The newest member of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team comes over from Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing in Levi Kitchen. The PNW dude showed some real promise this year on BluCru with a 250SX win, 250MX moto wins, and a 250SMX moto win in the final race of the year.
We caught up to Levi on the PulpMX Show after his Hawaiian vacation to talk about going green and more.
Racer X Online: Congrats on the new ride. That’s awesome. How do you feel about it?
Levi Kitchen: I’m stoked. I’m looking forward to it. I rode just a little bit before I went on vacation. I’m super stoked. New people around and a new bike to learn. Even though it doesn’t even feel like I’ve got to learn much. The thing is really easy to ride. I’m stoked.
Two-year deal?
Yup, two years.
Did you want to leave? Did they come to you? How did the process go to signing with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit? How did it work?
Honestly, it was weird how it all worked. Right in the beginning there when things were up for me, first a few teams reached out. KTM was kind of the rumor that got out. But Mitch [Payton] was interested a little bit late. It was kind of funny how it all worked. Obviously, I ended up trying the bike and really liked it. It was kind of like a last-minute thing. I’m stoked that it worked out in the end. I just needed a change. I wanted to try something new and kind of focus on myself a little bit more, as far as the training aspect goes. Just get a little bit more freedom, which Mitch was super down with as long as I put in results for him. He pretty much said I can do whatever I need to do.
Mitch has loosened the reigns a little bit. He wasn’t that way for a long time. I remember when he let Deano [Wilson] go to Florida. It was the biggest deal ever. But then Deano got better. Then he let [Blake] Baggett do his own thing. I think he’s realizing to get guys of your caliber, you got to let them go a little bit. But, having said that, yes, you have to get results, for sure.
Exactly. It’s obviously a gamble just as much for them as it is the rider. You’ve seen it in the past. Usually, the guys who make it work, they end up being really good. All the guys that are on their own are winning right now. That’s just kind of where I was at with it. I wanted to work in silence a little bit more.
It’ll be pretty advantageous. You’re going to ride at [Moto] Sandbox?
Yeah.
The Star guys run a good program. The results speak for themselves. I’ve talked to riders who have ridden there and got away from there, and it’s a dog-eat-dog scrimmage every day. You’re all training with Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel]. You guys are all paying Swanny. It’s not for everybody, right?
It’s definitely benefited me. I wouldn’t be where I am without all those guys, obviously. But now I’d say where I’m at, I think there’s a few things that I could try. If it doesn’t work, then I was wrong. I’d be mad at myself when I’m done racing to say I didn’t try it. So that’s where I’m at. I got to just do it for myself. I think that’s what it’s going to take.
Did you have any relationship with Mitch before this? Did you know him in amateurs or anything like that?
No. I would say the only relationship I ever had was I know Huffman [Family] there at Washougal was always close with him, so he would talk to him a little bit about me. Jason McCormick and those guys knew him more than I did. So no, not really. Not until just this year.
Going back to what you said about working in silence, maybe you can kind of relay this to all the people that listen. I picture myself in your shoes, going to the Star facility three days a week and you’re scrimmaging and you’re racing with these guys. I feel like that is like going to a race. You know you’re going to race. There’s a clock on it. It’s basically inside like a race. You’re like, “I want to win,” because you’re an athlete. You want to be the best on any given day. So, how stressful was that every day? I know it actually helped you, because you said it helped you, but are you going to be looking forward to having a little bit more calmness when you go to the Sandbox?
For sure. The thing was, literally every day you have every guy from Star Racing. They can walk out of their shop, out of their office, which they did pretty much every day. They’re sitting there watching you. You know phone calls would get relayed from this guy to Bobby [Regan] saying… I don't know. I just didn’t like that pressure on the weekend. There would be weekends where I’d go in and Bobby was like, “Oh, I heard you were the fastest guy this week.” To me, that shit doesn’t matter. You’re racing everyone every single day and there’s huge benefits to that. But then again like you said, there’s a little bit of pressure on yourself. I felt pressure at the practice track every single day.
There’s a shelf life with that. There has to be, I’m going to do it for this long and it’s going to help me, then I’ll sprinkle that in at times at other places. Right?
Exactly. That’s kind of what I would like to do. There was just a few times where I would have enjoyed a day to maybe work on something by myself. You could always do it afterwards. I could go work with Jeannie [Carmichael] or something after. So, they gave me that option, but after I did two 35’s, then I’m like, what good is it at that point? I feel like you’re pretty tired after the day.
What’s the Kawasaki like? Be honest.
Brutally honest, it’s fast. The bike is good. Obviously, it’s got a different kind of power than Yamaha. I’m sure everybody is just going to ask me what’s faster. Who cares honestly what’s faster? It turns good. It’s just easy to ride. I don’t really know how else to explain it. It’s really light feeling. It’s definitely skinnier feeling than the Yamaha. The Yamaha is a little bit bigger up front. I’ve always liked them. I actually tried to get on them back in 2017 or ’18. I rode my buddy’s for a few weekends and raced it at Washougal and then I couldn’t get any help from them, so I went and bought my own Yamaha. But either way, I had rode one back then and I really liked it. I kind of knew I would like the bike going in.
East or West? Do you have preference for supercross?
No, I don’t really care, to be honest. It just depends. Last year we started riding fairly early and we started middle of October. This year I just got back from vacation, so I’ll start getting back to at least some physical stuff here and there. I’ll start riding probably in two weeks. It just depends where I feel. It’s also their [team’s] choice. Last year I was definitely ready to go West. I think if I would have waited until East… I had already had a lot of good days. Even though it’s a new bike, I think I’ll be ready to go for West, which is always the goal.
What did you think of the SMX thing? You won a race. What did you think of the format, the moto length and all of that?
It was okay. The longer motos, I’d like to say that they were better, but I don't think a longer moto really benefited anybody in any way. It’s not like we seen somebody come from wherever and make a last lap pass or anything crazy like that. Honestly, I think Shmitty [Jordon Smith] was probably one of the ones who worked up and used all the time in that last race. It was fun, for sure. The second race, Chicago, I wasn’t too sure about that one. The kind of outdoor vibe that it gave was pretty fun, but the lighting was a little bit dangerous, in my opinion. I thought it was cool. Just definitely a lot of racing by then, I think. I don't know how they could do it differently.
Watch the full interview with Kitchen on PulpMX Show #561, around the 1-hour mark below.