park in Lakewood, Colorado, on June 13.