LEVI KITCHEN - GRIT 252 250SX

GRIT-252 | 250 SX

June 4th, 2024 11:00 pm

The style of Levi Kitchen was as polished and as smooth as they come. The fluidity he demonstrated was second-to-none, and his SX prowess continued when racing onto the outdoor circuit in Pala, California. For qualification, the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team was certainly pleased with how well the Washington resident was riding...and his maneuvering translated to moto one, where an incredible start would have him residing just behind France's Tom Vialle. He stalked the KTM machine for a few minutes, until a brief opening appeared when departing from the corner after the finish line. Vialle would leap from the subtle single and land in a small pocket of deep soil, causing a loss of momentum; which Kitchen took advantage of, and gained the lead in the corner thereafter! From then, it seemed as if Kitchen could collect as much speed as possible while hitting every line he desired. Through the halfway point, Kitchen commanded the attention of the field...but Haiden Deegan seemed to yearn, to rival the Yamaha rider. The Kawasaki competitor combatted the charge, which led to fierce battling when storming into the final moments of action. However, an unforeseen scenario would occur - when Levi's boot, would catch an Acerbis track marker, in the corner after the finish line! Less than two laps were left to be completed at that time, and as Kitchen was forced to divert and throw the marker from his boot, subsequently Haiden would work his way by! Now second, he had now choice but to oblige and sprint to the finish line behind the Yamaha athlete..finalized here (in second) as all concluded. For the following moto, he immediately charged into a runner-up position after battling with fellow racers in the earliest of moments...but the crowd quickly realized that the two-rider battle (between he and Deegan) was set to take place once again. One lap after another, Kitchen was presenting an array of offensive tactics in order to try and overtake the Yamaha rider...but the moves would be thwarted by the reigning SMX champion. Kitchen wasn't giving up though and presented an admirable charge - which undoubtedly played a factor in Deegan going off the track (due to slight mistakes)...but Haiden appeared to have enough in the tank, to keep Levi at bay. The number forty-seven gave it all he had, and charged to the final flag just behind the number thirty-eight machine...equating to an overall finish of second place, via runner-up in this particular moto.

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