Too close to call: Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence 250 career comparison

Haiden Deegan spent the final races of his 250 SuperMotocross career with one thing in mind: He was determined to add to his personal record book and enter the 2026 Pro Motocross season with the same mystique as Jett Lawrence in 2023.

Mission accomplished.

When Deegan scored his seventh 250 West Supercross victory in Denver in the penultimate race of the season, he tied Lawrence in the number of combined Supercross and Motocross victories with 27 each. On the podium and in post-trace media coverage, Deegan was quick to remind fans that he believed that was his eighth win of the year after being penalized one position for cutting the track in Birmingham during an East/West Showdown.

It was difficult to argue with him since the advantage he obtained by splitting the first and second markers in an alternate lane was minimal and he finished ahead of the credited winner, Cole Davies, by more than three and a half seconds. Deegan had one last opportunity to surpass Lawrence in the season finale, but was on the losing end of a spirited battle with Davies.

There is an inherent difficulty in comparing riders who have yet to compete head-to-head to any significant degree, but here are some numbers to keep in mind when they line up on the gate at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, on May 30.

Deegan wrapped up his second 250 Supercross championship with two races remaining, which was the fourth regular season title of his career, when one adds another pair Motocross championships.

Lawrence also has a pair of Supercross and Motocross titles each for a total of four.

The difference in their small bike careers comes down to the SuperMotocross Playoffs (SMX).

With four SMX victories and two titles, Deegan holds the advantage in terms of raw numbers. That statistic requires an asterisk since the playoff format was not around when Lawrence was in the 250 class.

Deegan's four wins and two championships are impressive, but one can only speculate as to how Lawrence would have performed in the three-round playoffs. A hint can be derived from the fact that Lawrence won all three SMX championships and six of nine races in the 450 class.

Lawrence holds the advantage in terms of winning percentage. In 66 starts, he stood on the top of the podium 40.9 percent of the time, equally distributed between Supercross (40.6%) and Motocross (41.2%).

Deegan's winning percentage was notably lower at 36.5 percent with a relatively larger gap between the two disciplines (35.0% ratio in SX and 38.2% in MX). His SMX winning percentage of 44.4 percent helps move the needle slightly, but raises his overall average only slightly to 37.3 percent.

A similar analysis of podiums puts Deegan ahead, but narrowly once again. He stood on the box 67.5 percent of the time (including SMX) compared to 63.6 percent for Lawrence.

Statistically speaking, Round 1 of the Motocross season, Round 18 of SuperMotocross, will be an extremely interesting race.