News 23 Mar 2024

Home race victory for Kitchen extends championship lead

The Kawasaki rider kicked off second half of 250SX West with a bang.

Image: Octopi Media.

Levi Kitchen claimed the 250SX main event win in front of a raucous home crowd in Seattle, Washington. It was Kitchen’s second win of the 2024 season and the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider saw his championship lead balloon out to eight points.

It was a wire-to-wire win as Kitchen holeshot the main event and outdueled Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer into the second corner of the race. From there he took off, establishing a four second lead by the time title rival Jordon Smith moved into second place. Smith tried to keep Kitchen close but kept slowly losing time.

Then Smith crashed in the second rhythm section all by himself and appeared to knock the wind out of himself. The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider would crash a couple more times and cross the line in 14th place which dropped him down to third in the standings.

Second place would go to Rockstar Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire who spent the first five minutes of the race battling Beaumer for third. By the time he was by, Kitchen was long gone at the front leaving Hampshire to settle for second. Behind Hampshire, Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda picked up his second podium finish of the year in third place.

Shimoda fought by Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha’s Garrett Marchbanks to get there as Marchbanks himself brought home a lonely fourth place. A strong fifth place behind them was MotoConcepts Racing Honda’s Carson Mumford who quietly passed several factory riders to get into the top five.

Fastest qualifier Michael Mosiman brought it home in sixth ahead of Beaumer in seventh, Anthony Bourdon in eighth, Nate Thrasher in ninth, and Cole Thompson rounding out the top 10.

Kitchen now takes his boosted championship lead into the Triple Crown at St. Louis next week as just four rounds remain of 250SX West action.

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