It has been a long time since Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki has won a 250 Pro Motocross Championship. You have to go all the way back to 2019 when the team won the title with Adam Cianciarulo at the helm. Heading into High Point last Saturday the team had two riders sharing the red plate—Seth Hammaker and Levi Kitchen. In fact, the team has been on a high note for the first quarter of the season, with even fill-in rider Nick Romano getting an overall podium at Thunder Valley.
But inconsistency and bad luck have been plaguing this 250 class all season, and at High Point it was Pro Circuit’s turn. The first moto both Hammaker and Kitchen had top five starts but then got shuffled back. Then Kitchen went down and had to work his way forward. Enzo Temmerman, who is filling in for the injured Cameron McAdoo, also went down hard and was forced to withdraw from the race with a concussion.
In the second moto it was Romano and Hammaker’s turn to hit the deck, as Seth looped out in a violent crash, never reentered the race, and was seen walking off to be tended to by medics. After beating Kitchen in the first moto, Seth gave up the red plate and now sits fifth in points. Here is what he said in the Kawasaki post-race press release:
“I'm definitely bummed with how the day went. I felt like we were in a good position and riding well, especially before the crash in Moto 2. It's frustrating to lose points that way, but right now the focus is on getting checked out and seeing where we're at. We'll regroup over the break and go from there.”
In the second moto, Kitchen started okay, worked his way up to fourth and then could not find a good flow, falling back as far as eighth before putting on a charge at the end to finish fifth and salvage some much needed points. He now sits only one point ahead of Jo Shimoda who finished third on the day.
“It was a tough day for sure,” said Levi. “The first moto, had a fall early, which kind of sucked. I think I was up there pretty good, but yeah, I just was off the pace really. I feel like all day was pretty uncomfortable. So, yeah, bummer day, but I mean, keep the red plate is fine. And go get a little break, rest up, and then yeah, Red Bud. I mean, I like all the tracks, but I would say Red Bud's actually probably my favorite track on the circuit, so I’m looking forward to that.”
As they say championships are won on a rider’s bad days, and Levi is trying his best not to let this bad day get to him, “Coming into this race with me and Seth tied, I just wouldn’t say this is one of my best tracks. So, I’m okay with the day, it wasn’t great but if this is my bad day then we can only go forward.”
As of right now, we are still waiting on word on Hammaker to see if he sustained any serious injuries in the crash. But for Seth, this weekend off could not have come at a better time, as he will get some extra healing time with the championship taking the weekend off.
And as for Levi and the rest of the team, there is plenty of time left in the season to regroup and recover from an off weekend. It is still early in the season, but will this finally be the year we see Kawasaki back on top in 250 motocross?
