2024 AMA Pro Motocross Washougal 250 Qualifying
Transcript
00:00Mental and stuff like that. So as long as you're on your bike, you know, it must be a fun decision to ride, you know, and with that, it's a great time because you don't think about anything else besides that.
00:10So, with this organization, we have great times and opportunities. Like I said, it's the first military appreciation race. We have over 100 veterans out here.
00:17The Hoffmans took care of us, and it's a great thing to see everyone out here and just combining together in camaraderie, brother and sister, and that's what we try to share.
00:26And through that organization and through the Hoffmans, like I said, I'm out here with my family.
00:31So it's an amazing thing that what we can do, accomplish together when we work together.
00:36Thank you very much for your service, guys.
00:40Thanks, J.T. I see John and his son in a lot of the races.
00:43They've been hanging out with them as recently as Red Bud, and that's really cool.
00:47And then you will see, again, some military graphics on the bikes.
00:50Like Kitchen's bike here has a little different font on the numbers as we watch Deegan and Kitchen now.
00:56And qualifying has begun for 250A session.
01:0047, Levi Kitchen, hometown hero.
01:03He's going to get a tow right here behind Hayden Deegan.
01:08This is an awesome place to be in right now in time qualifying practice.
01:12Trying to get behind someone that is the same speed as yourself.
01:17Kind of helps you, gives you that little rabbit to chase and try to make up time.
01:24Rabbit to chase was everybody trying to get to this track.
01:27Well, I can tell you right now, that man right in front of Levi Kitchen, Hayden Deegan,
01:33we were on a flight from Tallahassee to Portland trying to get here, I should say.
01:39And we were caught up with all the chaos that was happening yesterday with the computer systems, if you will.
01:49And ended up having to get a private jet, rent one to get here.
01:55Otherwise, if that wouldn't have happened, we'd have both been back in Tallahassee.
02:00You don't do that every week?
02:01There were several of us that kicked in.
02:03And we appreciate Mrs. Deegan for kind of lining it all up and organizing it for us.
02:10Otherwise, we'd still probably be sitting in Atlanta airport.
02:13So it was an interesting day.
02:16Nevertheless, we made it.
02:18Everybody's here, ready to race.
02:19Levi Kitchen didn't have to go far.
02:21This is where he grew up, literally in the town of Washougal.
02:24Yesterday we asked him about the home race.
02:29I feel bad because I pretty much have had my phone on do not disturb.
02:33It's so hectic coming home.
02:35But it's also nice seeing friends and family.
02:38I flew in Wednesday night, spent some time with my sister and my niece and nephew.
02:43Did some fishing, just been hanging out.
02:46If I run into somebody, I stop and say hi.
02:49But definitely I don't have much time to go out of my way before the race.
02:53Plan is everything goes well tomorrow.
02:55Then I can kind of be a social butterfly.
03:01I think coming off of a win like last week and then coming into your hometown,
03:05outside of trying to navigate all the friends and family and not being so sociable,
03:11I think coming with an incredible amount of confidence,
03:16and that would be a great feeling coming to a place that you know like the back of your hand.
03:22So keep your eye on this guy.
03:24Maybe he can go two in a row.
03:26I asked him about that because he has said Washougal isn't necessarily the best track for him from a performance perspective.
03:32He loves the fans, obviously.
03:34And what he said last week in the press conference was it's so start dependent and prep dependent
03:39that even he's not sure exactly how it's going to go.
03:41So talk about that a little bit.
03:43I would think that narrowness may be part of the start dependent.
03:45Well, I mean, it goes to show you like I grew up riding in the sand, but I hated the sand.
03:50Really?
03:51Yeah, I hated riding in the sand.
03:53Now, just because I hated it didn't mean that I didn't like it when I was racing against other guys
03:59just because I was so familiar with it.
04:01However, I mean, maybe I don't think that Levi hates this place,
04:05but he doesn't enjoy it as much as maybe others would think that he would because he's grown up here.
04:12We watch Tom Vial here.
04:14He was just on top.
04:15Deegan and Masterful have now pushed him down.
04:18Fast times are starting to come in.
04:20But Vial has been the Monster Energy Fast Qualifier at the last two races in a row
04:26and had never been a Fast Qualifier in pro motocross until the last two races.
04:31So I think that really shows last year he was learning the tracks at qualifying,
04:34and this year he's much quicker early in the morning.
04:38He's been interesting to me this season.
04:42I talked about it a bit when I was with you guys at Red Bud.
04:47And just coming off of the Supercross season and accomplishing what he did,
04:53which is incredible, especially based on his first year over here,
04:58I thought that would give him a little bit more of a boost coming into the pro motocross championship,
05:06winning a series that no one was expecting you to do,
05:10and then now you're coming into a series where you're a two-time world champ in the 250 division.
05:16I thought that he would be better, and it's almost like he's either been fast or he's been on the ground.
05:24There's been no middle ground there.
05:26So I just keep waiting for him, waiting for something from him.
05:32Yeah, I believe just one moto win from Vial.
05:36Third at points.
05:38And goes down right there.
05:40Yeah.
05:42And he's trying to initiate the corner right there.
05:45Slid down.
05:46Now that's where, because of his track and the shade, we're going to be talking about that.
05:50Riders will be talking about that.
05:52Still pretty wet right in there.
05:55However, probably be good later on in race time.
05:58So we've seen a couple crashes like that from Vial, but is that that or is that just muddy track in the morning?
06:03I think it's probably a combination of both.
06:06Not being able to see just exactly how wet it is there because of the shade.
06:10The dirt is very dark, and obviously the shade making it a bit more dark.
06:15It's hard to really get a good grip.
06:17So in situations like that, what you need to do or try to do is just be mindful of that.
06:22Maybe anticipate it being wetter than what you think it might be.
06:26Kenseth has now gone to the top, and there are so many fans here for him.
06:30There's the big banner as he drives into the town of Washtenaw on the way to the track.
06:35And Fox Racing, the gear sponsor, they had him decked out with a chef's hat and apron yesterday.
06:41Working the grill, the chef, over at the pro circuit truck.
06:44And I think they're going to hand a bunch of those out to fans.
06:47So you're going to actually see fans in chef's hats to cheer him today as we watch Vial come through.
06:53And here's Joe Shimoda.
06:55Shimoda starting to roll here lately.
06:58Starting to find some speed.
07:00Chef cooking it up.
07:02He is right now.
07:04And Kitchin has been fast qualifier once this year and twice in his career.
07:09He was the fast qualifier at round one.
07:11Fox Raceway at Palo Alto.
07:13I want to go back to something you said about Levi Kitchin.
07:16He was telling you how this track is so start-dependent and prep-dependent.
07:22And it made me think about watching his practice right here when he talked about prep.
07:28And how you guys can see how wet it is right here.
07:31They put a lot of water down, so it's good for race day.
07:34But maybe when he was racing here as an amateur, they probably didn't prep it quite as well as they do now.
07:40Not to say that they weren't trying to make it a great racetrack and a safe racetrack.
07:44But it's a different kind of racing in the format.
07:49So maybe he's used to racing how it was prepped back when he was an amateur.
07:54And that's what he was referring to.
07:56You do hear that a lot, even when we go to Fox Raceway.
07:58Everyone says, yeah, I've ridden here all the time.
08:00But it doesn't feel the same for a pro national.
08:03We check in with Chas Hymus, who is a game-time decision to even race today going back to this incident.
08:09He's going to get his foot caught in the front wheel of Hayden Deegan.
08:13Pulled out of the moto.
08:15So we're hoping that he can even line up today.
08:17Really bruised the foot.
08:19He was here yesterday for press day, and we asked him about his condition.
08:25It's all right.
08:27It's definitely sore right now.
08:29Pretty bruised, pretty swollen.
08:31But we're going to try to do a couple laps today and see how it feels.
08:33And just kind of go from there.
08:35Try to get through the weekend.
08:37Got a few weeks off after this.
08:39So we're going to try to do what I can.
08:41Interesting.
08:43Try to.
08:45Is he going to race or not?
08:47That's really the question.
08:49He didn't say it wasn't going to be a factor.
08:51No.
08:53I hope it's well enough to race.
08:57It's tough when you have an injury like that.
09:01Especially on your, like, ankles or feet area.
09:04Just because in the conditions like this, sometimes your feet slip off the foot peg so easily.
09:10You can dab your foot really fast.
09:12And it just makes that.
09:14It's like an insult to injury.
09:17He does have the 12th fastest time if that indicates anything.
09:20That's not normally as quick as he is.
09:22But he was able to turn some fast laps.
09:24I think he's in cruise mode now.
09:26But that's good to see.
09:28At least could hammer down a bit.
09:30And we'll see.
09:32Can he do the 30 plus 2 twice today?
09:34Got pushed back to fourth in points.
09:36Because he didn't finish the moto last week.
09:38But he was second in the championship coming into that route.
09:40So you just never know.
09:42Yeah.
09:44Think about the smx points, too.
09:46Oh, yeah.
09:48You got to stack those as much as possible as well.
09:50So here is that checkered flag.
09:52250 qualifying for the A group is over.
09:54And will it be Levi Kitchen on top?
09:58I'd make the fans happy.