Kitchen & Deegan Collide in St. Louis SMX Thriller, Shaking Up 250 Championship
Monster Energy’s Levi Kitchen and Haiden Deegan clash in a dramatic Moto 2 moment, costing Deegan the 250 points lead. Hammaker, Thrasher, Tomac, and Minear round out a wild weekend ahead of Vegas Finals.
Get your tickets early to the Sept. 20 Vegas Monster Energy SuperMotocross (SMX) Championship Finals because they’ll be talking about this one all week as two of Monster Energy’s finest – Haiden Deegan (Star Racing/Yamaha) and Levi Kitchen (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) – came together at the most inopportune time, Saturday’s 250 class Moto 2 main event at Round 2 of SMX at St. Louis’ Dome at America’s Center, with Deegan getting the worst of it and losing his overall SMX 250 series points lead.
Following a dominant win by Deegan in the opening moto, the result of the Moto 2 collision, initiated by Kitchen in a right hand corner, would send both racers the ground – and Deegan off the track and into the Tuff Blocks. Both racers would eventually get back into the race, but the damage had been done to Deegan as the crash appeared to destroy his front brake lever/bracket and he had to finish the race with a malfunctioning front brake, placing 14th and 6th overall (1-14).
The result of the incident, coupled with the ‘Double Points’ scoring for SMX Round 2, would allow race winner Jo Shimoda (Honda) to pass Deegan in the overall points chase, 92-82. The one saving grace though for Deegan is that the final SMX round, Las Vegas (Sept. 20), will pay out triple points. So Deegan has a shot to make up the ten points in his quest to earn his third 250 SMX World Championship.
However, if Deegan wins Vegas, and Shimoda finishes 2nd, Shimoda wins the crown.
Said Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team owner Mitch Payton of the incident: “It was early in the moto and I know he (Kitchen) made an aggressive pass – and that’s a big deal – but, I want him to do that. And that’s what everyone else would do. And I think that’s what Haiden would have done. Levi had the inside and Haiden could have stood the bike up and given it (the position) to him.
“I applaud what he did. It was aggressive, but it wasn’t crazy. I thought It could have looked a lot cleaner, for sure.”
Lost in the Kitchen/Deegan mess were two excellent 250 podium performances from Monster Energy’s Seth Hammaker (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) and Nate Thrasher (Star Racing/Yamaha). The two, who finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, climbed to 3rd (Hammaker) and 5th (Thrasher) in the overall 250 SMX point standings. Another noteworthy performance at St. Louis would come from Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ty Masterpool, who also put his KX250F in the top five (4th).
Rounding out the top ten scoring for Monster Energy at St. Louis were Daxton Bennick (Star Racing/Yamaha) in 8th, teammate Max Anstie in 9th and Kitchen in 10th.
In 450 action Monster Energy’s Eli Tomac (Star Racing/Yamaha) would score his second-straight podium, placing 3rdwith two podium finishes (3-2) on the night. Tomac’s teammate and defending Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450 class champion, Cooper Webb, would make the top five (5th) with an 8-4 performance, while third Star Racing/Yamaha teammate, Justin Cooper, would place 8th (6-11).
And in SMX Next racing, Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Kayden Minear would take 2nd place at St. Louis, and, coupled with the young Australian’s win the previous weekend in Charlotte, N.C., he secured the 2025 SMX Next season overall championship.
Monster Energy SMX Round 2 Results, St. Louis, MO
| 450 Class | 250 Class |
|---|---|
| 3rd – Eli Tomac (Star/Yamaha) | 2nd – Seth Hammaker (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) |
| 5th – Cooper Webb (Star/Yamaha) | 3rd – Nate Thrasher (Star/Yamaha) |
| 8th – Justin Cooper (Star Racing/Yamaha) | 4th – Ty Masterpool (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) |
| 6th – Haiden Deegan (Star/Yamaha) | |
| 8th – Daxton Bennick (Star/Yamaha) | |
| 9th – Max Anstie (Start Racing/Yamaha) | |
| 10th – Levi Kitchen (Star/Yamaha) |
Notes & Quotes
- “On a track where all the lap times were rrrreally close, Haiden Deegan was able to separate himself.” – NBC announcer James Stewart on 250 Moto 1 at St. Louis.
- “Nobody was close to Haiden Deegan, all day long.” – added Stewart.
- Watch the (#) 47 of Levi Kitchen. He just goes in there, wholesale move, and takes ‘em both (he and Deegan) out. HUGE implications for Haiden. Not so much for Levi in this situation.” – NBC announcer Ricky Carmichael on the Kitchen/Deegan get together.
- “It’s harder to win a title if you don’t have friends on the race track. I don’t know if Kitchen woke up and chose violence in that second moto. There was serious heat in the off season between he (Deegan) and Levi leading into supercross. And you put that kind of money on the line ($500K to the 250 SMX overall winner) and anything can happen.” - NBC’s Jason Weigandt.
- AMA officials would give Kitchen a verbal warning for “Rough Riding” following his incident with Deegan.
- “When we were at Salt Lake (Monster Energy SX Finals), RJ (Hampshire) took out Seth (Hammaker) for a (250) championship. That was a much worse pass, if you watch it, than this one was. And they (AMA officials) didn’t do anything about that.”
- “I know I can be up there. I know I got it. It’s just getting the whole puzzle to come together.” – Ty Masterpool.
- “It’s pretty crazy. Don’t really think it’s sunk in yet,” said Minear. And for the 2026 season? “Hopefully, if all goes to plan, I should be pro next year. Just depends what the team lets me do.”
Up next: The 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross Championship comes to a highly anticipated conclusion at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the third and final/deciding round of SMX racing, Saturday, Sept. 20th.
