Jett Lawrence was the obvious star of 250SX West for Monster Energy Supercross, but the game might change a bit for the 250cc pack come Pro Motocross, because Jett is moving on up to the 450s. For sure Hunter Lawrence, the 250SX East Champ, will be a contender, as will Justin Cooper, but several others who had to battle Jett all winter are pumped to get a fresh start at race wins and maybe a title.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Levi Kitchen have to be on top of that list. Both were good in supercross this year, taking second and third at the Salt Lake City finale and also second and third in points. After the race, both talked to the media about their race on Saturday, and prospects looking forward.
RJ Hampshire | 2nd
"Yeah, this season has been so awesome for the whole team and myself. We lost a lot of guys—our 450 team—so I put a lot of pressure on myself to get exposure for our sponsors. I think that was a massive success this year. This weekend I just wanted to stay in my lane and give myself a chance. I truthfully thought I had a chance to take another win here. My opening laps were good, I was decent in the whoops, but then I had a step out, and then it was just hard to trust it. I knew Jett was closing in big time on me there. I tried to protect the inside, but there was a lapper there that lap, so I didn’t get a good drive, and he had a good angle coming into that turn after the whoops. Yeah, he laid it in there pretty good. It was honestly best case, because it probably would have gotten ugly if I had another shot at it (retaliation). Heck, with how it’s going, any chance I get to beat him before he goes into that 450 class would be huge. Just getting beaten by him all year, it kind of stings a bit. But man, overall, the season as a whole, very successful."
Are you an underdog heading into pro motocross? Do you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder coming into the season?
Last year you talked a lot about struggles on an all-new bike. How much better is the bike this year going into motocross?
Levi Kitchen |3rd
Racer X: Take me through the main event, first of all. What you saw out there. You had the speed early on, but those guys just kind of inched away, it seemed like. Right?
Levi Kitchen: Yeah. I got off to a pretty good start and they were there. I don’t really know where they were pulling me much. It was maybe just a little bit of intensity. Once Jett got around RJ, he got a little gap on us and then I tried to close it back in on RJ, but we were all pretty close in speed. Kind of settled. You can only take so much from the track. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it.
I know earlier this year you had said that the A2 win kind of didn’t feel like a win. This was a showdown. I know that it was three west guys on the podium, but does this feel like I rode into that position? Like, this is a good result?
Yeah. This is honestly, obviously I’d rather finish first, but compared to the other podiums I’ve got this year, I’m more happy about this one. It’s the last round. Going into outdoors with some confidence. Just finishing the season strong. I’m happy on that. I can come into next year knowing that hopefully I’m one of those guys to be running up front.
You’re more or less still a rookie this year, just because you didn’t have as many starts under your belt. So, how do you kind of reflect on this season and how much you built throughout the year?
I think it’s been great. I didn’t obviously have a great year last year, so for it to be my second try, I guess you could say, to get through the season good and end up third in points, I believe, I’m pretty happy with that.
Was it tricky dealing with the changing conditions with the rain today, or did you adapt quickly?
I feel like I adapted pretty good. Going into the main, I thought it was going to be actually muddier, and then I did my sight lap and I’m like, you know what? The track is going to be pretty good. So, I was pretty happy with it.
Building on this towards the outdoors, what kind of expectations are you putting on yourself? Or is it just go out there and kind of feel it out and see where you’re at?
No, outdoors I definitely expect to win. So, that’s the goal. I want to win.
