Everyone had a theory, and the same one: Levi Kitchen and the whole 250 class, really, owed Haiden Deegan after three years of trash talk and brash treatment on and off the track. Many words have been spent talking about Deegan alpha-dogging the rest of this class, and how racing justice usually gets enforced out on the track. Thus far, that’s barely happened, and Deegan owns the victory in all rivalries.
So that was why Kitchen’s Deegan takeout in moto two at St. Louis seemed both sudden, shocking, and also inevitable. Levi was just extracting revenge on a guy who has trash talked him quite a bit over the last two years. Right?
Then Levi actually explained himself this week in multiple forums, and the answer was different. Forget revenge on Haiden. This is the playoffs, there’s a lot of money on the line for every position, and that made Levi get aggressive in ways he’d never been before.
“Everyone was going really fast, and I didn’t feel like there was much separation,” he said on the AC & JB show yesterday. “Moto 1 I wasn’t too disappointed in, but I was really looking forward to moto 2, and I got a better start, and I just wanted to get further toward the front. I just saw an opening. I’ve always been pretty mellow as far as a racer goes. Mitch [Payton, team owner] has always told me I have to be more aggressive. I saw an opening, and I knew the circumstances coming into this weekend. I got a podium in Charlotte, and I got docked, lost that, lost some points. This weekend I needed to make something happen. I ran it in there and it obviously didn’t go the way I planned. Yeah.”
Show host Adam Cianciarulo asked Kitchen if this at all was a Deegan revenge move.
Asked Cianciarulo: “It’s not something where you’re sitting on the line or thinking about it during the week thinking you’re gonna tee him up? Like “I’m really going to get him?” There are probably some people that are like, “Oh he’s out to get him.”
Kitchen: “No for sure. If you look at my past races, it would be different if I was a guy who did this all the time. No, I simply knew I needed to get to the front if I had any chance to get to the podium. That was my goal. Even after the first moto, I was like “A 5-1 could get me second or third.” That’s all I was thinking about. It didn’t matter what color bike or who it was. After the sand I shot across and I saw an opening. The unfortunate part is I have zero experience trying to do what I did. Yeah, I failed at it miserably. There was a point when I went for it where for sure I thought there wasn’t going to be an issue. There’s like four ruts and I hit them all, and then the thing is, I give him props, he leaned into me so hard, he was not backing out. It was pretty late in the turn, and I don’t know if he knew I was there. That’s the way it went, we both went down.
“I’ve kinda gotten to the point now, especially after the year I’ve had, I’m just trying to do what it takes and I’m just trying to financially do the best I can,” continued Kitchen. “I’m alright with it. Obviously, I’ve got one coming and if he wants to do that it’s all good, I completely understand.”
That being said, Kitchen admitted that the Deegan revenge theory isn’t all that wild.
“That’s part of the reason I wanted to get on here and explain it. There’s no reason for me to do this except I wanted to get to the front, and I just completely misjudged it because I don’t have any experience doing it. All that other stuff? Yeah, that makes me sleep better at night. If it was someone else who has been nothing but super nice to me and we go to dinner all the time, I’d have felt bad. A little bit of it is like, what do you expect? At some point that’s gonna happen [to Deegan] and I just happened to be that guy. There’s other people that will race him hard, Jo [Shimoda] has gotten in there, JuJu [Beaumer] during supercross. That goes with anyone. You can’t let him walk all over you or whoever the case is.”
Kitchen already did serious damage, as Deegan’s title hopes now sit in a precarious spot. But Kitchen also reminded everyone that racing in this playoff format is different than the usual. When Kitchen ran into Deegan in that corner, it seemed like he nothing to lose or gain. He was sixth in the SMX standings coming into St. Louis and was fifth in the first moto. He’s out of it, right? He’s a non-factor, right?
In a traditional championship, yes. To a factory rider, winning the title pays a huge bonus, and most of the other positions don’t matter at all. Fifth? Sixth? Fourth? Who cares. But Levi reminded everyone that in the playoffs, the pay for every position is big, as is the pay jump. So, while Levi didn’t see a realistic path toward the title, maybe one aggressive first-lap pass (if it had actually worked) could be the difference between, say, third in the championship or fourth. That’s a lot of money.
Keep that in mind this weekend, when Shimoda has to finish second if Deegan wins the overall. In some title fights, the riders that are out of the picture would rather not get involved. In the playoffs, they’re all involved, because they all have money up for grabs. Consider the likes of Kitchen, Seth Hammaker, Tom Vialle or other riders who could advance their points position huge this weekend. Last year Pierce Brown took second overall (and won the final moto) at the Las Vegas 250 race. He jumped from seventh in points to third, and with it he won $150,000. That same scenario is up for grabs this weekend for everyone. The mantra is the same as it was for Kitchen in St. Louis: forget Shimoda or Deegan, worry about yourself and make the most money that you can.
That’s what Kitchen was trying to do, and he messed it up. His aggression in a short series cost Deegan more than it did himself. That’s the rules of the road when it comes to this playoff format, all coming to a head this Saturday.
Listen to the full interview here:
