Kitchen Finishes Sixth in Seattle
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Levi Kitchen scores first 250SX heat race win and finishes sixth despite challenges in the main event / Apr 1, 2023 /
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Levi Kitchen scored his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX heat race win last night in front of the home crowd at the Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington. Unfortunately, misfortune in the main event resulted in a sixth-place finish for Kitchen, and a crash while battling up front would have his 250SX West teammate Stilez Robertson withdrawing from the race.
Kitchen was in good spirits at his first supercross in his home state of Washington and enjoyed a good qualifying result in third. He then grabbed the holeshot and rode on to his first heat race victory in the championship. Starting with the number-one gate pick, Kitchen was looking to repeat his heat-race performance but did not get off the gate as he had hoped and found himself back in seventh after the first lap. Undeterred, he put his head down and made his way back to fourth. He was closing the gap on the lead group, but unfortunately, around the halfway mark, a technical issue slowed his pace, and he was ultimately shuffled to sixth.
Robertson qualified 11th and spent the day working on finding his comfort zone in the challenging conditions. The Californian got a good start in his heat race in fourth and crossed the line third to get a good gate pick for the main event. From there, he got a flying start and grabbed the holeshot. Robertson led the first four laps but unfortunately crashed and withdrew from the race.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 West team returns to action on April 8, as racing resumes with Round 6 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Championship and Round 12 of the SuperMotocross World Championship at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Jensen Hendler – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager
“The day started out pretty good, with Levi having a good qualifying at his home race and getting the heat race win. Stilez also was making progress and really came on strong for the main event. Unfortunately, the night didn’t end as we hoped, with Stilez having a big get-off after leading the main event and Levi having some sort of issue which we think was a rock getting stuck in his rear brake. Both guys showed speed though and we’ll just keep working to get on the top step of the podium with them.”
Levi Kitchen – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“The beginning of my day was great and was the best I’ve had so far. I qualified third, which was good, and won the heat race, which was a first for me. Then in the main event, I had a really bad start, but then I got going pretty good and got up to fourth and started reeling in those guys up front. Then I got what we think was a rock stuck in my rear brake for probably six or seven laps or so. It was pretty obvious. I dropped like three seconds a lap after that happened. It’s pretty frustrating with how good the day was going before then, but I’ll take the positives and move on to Phoenix.”
Stilez Robertson – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“It was a pretty eventful night here in Seattle. I didn’t feel like myself all day until the main event. I started to find myself in the beginning laps of the main, but just a simple mistake turned into a pretty good get-off. I’m glad to be okay and ready for some redemption in Phoenix.”
2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX Seattle Results
https://results.amasupercross.com/xml/SX/events/S2355/S2F1PRESS.pdf
2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Championship Standings
https://results.amasupercross.com/xml/SX/events/S2355/2WF1POINTSPOSITION.pdf