St. Louis SMX! When I first got seated in my posh press box seat high above the track on Friday, I thought the track looked cool. I got there too late to walk it, but it looked good. The crew pulled one row of seats in, which made the floor wide, and added some neat obstacles. We got sand and topsoil also thrown into the mix. I thought the track was going to be pretty unique and provide some interesting racing.
But then the guys actually raced on it.
To be fair, I got more “this track was fun” than I thought I would get. It was pretty basic for the riders, but the guys I talked to seemed to have fun riding it. But that’s just riding it, not racing it. As far as racing goes, unless you’re Jett Lawrence—and spoiler alert, you’re not—it was tough to pass.
And that, continuing on a conversation we've had on a bunch of my shows, has been an issue with the SMX series. We’re almost three years into this, and I understand the desire to do something different. I get that venues are hard to get this time of the year, but we’re trying to invent a solution for something that maybe doesn’t need to be fixed. Do we need hybrid tracks? Dragstrips don’t produce great tracks; this weekend in St. Louis was the first SMX in a traditional SX dome, and the track didn’t really work (also, the crowd wasn’t great, which I don't know if it’s an indication of people not being into SMX or just the time of year in St. Louis). Luckily, for reasons we’ll get into, the entertainment factor was high this night but the general racing? Yeah, sort of another snoozer.
(UP) LAWRENCE BROTHERS
Yeah, you saw Jett’s last-to-fourth ride in moto one and the domination in moto two, right? Also, you saw Hunter’s great first moto when he took off from Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac, right? Those Aussie kids aren’t too bad, right? St. Louis was a Lawrence tour de force.
(MID) THE CHEF
Levi Kitchen and Haiden Deegan have beef; heck, Deegan’s got beef with half the class out there, and it’ll be interesting if he brings that “style” into the 450 class. Anyways, on the first lap of the second main event, we all saw what happened. Kitchen saw an opportunity to get back at Deegan and did. Except he took himself out in the process, which is never good! I didn’t think what Levi did was outrageous; I’ve sure seen A LOT worse but yeah, he crossed over like four ruts to ram into the Yamaha rider. I don’t know if it was the smartest thing for Kitch to do, but YOLO; he didn’t seem to care.
(DOWN) DEEGS
Haiden rode amazing to win the first main event going away, and we covered what happened in the second one. I always go back to old HRC boss Erik Kehoe telling me that when Justin Barcia was a rookie, Erik told him that he would need friends one day, and the way he was riding, he wasn’t gaining any. Like, even the lappers would be pissed at Bam because he took them high in berms, etc. So yeah, Haiden can’t, I think, wonder where that take-out by Kitchen came from, right? He fell again a lap later and did the best he could with no front brake lever, but now he doesn’t control his destiny for the 250SMX title going into the last round.
So, I apologize for the abbreviated OBS, I’ve had a busy few days, okay? This week I was busy riding on the brand-new Yamaha 2026 YZ450F and that cut into the writing time. But I've got something to make up for it! @e caught up with Levi Kitchen to talk about his SMX season and “that move” as well, on Monday night, so here’s that text for you guys to peruse. We’ll be back to a regular OBS after Vegas, I promise!
Steve Matthes: You’re not a fan of him [Deegan]. He’s not a fan of you. You saw the opening. You took it. You kind of ruined your own race. You got a written warning. Which also by the way, Deegs no written warning on what he did to Davies? I’m fine with either one. I just thought, a written warning? What are they talking about?
Levi Kitchen: I did ask AMA, actually. I believe he did get a written warning after Denver, but I don't know if it was posted about. To be honest, let’s say it was whoever. I really thought I had a decent enough opening there to do something and get by somebody. Dude, there’s a lot of money [on the line]. It was double points. I didn’t have a great first moto….
Matthes: You passed five guys. You rode well. I thought you rode okay.
I didn’t ride terrible. So, I’m like, I’m up here finally on the start, and there’s hardly anywhere to pass. I’m going for this. If I’m going to try to go to the front and at least get a podium, I’m going to go for it. I saw an opening and took it. That was my kind of my stance. Mitch [Payton] always told me - I’ve never been aggressive, and I think that there’s times where I’m going to have to be aggressive. I didn’t execute it well, at all, but I learned a lot from it. I do think if I would have slid my rear end more and leaned more into the turn, I think I would have made it happen. I don't think he would have went down, either. He would have just went into the blocks.
Trey Canard: I don't think he was expecting it either. I think he really committed to the turn.
He did. I think our heads hit. He was so leaned. I even saw a video and I could hear audio, and I think I could already hear his bike on the gas, hard on the exit. So, he was fully committed and must not have seen my front wheel. I tried to make it clear that I was there.
Matthes: Again, I don't think he can be surprised either, with stuff that’s gone on. He can’t be like, “Where’d that come from?” You saw an opening. You went for it.
If I’m him, there’s no way I’m surprised, to be honest. If it wasn’t me then maybe it’s got to be somebody at Vegas, right? Unless nobody wants to do what they’ve got to do for hundreds of thousands of dollars? I would think Jo [Shimoda] would run it in there.
Matthes: Jo’s tried. Jo’s done it at Colosseum. He’s tried. Obviously Deegan is a great rider, so the opportunities aren’t always there for everybody because when he goes by or whatever, it’s tough to do if you can’t stay with him. The written warning - I see horrendous things in LCQ’s that I don’t ever hear about. Maybe they’re out there. I don’t like T-boning, but this was not a T-bone. I don't know where the written warning comes from, but whatever.
Kris Keefer: Levi, be straight up. As fans watching this, we see it every week. Deegan does his thing. He talks. It’s like a “ha, ha, ha.” Is it schtick? Does he talk to you guys afterwards or just this is how he is?
I don't know. I think he maybe is becoming more of that and it’s getting more normal. It’s easy for him to be that way, which is fine. That’s his personality. But when I was on Star years ago, he wasn’t really like that. I thought we were pretty cool. Then I left, and there has always been kind of a little shit talk here and there.
Matthes: You live by the sword and you die by the sword, and in think they’re fine with it. Brian is fine with it. Brian ran this stuff at Metal Mulisha. It was the way they did it. It’s cool, but you just can’t be like, “What?” Erik Kehoe told me a story. Barcia’s rookie year. Kehoe told me that he pulled Barcia aside and was like, “Hey, man. You even lap guys badly. You try to take out lappers. You take them high. All of this stuff. You’re going to need help one day, and these guys are going to remember all this stuff you’ve done. Revving at them and freaking out.” Kehoe told me he told Barcia this speech. He wanted him to just back it down a little bit, man. I think the same thing with Deegan. You’re going to need help one day. You’re going to have issues and there’s going to be half a dozen guys who are going to be like, nope!
Trey Canard: I appreciate what Levi is saying. I think it was a schtick for the whole brand. But it seems like it’s becoming more of him. He’s becoming the persona a little bit. Budds Creek after the first moto, he mouthed off to Jo and I just couldn’t believe what he was saying to Jo! I probably had the dumbest look on my face. I was just looking at him like, ‘What? What’s going on?”
I would think he would expect something like that. Obviously, it made me look a bit stupid because I fell, but I wanted to get in there and try to make a pass and try to go forward, obviously. The last thing I wanted to do was end up lying on the ground. The thing is too, I have zero experience doing that. So, I honestly had no idea how to do it!
Keefer: It’s not a bad move. Let’s say you were saying, I’m going to get into this corner and I’m going to try to take this dude out because I know he’s fast and he’s good. Why not knock him down? I’ll have a ten, fifteen second gap. Then I’m going to go on my way. It’s not a bad way of thinking.
Canard: It’s easy to over-analyze this. You’ve been in race situations. Levi has obviously just lived it. It happens so fast. It’s really easy for us to sit here and analyze it for hours on end.
It’s a split-second that your brain decides to go do that thing. I was already out of the sand and I just went, “There’s an opening. I’m going.” With how hard the track was to pass on in the first place, I was like, “If I don’t pass these guys early, I’m never going to pass them.” I did it in the first moto. I was behind Tom for I don't know how long. Got him, and then by then, I think Ty [Masterpool] was eight seconds ahead of me, so I never got to him. I wanted a shot at getting up on the box at least. That was kind of my thing after getting docked at Charlotte and losing points. I would have been sitting a little bit better. So, I was like, all right, I’ve got to make some points up and at least have a shot at second in Vegas overall, and that’s still $250,000. So, I was like, I’ve got to go for this.
Matthes: He didn’t say anything to you after the race?
No, nothing was said.
Brian was yelling at you, though?
No. Nobody really yelled. A lot of people think that I just got on my bike and took off as fast as I can. I sat there. He parked behind me. I obviously wasn’t going to go to him, because I did it. What am I going to say, “I’m sorry that we both went down?” But no. He didn’t come up to me. I’m sure obviously it’s not good, probably.
Canard: I appreciate Levi saying that he doesn’t have a lot of experience at that. That’s something that should be thought of, too. Levi is not the guy that you look at and go, “Oh, he just runs it into people all the time.” I remember the first time Dungey tried to get aggressive with RV. It was a terrible takeout. He just couldn’t do it. I appreciate that about Levi. Even if he did, whatever it’s going to go down, but you can still look at his track record and go, that’s not him.
Matthes: Trey, what happened at the podium at Budds Creek with Deegs and the Lawrences? We got conflicting reports on that.
Canard: Dude, I’m scared to create more tension than there already is. Here’s my perspective. We were going to take a team photo, because one and two in the series. Awesome. So, Jett rides up there. Does this huge burnout. Hunter rides up there. They’re kind of cheering. Then (Brent) Duffe rides in front of both of them and starts cheering to the crowd. We’re like, “What?” That didn’t make any sense. So, I don't know if he thought they were going to do a champions photo or something. But, it was really weird. Finally, Dazzy (Darren Lawrence) comes up and in his Daz way and says something. “What are these guys doing?” Finally Lars was like, “Hey, you guys take your photo or whatever, and we’ll just leave.” I don't know.
Keefer: I don't think Duff would do that on purpose. That’s my perspective. Maybe he thought everyone was taking a photo.
Canard: I don't know. It was strange. I can already feel that tension and I don't want to add to that because there’s already an unnecessary amount of tension between those two. I don’t even think that’s something that they have done, I think that’s just what’s been created.
Matthes: Levi, you told me at Budds Creek that the crash at Daytona affected you mentally more than you thought it would, and maybe more than some of us thought it would. I can’t help but think maybe the start of SMX has been a good fresh start for you. Because you’ve been riding well. Docked in Charlotte, but should have been on the box and passed five guys on a track that was tough in the first main in St. Louis. I feel like you’ve been riding better at these SMX than you did outdoors. Although you got some podiums outdoors. I almost wonder if it was just a mental reset of the crash in Daytona for you, this SMX thing.
Yeah. On paper, it looks horrible so far, SMX. But Charlotte, I worked my way up from twelfth to third. Unfortunately got fourth [with a red cross penalty]. Then this weekend, after eating shit pretty hard on the start in practice, got up, qualified second. Honestly, I do feel like I’m riding really good. I feel like I’m one start away from people being like, there’s the 47, where he has been in the past or whatever. I really feel that could happen this weekend.
That’s kind of been my main focus. Just trying to get myself up there, put myself in position. Did I probably force it this weekend because I haven’t been there? Yeah, I would say so. I finally was just like, I could at least see those guys on that opening lap. It’s tough when last year I won a decent amount of races and led a lot of laps, and I haven’t led a single lap besides Detroit after they red-flagged it. I led one lap and won a main event. So, for me, it became normal last year, leading races at least. I’m trying to get back up there. The team has been working hard. I’ve been staying at it. That’s where I’m at.
