We have a few weeks off in the Pro Motocross season so lets breakdown what everyone is waiting for next year outdoors: Haiden Deegan vs Jett Lawrence.
I am going to compare their 250MX careers, however, I will only compare their stats from being a full time rider in the class. So this won’t include the couple of races they did after finishing their amateur career after Loretta’s.
For Jett Lawrence, this includes his three races in 2019. And for Haiden Deegan, this includes his two races in 2022.
Adjusting for this, we have 33 total races for Jett Lawrence and 30 for Haiden Deegan. There are three more rounds to go this year which would give us a full comparison, but hey why wait when we need some off week content. Also there was the report that Deegan may race the final round in the 450 class if he clinches the title early – which the Deegan camp later denied.
I’ll show both the total numbers and the the percentage rate for the relative comparison.
Remember, this does not include Jett’s 2019 races and Deegan’s 2022 races!
Starts and Points Data
Starts
Jett Lawrence – 33
Haiden Deegan – 30
Not including Jett 2019, or Deegan 2022 races
Points and Points per Start
Points
Jett Lawrence – 1,299
Haiden Deegan – 1,220
Points per Start
Jett Lawrence – 39.36
Haiden Deegan – 40.67
Overalls Data
Overall Average Finish
Jett Lawrence – 3.91
Haiden Deegan – 3.27
Overall Wins and Win Rate
Wins
Jett Lawrence – 14
Haiden Deegan – 12
Win Rate
Jett Lawrence – 42.42%
Haiden Deegan – 40.00%
Overall Podiums and Podium Rate
Podiums
Jett Lawrence – 19
Haiden Deegan – 22
Podium Rate
Jett Lawrence – 57.58%
Haiden Deegan – 73.33%
Motos Data
Moto Average Finish
Jett Lawrence – 4.36
Haiden Deegan – 3.90
Moto Wins and Win Rate
Wins
Jett Lawrence – 20
Haiden Deegan – 23
Win Rate
Jett Lawrence – 30.30%
Haiden Deegan – 38.33%
Moto Podiums and Podium Rate
Podiums
Jett Lawrence – 44
Haiden Deegan – 42
Podium Rate
Jett Lawrence – 66.67%
Haiden Deegan – 70.00%
Laps Led Data
Laps Led and Laps Led Percentage
Laps Laps
Jett Lawrence – 258
Haiden Deegan – 285
Laps Led Percentage
Jett Lawrence – 24.76%
Haiden Deegan – 29.81%
Qualifying Data
Average Qualifying Position
Jett Lawrence – 4.39
Haiden Deegan – 3.80
Pole Positions
Jett Lawrence – 7
Haiden Deegan – 8
Average Seconds Gap to Pole Position
Jett Lawrence – 1.53 seconds
Haiden Deegan – 1.18 seconds
Average % Gap to Pole Position
Jett Lawrence – 1.21%
Haiden Deegan – 0.90%
Out of all the relative comparisons (averages or rates), Haiden Deegan leads in all except one – Overall Win %. This was very surprising to with how close most of these stats are. Interestingly, Jett leads in Overall Win %, but lags behind in Overall Podium %.
Jett Lawrence only has one overall outside the Top 10 in his full time 250MX career, a double DNF at Lorretta Lynn’s 2 in 2020 – 30-31 scores. Haiden Deegan has just two outside the Top 10, both in 2023, 11th overall at Budds Creek and 17th overall at Unadilla.
Another interesting stat, given how strong Jett’s 450 starts are, he had 5 holeshots compared to Deegan’s 12 in 250MX. This likely explains the 5% higher laps led percentage for Haiden Deegan.
With all these stats considered, its important to consider the competition that the riders faced in their time in the class. I would argue that Jett faced steeper competition in his 250MX career with the likes of Dylan Ferrandis, Jeremy Martin, Hunter Lawrence and Justin Cooper. Deegan also competed against Hunter and Justin Cooper as well. However, once those two moved up, the gap from Deegan to the rest of the field is pretty wide. There has been flashes from riders like Jo Shimoda, Levi Kitchen and Chance Hymas here and there but they have lacked consistency over the years. At the same time, you could argue that Deegan is just that strong and is making it look easy! Time will tell!
When Hunter Lawrence won the 250MX title in 2023, there was a clear “next guy” in Deegan. Deegan has obviously lived up to that, but who is the that rider now? Hymas, Kitchen, Vialle (if he stays in the USA and rides the 250MX class)? Another rider? Its not clear, in part because of how dominant Deegan has been.
With Deegan leading all but one relative category, he has three more rounds to go. And even a 5-10 finish in a moto or overall would be enough to tilt the scale back to Jett. Something to watch for in the next three rounds when the series returns!
