Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates Levi Kitchen and Garrett Marchbanks had a rough go of it at RedBud, both going down multiple times. Still the duo persevered, even when they found themselves out of points contention, and moved themselves forward. Both riders showed incredible speed on the day, but their results don’t show for it.
Levi Kitchen went down early in moto one and came from 14th to 2nd. His fitness showed in the heat, as he set his fastest lap of the race towards the end, gaining six seconds on Tom Vialle in one lap. In moto two it looked like it was going to be Kitchen’s day as he quickly made his way into second place, but then slid out and went down. He then went down again, pulled into the mechanics area to tend to his bike, only to fall a third time. He was able to make it into points paying position at 19th by the end of the race. His 2-19 moto scores on the day left him with 7th overall, which is his worst finish since the opening round at Fox Raceway (16th overall). Levi, who returned to Pro Motocross after suffering a back injury in a nasty crash at Daytona, has finished third overall at the other four races. Levi had this to say in the Kawasaki press-release:
“I felt pretty good today. I was alright in qualifying and Moto 1 went pretty well for me. I fell a couple of times on Lap 1, but came back in second. I really felt like it was my day to win, but in Moto 2 I got impatient and tried to make a pass too early and crashed, got up, then crashed again. I had to go to the mechanics’ area, which was a mistake on my part. I got back out there and then crashed again. I just dropped the ball today. There are a lot of positives though to take from the day. My speed is back, but I have to learn from this one and it definitely hurts, but we’ll go into Millville and try to keep getting a little bit better.”
For teammate Garrett Marchbanks, he went down in the first turn in moto one and came from dead last, passing 15 guys on lap one. He rode hard, eventually making his way to tenth. He was absolutely railing the very outside of the first turn lap after lap trying to make up ground. In the second moto, Marchbanks was better off the start, and got through the first turn unscathed, only to get caught up in a pile up in the second turn going down again! This year it has been all about starts for Garrett, as he has had to come from behind in every moto so far. Most people blame his size for his bad starts (he is 6’2”) but even he has said his size is not an excuse and other riders similar in stature have been able to get good starts. Garrett said after the race:
“The first qualifier was okay, I was P7 and then P14 in the second session. I wasn’t quite as good in that second session, but I was feeling good on the bike all day. I went into Moto 1 and got in a first-turn crash, came from last to 10th and I felt really good in that race. I was hoping for a better start in Moto 2, which I got. I was around Top 10 through the first turn, going into turn two I got together with someone and went down. I came from last in both motos today. I thought it was going to be a solid second moto after I passed around 15 guys on the first lap, then I crashed again. It was a rough day, but I came back to 12th in Moto 2. Moving on to Millville, we’ll keep working on things. My speed is there so I just need to keep working on starts.”
For Garrett, he has consistently been in the 4-7 range, with the tenth at RedBud being his worst result of the season so far. He desperately needs to get off the line. He has the speed to run with and beat his competition, but with a field this deep he cannot afford to give them a head start. As for Kitchen, in 2024 he won three of the last five nationals, starting with Spring Creek. Will he be able to regroup before this weekend when he heads to a track he does well at?
