On Lap 1 of the SuperMotocross World Championship Round 2’s second moto at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Levi Kitchen crossed two sets of ruts and took a hard left into the side of Haiden Deegan. The contact sent both riders to the ground, bending the brake lever on Deegan’s bike, which contributed to a 14th-place moto finish and a sixth overall. Kitchen finished 12th in the moto and 10th overall.
The points’ loss for Deegan robbed him of control of his fate heading into the playoff finale after Jo Shimoda won the round and holds a 10-point advantage. With triple points awarded for the finale, the difference between first and second is nine points.
Kitchen and Deegan’s mechanic, Brent Duffe, took to Adam Cianciarulo and Justin Brayton’s podcast (the acjbshow) to tell their side of the story.
“It didn’t really turn out, obviously, how I expected,” Kitchen said. “There’s a lot of money on the line. Like I’ve told a couple of people, had I made it stick and got a podium — even if it’s second at Vegas overall, that’s $250,000 in my pocket. I’ve kind of gotten to the point now, especially after the year I’ve had, I don’t really care what it takes. I’m just trying make, financially, do the best I can.
"[...] That’s kind of the way it went down, and I’m all right with it, honestly. Obviously, I’ve got one coming, and if he wants to — it’s all good — I completely understand. And now going into Vegas, he has a lot more to lose than I do.”
A History of Aggression
The aggressive move is one that Deegan is familiar with. In the penultimate 250 SX West race in Denver earlier this year, Deegan tracked down teammate Cole Davies and pushed him off course with two laps remaining to secure the win and clinch the championship.
Davies was injured in the crash and not cleared to ride again until early July.
Still, adrenaline spikes on its own.
“There’s a video floating around of when Haiden comes off and I’m the first one to him, telling him ‘no, no, no, no, no,’ ” Duffe said. “Because he was hot, you know? Every racer that’s had any kind of run-in during a race, you just fume the whole time. The whole race, you’re just mad about it, and when your heart rate’s up, you’re not calming down, so we knew he was going to be upset.
“Brian [Deegan, Haiden’s father] actually came up on the headset towards the end of the race and said, ‘Hey, when he comes off, he’s going to be hot, so you have to make sure you cool him down a little bit.’ I didn’t see the pass happen, so in my mind, I’m upset too, but it was nice to get that reminder from Brian, who said make sure you calm him down, but that straightened me up a little bit too. ... Do not let this get out of control, being that guy he will listen to, he quickly realized, like yep, I need to calm down. I need to take a breath.”
Duffe’s intervention worked.
“It was an alright day,” Deegan said briefly in Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s post-race news release. “I won the first moto and got into a little altercation in the second one. It is what it is. It’s racing. We’ve got one round to go. Let’s see what we can do.”
Kitchen was a little more vocal on his social media: “Wild night of racing in St. Louis. Was happy to be healthy after the start crash in practice, just pretty sore. As far as the incident in Moto 2, there’s a lot of money on the line. Had I stayed up and got on the podium I’d be back in this thing with an opportunity to make great money in Vegas.
“Love me or hate me, I’m racing for myself and myself only. Thanks to the people who support me. See you in Vegas.”
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