Pro Motocross Championship
Lakewood, CO
Thunder Valley National
Monster Energy® Kawasaki Stacks Career-Best Results at Thunder Valley
Monster Energy® Pro Circuit Kawasaki delivered a standout performance at Round 3 of the Pro Motocross Championship in Lakewood, Colorado, proving the team is a force to be reckoned with this season. Levi Kitchen made a late-race pass in Moto 1 to capture the victory and ultimately secured second overall (1-8), moving into a tie for the championship points lead. Nick Romano put together a consistent day with 4-5 moto finishes to earn third overall, marking both his first career overall podium and career-best overall finish. Seth Hammaker showed front-running speed throughout the day, but was forced to charge through the field in Moto 2 after an early-race incident. The No. 10 Kawasaki salvaged seventh overall and continues to hold the red plate, tied atop the championship standings with teammate Kitchen. Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green™ rider Enzo Temmerman made the step up to compete with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki at Thunder Valley, delivering a solid performance to finish 16th overall (10-21) in his debut with the team. Drew Adams made his return to racing this weekend and gained valuable seat time as he worked back into race pace, ultimately finishing 24th overall (26-23). Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Garrett Marchbanks recorded a career-best fourth overall with impressive 3-6 moto scores, while teammate Chase Sexton missed Round 3 due to injuries sustained in a crash during the Friday riding session ahead of race day.
MX Results
Levi Kitchen
250MX
“I was a bit disappointed with the day, but I did what I could and put trust in my fitness to salvage as many points and positions as possible. If I want to be in it for the title, those are the kinds of rides I need to keep putting in, where I keep fighting until the end. My eyes were set to leave here with the red plate; that was the goal, and I now have it shared with my teammate. Glad we’re both alright after going down, glad I can keep fighting and chipping away at the championship.”
Nick Romano
250MX
“Getting my first career podium today feels unreal. It has been a work in progress and a lot of trial and error to get to this moment. There were a lot of unknowns a year ago; at one point I told myself and my family that I was quitting, and it was a bit of a dark road for a couple of years while I was injured. I told myself about 6-8 months ago that if I can get back on a factory bike, then I know I can do it. I am so thankful for Mitch [Payton], who gave me this opportunity, and everyone on the team that has helped and supported me. On paper I am the fill-in guy, but I'm trying to establish myself to be a full-time guy on the team. I look forward to keep putting up results like this, and hopefully we can do it again next weekend.”
Seth Hammaker
250MX
“Today here at Thunder Valley was pretty good. I finished out qualifying in fourth overall. I felt okay, just didn’t gel well with the track early on. In the first moto, I ripped an amazing start and pulled the holeshot. I led all the way up until about a lap and a half to go, and Levi [Kitchen] was charging really hard. He was riding really well and ended up getting around me. I was feeling good heading into Moto 2, then got into another first-turn pile-up. I just picked my bike up and had to dig for another long moto. I got back up to 12th, so 2-12 for seventh overall, and I’m tied for the point lead now with Levi. I at least still have the red plate heading into High Point. I’m looking forward to doing one more race before the weekend off, and just continuing to work on myself every weekend and try and be more consistent than I have been the past two weeks.”
Enzo Temmerman
250MX
“Today was really good. It was my first race with the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, so that was a sick experience. Qualifying was okay. I qualified 19th. In Moto 1, I had a really good charge, came from outside the Top 20 all the way to 10th, and had some really good lap times, so that was a plus. Moto 2 was a little rough for me, but overall it was still a good day, and Mitch said I’m in for next weekend, so I'm stoked to be back next week.”
Drew Adams
250MX
“I didn’t have a great day today. It was a pretty rough go for my first race back. My starts were good, but I struggled with arm pump for both motos the whole time. I’m glad to be back at the races though, and we’ll look to come back stronger next week.”
Garrett Marchbanks
450MX
“Fourth overall today, I’m feeling really good about it. It’s a career-best finish for me. I didn’t know I was battling for fourth or third the whole moto until two laps to go, so I really wish I got third, but for how stacked the class is and how the day was going, I’m super pumped on my result here. I'm really happy with the consistency on my starts so far, that was a career-best today as well. I’m really happy with the team and everyone, and happy with my personal best.”
