Deegan Snubbed and Lawrences Blamed? | AUSX Open Facts 55

Another week in the off-season, another piece of drama. What are the facts behind the latest Deegan and Lawrence drama? Well, if you somehow were able to skate by this head-scratcher this week, I implore you to think twice before diving down the rabbit hole. If you'd like to join me on this journey, then continue to scroll and read. I spent the better part of this week with the note section of my phone and hours of phone calls to try and draw a conclusion. Below you'll find facts about the event, the clearing up of rumors and lies, along with my findings from conversations with promoters, racers, agents and more.

Part of the delay in writing this story was the conversations with nine different entities spanning the promotion group, Lawrences, Deegans, and Anderson. Most of these conversations were followed up on more than once for fact-checking and clarification purposes. This story is not to sensationalize one party's side of the story, without speaking to all parties involved, as we've seen in other mediums available. It is more common than not today for one side of a story to be run with as the complete and whole factual truth, and that is irresponsible. 

Facts about the 2024 edition of the AUSX Open

1. The AUSX Open was started in 2015 and operated through 2020 before a hiatus. The 2024 edition is not only being marketed as the event's return to the limelight but also as the homecoming for Jett and Hunter Lawrence. The event has been paused for nearly four years, it's been five years since Jett raced in his home country, and somewhere around eight years for Hunter. The event itself was publicly launched with the Lawrences earlier in 2024.
2. While the AUSX Open has been an exhibition race in past renditions, this year's event is tied into the fifth and final round of the Australian Supercross series. With this being a part of the fifth and final round of the Australian Supercross series, the event is actually open to entries. It's not up to AUSX Open on who races and doesn't
3. When speaking of the financial agreements and AUSX Open, it is treated as most other exhibition races. The race lineup for these events is mostly locked in by negotiations of "show-up money" or start fee. The riders added exclusively to the event negotiate payments with the race promoter and sign a contract to race the event based on mutually agreed-upon terms. These rider's results at the race do not affect their pay. However, their results could affect their negotiations for future renditions of the same event. Say rider X does very well in the 2024 version of the race, they could command a larger start fee for the 2025 version of the same event.
4. The Lawrences aren't receiving any start fees in 2024, as per their partnership agreement with the race. Instead, the Lawrences have opted for a long-term commitment with the race as co-promoters and will receive payment based on the back end of how the event performs. This will be based on sponsorship money paid to the event, tickets sold, concessions, and any potential streaming revenue.
5. To our knowledge, the only other rider who has negotiated a unique start fee for this year's version of the race is Cooper Webb, as the rest of the SX1 and SX2 classes are made up of the roster from the Australian Supercross series. Who are again competing for their championship in the fifth and final round of their 2024 series.
6. Per this ten-year agreement between the event and the Lawrences (five years locked in with a five-year option) the Lawrences hold the right alongside the other partners in the AUSX Open to approve funding/start fees for other riders.

Words from Each Party

The statements below are excerpts from our conversations with each party. In this situation, the parties will be broken down into four segments. One will be the series promoters/event owners. Secondly is Lawrence's representation's take. Third will be Deegan's representation's take. The fourth will be from Jason Anderson.

The Promoter's Situation

AME is the owner and promoter of AUSX Open. This group is composed of the core group who originally founded this event back in 2015, with some additions along the way. We spoke to a few members of this group who have asked to be represented in writing as "the promoters."  As mentioned above, the 2024 edition of the AUSX Open is a return to form for this group and is being marketed as not only the rebirth of the event but also the return of the Lawrences. The promoters had spoken to quite a range of riders, dating back to the later stages of 2023 and early stages of 2024, before locking in their initial deal with the Lawrences to headline the event and partner on a long-term basis. 

The promoter's stance on the situation is fairly cut and dry. They initially connected with the Deegans in early 2024 about featuring at the AUSX Open. Beyond this, they state discussions were sparse as the event was built up, and planned, and the groundwork was laid out. From their standpoint, the true discussions with the Deegans and their management about an offer to participate in the event only came about in the last two-to-three weeks before the event. This makes sense timeline-wise as there had been no public mention of Deegan's participation in the race or marketing build-up as there had been with the Lawrences and Webb. Their given reasoning for the late negotiations were, "We connected with the Deegans again after hearing Haiden was fit and potentially looking to race in the off-season after his post-season surgery." The promoters state some basic terms were agreed to but no contract was drafted up as they still needed to approve of the deal with all their partners. Once the deal to bring Deegan to the race was presented to the partners in the event (which includes the Lawrences), terms could not be agreed upon by all involved. 

While, yes, the promoters did confirm the Lawrences hadn't signed off in this part of the negotiation, they also commented that all partners involved weren't on the same page with the financial offer and the lateness of the agreement. Basically, it was even worded as, "It might not be the best use of our funds with an event that is nearly sold out.” Just to clarify, the other three outside riders being brought into this race (the Lawrences and Webb) were set to race in the 450 class, while Deegan would've entered the 250 class. Another reason listed by the promoter as a hold-up on the deal was not having another racer to market and situate against Deegan in that class.

Ultimately, the promoter group did state that the first year of the event is being marketed as the return of the Lawrences but they hope to land an agreement with Deegan in the future, maybe as early as 2025, to have Deegan face off directly against the Lawrences and other invited top riders as the event begins a yearly rotation and grows in interest once again. In fact, some of the main verbiage used in this portion of the conversation is the ultimate goal or fantasy of the race would be for Deegan to potentially make his 450 Supercross debut in this event against the Lawrences and more. Wouldn't that be a sight to see?

Additionally, the promoters did touch on the Jason Anderson situation. Anderson is someone the promoters quite like working with and while they want him at future versions of the race, they stated there was no negotiation with Anderson to compete in 2024 as they're aware of Kawasaki's stance on off-season and exhibition races. They knew there was no point in even beginning conversations until Jason's time at Kawasaki comes to an end or the brand/team change their stance on these races.

Lastly, the promoters confirmed the race is open to entries as a part of the 2024 Australian Supercross series and no riders can be banned from entering the event. They reiterated the fact that they never confirmed a deal with Deegan to race or announced his participation – negotiations only started in the last two weeks.

The Lawrences' Situation

The brothers are headlining this event, returning home after conquering the world together, and are helping bring this event back to life. According to their representation (Lucas Mirtl), Hunter and Jett's participation is more than just being negotiated racers for this event, as the brothers are now strategic partners in the event with the promotion group. They have waived any start fee, and have helped with the promotion and marketing of the event beyond what is normally required of attending racers. This includes helping launch the return of the event as their homecoming to Australia with TV appearances detailing their journey with the event, and more. 

With this strategic involvement comes contractual requests from the Lawrences as a group, one of which was the final approval of other paid-to-arrive riders. Again, any rider can enter the event, but the financial negotiations for each pay-to-arrive rider have a group of partners that need sign-off before the deal can be completed. The Lawrences and their management, per their agreement, are among the partners to sign off on these deals. This partnership covers the next ten years of the event, at current. In this case, the Lawrences can protect their own interests if required. Also, the other most notable riders in this year's race (Webb, H. Lawrence, and J. Lawrence) have been publicizing and marketing this race for over six months. At the time of our call to their camp, we were told the event has less than 3,000 tickets remaining for sale (with over a 90% sell-through on the event), and one of their listed reasonings for not approving Haiden's requested pay was feeling his price and presence would not be adequately offset through the small amount of remaining ticket sales. It was also stated that his last-minute addition was too late to properly publicize and would be the only outside name brought into the 250 class to race a contingent of Australian Supercross series riders in that class.

Outside of this, yes, their representation did say that past comments and interactions with Deegan and his camp are also a reason they denied the financial request to attend the race, at the last minute, as a participant. However, their contract doesn't allow them to block the race entry of a rider. As we stated in the early facts of this feature, any Supercross level racer can enter and qualify for the AUSX Open. Towards the end of the conversation, they also stated they have a high interest in inviting Haiden to race a 450 against the Lawrences in the next year or two, once Deegan makes his transition to the 450 class.

The Deegans' Situation

From the Deegan camp, we spoke to Brian Deegan and two of Haiden's agent/legal representatives, Bob Walker and Ryan Hagy. On their side, the Deegans' interest in racing in Australia stems back to Brian's own experience of doing the Crusty Demon Freestyle tours down under for nearly a decade. So, in their eyes, they have quite a built-in fan base, even though most would think of this event and just picture the Lawrences/Aussies. While a discussion between the Deegans and the promoters happened back in January, the primary discussion and negotiation ramped up in the past couple of weeks. This was once it was clear that Haiden was back to form from his surgery and ready to race. From the Deegan's standpoint, the promoters ultimately made an offer that was canceled before all parties signed off on the deal. From their side, it was solely due to the Lawrences' clause. When the level of the Lawrences' involvement in the event was discussed on our part with the Deegan camp, there was a sense of genuine surprise on their part. This made it seem as if there were maybe some missing words on the promoter's part during negotiations that could've diffused or at least eliminated some of the surprise in the decision to ultimately cut off and cancel moving forward with a contract.

Due to the depth of the Lawrences' involvement in the race, maybe not being fully clear in negotiations, it was viewed by the Deegans as being "blackballed" from the race. However, being "banned" from the race in general wasn't a fully confirmed situation but was viewed as such due to their agreement to race getting rescinded. This is understandable as the optics of each party's involvement can change another party's outlook on the decision. "Look, if we had clearer verbiage on this being their event and their party, then conversations would've been different," one of Deegan's representatives said. This was a genuine response and makes sense when not all parties are in the same room. The Deegan camp confirmed they were asked to directly connect with the Lawrences to move forward and maybe find a resolution. They stated they didn't find it necessary to move in that direction because they felt that was how they were told to bow down. Some of these conversations get into the weeds of where each rider's representation was a bit at each other's throats when you hear both sides. Both sides claim some aggressiveness and choice verbiage on the other's behalf, but that seems natural in negotiations and business involving two parties that clearly aren't happy with each other. Yes, it was confirmed that they haven't contacted either Jett or Hunter Lawrence, or anyone directly in the family, to discuss the issues at hand and why the decision was made to pull their offer.

To note, this sense of aggression and debate is honestly between each party's agents as the riders themselves weren't even a part of any of these conversations. To put it bluntly, agents will be agents. They want the best for their rider, period. Sometimes, that leads to some aggressive interactions and situations. All discussions between the Deegan and Lawrence camps have been through their agents, primarily Ryan Hagy and Lucas Mirtl, in recent weeks.

Naturally, the Deegan camp was upset at the deal getting pulled and did state the real losers in all this are the fans, which they aren't factually wrong about. However, they also lost out on what was potentially a $100,000 payday. The number listed here was neither confirmed nor denied by Deegan's camp, but was provided by another entity in this conversation.

Anderson's Situation

This is the only person in this conversation I personally didn't speak to. Instead, Jamie Guida from our staff had a short chat with Anderson. Jason stated he actually didn't know what was going on, but his phone was blowing up when the drama started, and he kicked into action. His comments on social media were posted just to have some fun. He also stated he wasn't planning on going to AUSX Open and hadn't had conversations about going for 2024. Again, all involved are aware Kawasaki won't allow races like this in their rider's schedules.

Anderson's last showing at this event was during their previous running in 2020, back when he was still with the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team. During this time, Anderson was a regular at off-season money and exhibition races. Since joining Monster Energy Kawasaki in 2022, he has been absent from races of this type. We expect his return to these sorts of venues if he switches teams for the 2026 season, as his current Kawasaki agreement expires in the later stages of 2025. The 2025 version of the race will be late enough in the year, maybe we even see him debut in new colors there?

Closing Thoughts

Nothing burger? Sometimes this is what crossed my mind during these conversations. Is there some drama involved here? Yes. Is there business involved here? Yes. Is there a party at fault? Depends on what you think of the whole situation.

The Deegans were interested in doing an exhibition race in Australia, and tried to negotiate a financial payment to do so, but it ultimately fell through due to a disagreement between the race partners. On one hand, the fans lose out by not having one of the biggest names currently in the sport at the race, but you also don't see Tomac, Roczen, and other top names there. The event will still likely be a sell-out without his participation. Could he have gone without some of the words and actions he's taken against the Lawrences? Possibly. Life is full of choices. It is what it is.

This race will mark the Lawrence's first return to Australia in eight years. They have conquered the world and are the returning heroes. Does the event need more than that? Possibly not, especially as it has been off the calendar for a few years now. Did the Lawrences block Deegan from racing? Not exactly. Did they block him from getting paid to do so? Yes, they did. Is this wrong? In some eyes maybe. It's also business and their right with what they negotiated, especially being a form of partner in the event. As one party stated to us, "It's like the Lawrence's coming home party. If you're throwing a party, do you invite the people who have continuously rubbed you wrong? No". I think most will understand this line of thinking. Does that make the Lawrences right or wrong? Again, it all depends on how you view this.

The promotion group did their best to create a great lineup and they will likely have an outstanding event. Could some of this mess been avoided if there was better foresight or discussion on their part? Yes. Again, they were doing their job to create a great event though. Sometimes feathers are ruffled in business.

Who wins in this situation? No one really. Does anyone lose? Yes, the fan bases have now been pitched against each other. Fingers have been pointed, and lines were drawn in the sand. That fault alone is pointed at misinformation and jumping to conclusions.

Does this really affect the Lawrences or Deegans going forward? It doesn't change much. Each camp has mutual respect for what the other had achieved on track but their off-track respect is at a much lower level. This has no real effect on each rider's legacy, results in the upcoming season, or bank accounts. All involved are financially set after success earlier this year.

The AUSX Open will go on, it will likely be a large success, and there will be great racing had. In future years we may even see both the Lawrences and Deegan at this event going head-to-head. Until then, feathers have been ruffled and we're just waiting to get to Anaheim 1, 2025.