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00:00he's consistently been up and down so you get guys who have great finishes and in fact this
00:04year I think it's going to have to change but yeah Joey's one of the favorites along with Levi
00:08Kitchen. Yep and then you got Cole Davies with a dominant run in Monster Energy Supercross. Can
00:13he translate that the young New Zealand racer to motocross? He does not have much experience on
00:19these tracks here in America but that's just the start of the list and it's the start of the season
00:25for the first time in pro motocross this year. Braves are up. Gates down.
00:34Seth Hamaker trying to control it from the inside and he does. He's got his teammate Nick Romano
00:40there with him and Caden Dudney as well in the 82 and the second. Great start by Seth. We know
00:46how
00:47strong he is and how fast he is so there's a great start by the pro circuit. It looks like
00:51there's
00:51some star racing. Yamahas in there. Great start by him. Two rookies Dudney and Gordon but then around
00:58the outside is Romano. Fill-in rider for the team. Didn't even have a ride about six months ago up
01:03to
01:04second. Look at Dudney the outside line working for him. Yeah he wants to go in this 250 class. He's
01:08opening lapses. Control chaos. These guys are going everywhere. They want that track position.
01:13Great to see him up here fighting. It's not too much. It's not too wet. So I think these guys
01:17could be
01:17racing. If not you're not moving forward you're gonna be moving backwards as this guy tries to
01:21make the pass. Oh yeah they're battling. Yes Romano is gonna get done. Oh down from fourth. I think
01:27that was Ryder DiFrancisco. How about this battle? Dudney and Romano side by side three four times
01:33already. Yeah you can see the gap starting to open up but Levi Kitchen got a bad start as you're
01:38watching Dax get back on the racetrack or Ryder Di. Really fast in practice but Levi Kitchen got a horrible
01:44start. He made a lot of moves and I believe he's in form so it just shows you that confidence
01:48that
01:48he's been carrying from that practice. I'll show you some confidence. Look at Nick Romano the pride of
01:54Bayshore New York in the city. Now has completed the pass on Dudney and has started to make tracks
02:02toward his teammate Hamaker. Yeah I think this race as this first couple laps it has started settling
02:07down. The problem about this 250 class is that every you go back it doesn't get any easier. If you
02:12think
02:13you let one guy pass you have five more behind you so might have to stay up front but good
02:17job by
02:17Dudney. Settle down in his third position and try to regroup. Yeah you called it James. The 47 is
02:23already on the radar. Bad start didn't even matter with Kitchen. He's moving forward challenging Dudney
02:31JT. He is and it's just it's interesting to watch Dudney and Romano battle there. We talked a little bit
02:36about this during Monster New Supercross but remember Romano was on Monster Yamaha Star Racing and
02:41he lost his spot to give room to riders like Caden Dudney and Landon Gordon to see Kitchen make a
02:47move
02:47there. So when Romano goes by them you know he's got a little extra incentive to make the move.
02:52That's a great point. Yeah Romano was one of the young stars of that team. Oh mistake
02:56by Kitchen that allows Dudney now one of the young riders on that team to move back up. Yeah I
03:02mean
03:02it's gonna be a lot of back and forth just one simple mistake but I love what I see from
03:06the 47.
03:07He's been firing all day long from practice being that much faster and when you have that built-in speed
03:12you can be a little bit you know more patient. Levi doesn't look like that. The kitchen is wide open
03:17as he's watching his teammate get away so try to make quick work of the rookie Dudney and see if
03:22you
03:22can close that gap to the lead. Still a nice bounce back for Dudney who made his pro debut in
03:27Monster Energy
03:28Supercross and it did not go well. In fact after a couple of rounds he stopped racing Supercross to refocus
03:35on this and it's going much better here in pro motocross with this early run for third. A rider who
03:42is an amateur again just a few months ago but honestly the big upset is Romano out there. Wasn't
03:47even sure if he was going to race motocross for the pro circuit team. It's Drew Adams out with injury
03:52for the moment. Romano got the call to stay with the team at least to the early rounds. Keep riding
03:58like
03:58this he's going to be with them all year running in second. Yeah and these these kids you know they're
04:03young so
04:03there's a lot of pressure for him but they also understand that if you don't perform there's
04:07another guy that's ready to take it as you just mentioned with Romano out here. So I think they
04:13got a lot to work for. He's got his hands full with Levi Kitchen but early in this race he'll
04:17be fine.
04:20Kitchen going to reset and go back after Dudney. Here is Romano. So yeah it was dropped by the star
04:26team.
04:26Then got hurt immediately last year. Was out for a long time. Said he had a couple of smaller teams
04:31calling him to raise super costs but he just had faith that a big factory level team was going to
04:38eventually call when they needed help. They did. He's making the most of it. Another pass. Kitchen
04:42is back around Dudney for third. Yeah yeah K truck in but again Levi has a lot of speed built
04:49in. So
04:49you know he can be patient wait his time because he knows ultimate he's faster than those guys but
04:53right now it's a Kawasaki pro circuit one two three. It's been a few years since we've seen something like
04:59that is great Sanford he's got. He'll throw back there. This was once the dominant
05:04team in this 250 class right now one two three. Feels like old times out here for them.
05:11Dudney gonna try to hang on. Now he opened some eyes finished seventh in a moto last year
05:15Dudney when he first tipped his feet into the pro ranks late last summer and that was actually done
05:21only to get him in under the age limit. The pro minimum age has moved up to 17 this year.
05:29But if you raced one last year you're automatically grandfathered in. So they had him race one last
05:33year. He opened up some serious eyes at Unadilla. Raced one more and that experience paying off
05:38for Dudney. But here comes the cavalry. Landon Gordon another one of his young teammates and Cole Davies.
05:44Yeah you're a supercross champion. It doesn't stop after that. You know it continues to go but I think
05:50the good part about this is that these kids they're they're prepared coming in here. So you know
05:54though they're young they're really prepared JT. They are and you know as you see that Bradfordville
05:59Florida as the hometown for Landon Gordon that's a little deceiving. Yes he's located there because
06:04that's where the monster Yamaha star racing training facility is. But he's a California kid. He's
06:08surely spent a lot of time here at this racetrack on this type of dirt this type of terrain. So
06:13don't
06:14let that Florida address fool you. This is more of a home race for Landon Gordon. I don't think
06:18there's anything wrong with Florida address. Whatever it is he's doing good. But yeah the
06:23whole star racing as you mentioned their facility is up in Tallahassee area. So he's got to change
06:28that license to Florida. Yeah you know he's logged a lot of laps on this track. Yeah we're not saying
06:34it any of the native Florida guy. That's totally fine. They've all headed your way James. So this is
06:39pretty impressive for Dudney and Gordon. Look we talked about how big the opener was for the title
06:43contenders to start on the right foot. What about these young guys? It's huge. It's huge. And
06:48especially like Landon Gordon. You know at one point you would almost in no disrespect maybe he was
06:53one of the weakest ones on here. But you know injuries the opportunity got his first podium this
06:59year in his second race during Supercross. So clearly he has that confidence. He's just got to
07:04continue to build and this guy can be up here. Battle continues between the Yamaha boys up front.
07:10Look at this. Nick Romano. Can he go to the lead? He is catching
07:14Hamaker. Yeah this is actually a good thing for Nick because it's been a while since he's been
07:19up here if ever. So the fact that he's got his teammate right in front of him kind of keeps
07:25that pressure. Keeps his goals focused and now you're starting to see this field's going to close
07:29up. Levi Kitchen still with that speed. Everything's going good. Expecting a lot of
07:34things going to change over the next couple laps. Set it to Will.
07:38Guys I'm looking at Seth Hamaker up front here. I had a conversation with him earlier about just
07:43kind of like where he's at mentally. He's had to overcome injury just coming back from an injury
07:48and that's through his trap now and he's suffered a lot over the last few years. I said
07:53where are you at? He said what I've learned to do is basically kind of care less. He's like I
07:58care so
07:59much and he's like but I need to sort of let that go of it. I said okay so you
08:02care how can you change
08:04that because you live for this and he's like well I can change it on the back end of things
08:09and
08:09still he talks about just being able to learn to let things go. He's like so I care I want
08:15this but when
08:15it doesn't go right or if the bike is not perfect or if I am not physically perfect I just
08:20have
08:21learned to move on from that. Just let those things go and that's just kind of a bit of a
08:25mentally freeing process for Seth here. Hopefully it'll work for him there as he starts to attack
08:30his pro motorbust. Yeah no I understand it completely what he's saying and it's weird because he's like
08:35I want to care less because I care too much on there but what he's talking about is it's more
08:41perspective you know where he was a couple years ago being injured and not really sure if he
08:45ever ever gets at his level. I think that perspective of knowing that helps him continue
08:50to get out here and fight and um so far for the last couple years Seth has been here and
08:55I suspect
08:55he's going to be here all year long for championships. Yeah where you've seen that really pay off is the
09:00consistency. He was always a fast but crash guy. He has been very consistent the last two years but he
09:06knows he has company. I look over the shoulder it's his teammates Romano and Kitchen. Unbelievable stat here.
09:12The last time this team swept the podium was at this track 15 years ago with Blake Baggett, Tyler
09:19Rattray and Dean Wilson. It's been 15 years since a 1-2-3 for Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki but they've
09:25got
09:26at least the riders in position right now. You see Joe Shimoda one of the expected contenders at the
09:31bottom back at eight. Yeah there was a struggle for a few years with uh Pro Circuit just a lot
09:35of injuries but
09:36I think that also shows you that when you get you know the alpha dog out the opportunity for
09:41these guys they rod together so when one teammate's doing great it just raises level with everybody
09:46else just like the NBA you got to make your teammate it um just as good and that's a successful
09:52of a
09:52great team and now you're starting to see that with Pro Circuit you saw it over the years for a
09:56star
09:56racing Yamaha you can see Mitch Payton and they've pulled away from the Dougie Gordon rookie battle
10:02Davies about a second behind that in sixth Lux Turner riding very well both in qualifying and in
10:08this moto and then it's Joe Shimoda JT. It is Joe Shimoda you know Joe has been so consistent he
10:14was
10:15fantastic last year in this championship and really has been for a while and when you contrast the way
10:20Joe goes about his racing versus a lot of the other riders in this class thinking who can be champion
10:26well Joe seems to find a way to be there week in and week out and the other guys Seth
10:31Hemmaker in the
10:32past Chance Hymas who's trying to fight through the pack they've been known as what people call a cow
10:37it's crash or win and that is really difficult to be in a championship contention late in the series
10:43if that's your MO if you crash or win guess what the weekends where you crash you lose too many
10:47points
10:48and a guy like Joe Shimoda racking up podiums week in week out he can have his way with this
10:53title
10:54JT are you talking about me crash or win because I heard that statement about
10:58oh no never no we never said that ain't nothing wrong with that turn the volume down yeah
11:03hey play smx for cash go to nxtvets.com or just scan that flow code on the screen right there
11:11try to make your picks as this new pro motocross championship begins
11:15certainly this guy was looking good for folks the 47 of Levi kitchen from qualifying with a ton of
11:21speed and we're seeing it now yeah that's it's a great sign that you normally Levi have these rising
11:26but we talked to you know it's kind of laughing over a couple years ago and I mentioned to you
11:30Levi would win that first moto and didn't get 13th the next one and you'd be like oh he kind
11:35of
11:35wrote the same did he crash no but I think what you're seeing this early in the season is the
11:40Levi that I I wanted to see he's got that um everything rolling his teammates in front of
11:45him and um clearly he has the speed he looks good where he's that will yeah I'm just thinking back
11:50James to last year when I spoke to Levi and he was at that point like middle of the season
11:56when
11:56things weren't going particularly well he was suffering after that back injury
12:00the light wasn't set up they weren't where they were supposed to be starts weren't good the
12:05team was struggling with that and he had his eyes already on this year this championship and part
12:10of that was the exit of Hayden Deegan he knew the bike would get better he knew he physically
12:15would get healthy again what does it do to these guys when they know it's more possible than it
12:21perhaps was before well I mean I think you're seeing it right here just from the whole uh
12:26standpoint and it's not that you know Levi was afraid of Hayden Deegan or he didn't think he could
12:30win but he knew how great Hayden was and with his race team you need everything working for you to
12:37be able to compete at this level and when you know one part isn't working you know you got to
12:41start
12:41looking towards the future but I love what I see the whole team stepped up Levi stepped up and um
12:46you know we're only seven a few minutes into this race but it looks good for him
12:50but talking to Levi yesterday has a pretty unique perspective on this wide open storyline
12:55that everyone is talking about in this class here's Levi I feel like a championship is wide open no
13:02matter what year it is like whether obviously there's always people that are favorites but
13:07you know people can go out in the first or second round or things happen you know um
13:13I don't know it's just uh I don't like to go in with the mindset that it's wide open because
13:18no
13:18matter what it's never wide open I mean we're all going fast I feel like like you said a couple
13:24of us
13:25won races there's going to be others that are going to feel that they can win obviously this year
13:30so um but I think my chances are good obviously Joe and Chance probably think those are good too
13:37and if we're the only ones who have won so um that's cool excited
13:45I get what he get what he's saying I mean it is wide open but we know I mean if
13:49I oversleep then
13:50that means I'm going to take my kids to school so that's a possibility of possibly happening
13:53um you know but Levi Shimoda makes a move on Lux Turner here by the way for seven yeah go
13:59ahead
13:59on Levi yeah you know Levi knows he's got to be there and he's always had to speak but you
14:03know
14:03Joe Shimoda was a little off of practice and we were kind of concerned on you know not only he's
14:09missed
14:09some time and having to rust but just how he feels you know possibly being a little scared timid
14:14with this injury as we're watching the battle up front I think this could be a great thing for Joe
14:19because this is what he does he always moves forward he has that heart and maybe because
14:23the speed's not there he just marches his way up he will get a better version of Joe Shimoda that
14:28confidence to come back and he'll be up here battling with these guys looks like kitchen made
14:33the move James on Romano now so he's up to second and still about two seconds behind his teammate
14:38Habaker who has yet to win a moto in his career in pro motocross so let's see if today is
14:45the day for
14:46Habaker who had a lot of physical issues that slowed him in his early development in motocross
14:51he's got a lot of that behind him clearly but still we're not even at the halfway mark so a
14:57long
14:57way to go to prove how strong he can be yeah it's we're not but I also think like when
15:03you're looking
15:03at Kawasaki this is probably their best um two opportunities hamaker and kitchen because we're
15:10going to watch kitchen goes up the inside right here I think things are probably going to start
15:14happening a little fast for a nick hasn't been racing all year long so kind of lets his teammate
15:19has it have it and Levi was probably going to have it anyway but still a great ride by him
15:25all right we have now reached the halfway point and I can remind you stock up on monster energy at
15:30stater brothers now what's interesting about that pass kitchen and Romano are really good friends
15:35off the track when Romano didn't have a ride months ago he got a bike at Kawasaki and was just
15:40riding
15:41with kitchen to try to stay somewhat ready in case the phone call came I've got to imagine
15:46kitchen was putting in a good word to the team owner Mitch Payton to give Romano a look that has
15:50certainly paid off with a good run for him but kitchen's got to go left Romano behind he's going
15:56for the lead yeah kitchen's on you know I can tell by his body language I mean he's really smooth
16:01he feels
16:02good and he's got a lot of equity built up in that speed seeing Joe close in I believe this
16:07is Landon
16:08Gordon right here so as I said earlier Joe will continue marching his way up here he could have
16:13ran it in but I'm too early in the race for that but I think Joe's probably going to get
16:17him here
16:18pretty soon the way he's moving so if this is Gordon it actually means Davies as you see the results
16:23on the left side of the screen has moved ahead of him so Davies kind of quietly up into fifth
16:29this is
16:30sixth and seventh right now with the rookie Gordon and Shimoda yeah Joe's good some parts of this
16:36racetrack you just got to sit back now it opens back up see Joe can rail this outside or cut
16:41back
16:41in there start see Landon Gordon starting to sit down a little bit to be expected long race you
16:48know first race is always tough for these guys but overall Joe and both these guys are doing good
16:53well I talked to Landon Gordon yesterday and he said really he was never on a full training program
16:58when he lived out here in California he'd ride but nothing fully structured like he now has with this
17:04Yamaha team but he's only about eight months into it so he feels like he's got a lot more to
17:09give
17:09as far as getting stronger and building his endurance he's hanging on right now against the pressure of
17:14Shimoda then it's Turner Bennett and Nate Thrasher riding out the top 10 and Kitchin continuing to take
17:21a few tenths out of the lead of Hammacher yeah I mean for a lot of our viewers they've seen
17:25Levi Kitchin
17:26ride and he's really all over the bike don't really lose slamming into stuff but watch his body language he's
17:31standing up you know just relaxed and not really over rushing himself going into the corners and
17:36that's why I said he looks really relaxed to me because of that speed he's had speed advantage he's
17:40had over these guys he can take his time and just go to work on Seth because he knows if
17:45I need to put
17:45down the lap I can close that gap pretty easy maybe put a little pressure on his teammate getting that
17:51league so when you're in kitchen situation you start to know he'll come back to me I don't need to
17:56rush
17:56it right now I'll get there yeah no Levi knows he's on speed wise he's got his teammate you know
18:02that's why you'll see this little cat and mouse you know it's not because Seth's really pulling away I
18:06think it's because Levi's just sitting back but what he's also doing is taking you know breathers and
18:11in his first race as I just mentioned earlier it's easy to hold your breath it's a big difference
18:17from supercross so I think a lot of things are going on besides just racing the racetrack Levi's just
18:21taking his time and when it comes to it I think he'll attack his teammate how about Romano still
18:27there in third that would be a career best for him if he can hang on to it his best
18:31is a fourth
18:32Shibota and Gordon still going for it Joe makes it happen yeah Joe put a little game of chicken
18:39rat there you know swore over there like are you gonna do it he backed out of it so took
18:44him a while
18:45he's working on him but see this you know Levi standing up in the corners and as I mentioned he's
18:50got
18:50that speed but he's also saving a lot of energy Seth doesn't know that so it makes you nervous behind
18:55you and you start getting that mental will spin you're not you things are starting happening
18:59really quick great position where I'm at if I'm Levi kitchen and 11 minutes and two laps to go
19:07still have acre leading laps never won a photo and at the moment looking good yeah look at both these
19:16guys looking good and and it just shows you how good Levi's been riding all day because they've
19:21gapped the rest of the field I mean Nixon almost 10 seconds behind him and then our supercross champ
19:26Cole Davies is 13 so it's not like you know they they just got out front they built this lead
19:32so it's
19:33been a great rod they both have speed but I love the 47 and his body language it looks very
19:38relaxed
19:38beautiful style for him Levi all right let's hop on board and watch this play out
19:56so again even though the gap hasn't really closed you still feel like kitchen has some level of control
20:02here this is Gordon and Turner so Lux Turner whose career best in a moto is an 11 looking to
20:08move into
20:08seventh that he hasn't oh he moved into the seventh uh look really good we're gonna watch his sister uh
20:15next weekend I can't wait to watch that right um yeah great route for all these guys and again they
20:20sense the opportunity when he can be announced who knows what can happen and I think Lux is going to
20:25have a um breakout year as he did last year he'll be even better this year gotta imagine Lux has
20:32written
20:33here a lot he's from Reno Nevada not too far in motocross terms as far as a road trip to
20:38his
20:38track check out the riders wearing the fly racing gear Turner is tops right now in eighth
20:42you got high miss at 11. Schwartz Boland Shock Ross those are your fly racing athletes kitchen now about
20:51I believe to put an attack on Hamaker and Hamaker made it easy yep there it is that's what I
20:56was saying
20:56with Levi put your your teammate in that mental will spin you know have us starting to think you know
21:01a step doesn't know he doesn't know if Levi's you know trying really hard or doing what he did as
21:06we got
21:07a lot broader just a little whiplash in the background um but great move by Levi JT yeah and
21:14James I would not be shocked to see Levi put in his best laps of the race right here if
21:18he can really
21:19drop his pace maybe get back into that 220-221 range for two or three laps that will be enough
21:25to break
21:25the back of Seth Hamaker in this moto and ride the last few laps uncontested yeah absolutely and you
21:31could start to see that gap um as you were saying Jason he was just sitting back there's
21:35certain parts of this racetrack you can't pass so you know sit back get your teammate relax in a
21:40little false hope and then you attack it and that's exactly what Levi did and he's already
21:44starting to um bridge that gap over his teammate hey I know it's only one race but we kept saying
21:50how up for grabs this is when you dominate qualifying and then you just completely have this first photo
21:56charge under control that has got to be doing wonders for him under the helmet no it is as we
22:01we go back to Cole Davies trying to get um you know around um his uh old teammate yeah old
22:07teammate and
22:08Nick um it does a lot for guys but it does even more for certain guys and I think Levi
22:13is that certain
22:14guy we always know he's had that speed it's just got to get off the gate um and we see
22:18how deep this
22:19field is Cole Davies got a decent start but he's almost you know 13 seconds back and you know just
22:25the
22:25difference of start as cold track goes up inside of this Nick battle for the podium Davies almost
22:31had it outside worked out for Romano at least for the moment yeah still great ride by Nick you know
22:38if nothing happens I'm thinking Cole's probably gonna get by him he's caught him Nick starting to
22:42sit down but still you know not riding all year kind of a fill in this is a great ride
22:47and if he can
22:48ride this thing with a top four top five I'm sure Mitch Payton would be super happy so will Nick
22:53would be
22:54this might clinch a ride all summer for Romano right here as of now it's just the early rounds
22:59while Drew Adams is out but don't find room if you're fast no doubt and running third right now
23:05definitely proves something it's a good run for Davies yeah I mean even though Cole is our Supercross
23:11champion a lot of expectation he could be your title um he's definitely a title contender but he might
23:17win this championship he's also really young he got hurt last year so he only did a few outdoors got
23:22an
23:22overall um last year but I think um you know Cole's very you know technical takes his time as he
23:29takes
23:29his time up the inside of Nick um he can finish on third that'd be a great moto for Cole
23:34Davies
23:34well there goes the stat this is potentially the first monster pro circuit Kawasaki moto sweep
23:40since 2011 but now that has been broken up by Davies still a great ride for the squad a great
23:46ride
23:46by Romano but Davies okay look it's not the dominant runs like we were seeing in Supercross
23:52but I gotta figure this is not a bad position to be in just getting rolling now I think Cole's
23:58doing a
23:58great job again the way this build is and the way Levi's riding if you don't get up there with
24:03him
24:03like you can ride great and get beat you know that's the way it is so just because Hayden's gone
24:08and some of
24:09these other guys there's a lot of speed out there and both these guys were able to beat Hayden last
24:13year
24:14at one point so speed's not an issue just by being there week in and week out so Cole Davies
24:18top three
24:19I'm sure you'll be happy with that and after Davies trounced the field in Supercross I think everyone's
24:26just looking for some sign that he can be the same guy in motocross and it won't take much I
24:31think
24:31everybody already knows how talented and how good he can be this is a sign that he can be just
24:36as good
24:36outdoors they just haven't seen it in America yet but at least so far today they've all got a long
24:43way
24:43to go to catch this guy yeah this guy's good almost five and a half seconds and looks really
24:48comfortable doing it saving a lot of energy and and that's the hard part um your competition Levi's
24:54not you know riding that hard so he'll be uh built up compared to where you got Chance Hymes fighting
25:00his way up with a bad start he's going to be battling all the way to the end so got
25:04to look at
25:05towards Levi having a little bit more fresher legs but rough start for Chance I don't know where he was
25:10at
25:10opening lap but trying to crack that top 10 not the first motor he wanted to have but
25:16keep moving forward to be all right no it's a rider who's had a lot of speed again the fast
25:20qualifier
25:20out this race a year ago and now just trying to get into the top 10 battling Gordon but so
25:27many of
25:27these riders including Hymes and his teammate Shimoda are coming back from injury so you never know
25:32what those first race jitters are like at the moment he has at least put that Honda into the top
25:4010 here's Hymes on his physical update coming back from injury yeah body's feeling 100 shoulders
25:47feeling good uh big thanks to uh Dr. G um and uh Yvette Brioche for you know getting me dialed
25:54in and uh the
25:55folks over at Red Bull um yeah just overall body's feeling 100 percent been uh betting back on the
26:02bike for a couple months now a few months uh student team testing and putting the motos in so yeah
26:07feeling
26:07good yeah it's great to hear that um that he's healthy you know but certain riders you know when
26:13I look at Chance Hymes if you were to say he holds shots and just runs away like that would
26:17be expected
26:18what I want to see from Chance is what he's doing right here a bad start I want him to
26:22grind his way
26:24through the field get up hopefully a top five or top ten that's what we're looking for and that's
26:28that belief that I think will carry him the speed has always been there he can win any of these
26:33races
26:33but the grind is what I want to see so great start it's like we got Max Anstey the grind
26:39for him had
26:40that big crash in qualifying but I don't know if this is related to that or not yeah he's got
26:45a little
26:45dirt on him so at some point something didn't happen the way he wanted good to see him riding off
26:50a
26:51tough bomb first moto for Max yeah not a good way to start the campaign so there's Hymas up to
26:5610th
26:57about two seconds behind Thrasher who is in ninth and then quietly a good run for Dax Fennec running
27:03eight on the Rockstar Husqvarna there is Anstey talking to his mechanic Austin
27:10that's when you're a rider when you're like that you talk real slow
27:15he's talking real slow you want your mechanic be like just go back son it's all real slow little
27:20body movements but Max is one of the toughest guys I know that tough hit um early in practice
27:26and you can see the little dirt on him he took another one hopefully he'll be back for that second
27:29moto a bummer for the very likable veteran out of England who had several years when he's living in
27:36Europe where he wasn't racing supercross at all so a lot of people wondering just what would be his
27:41level here at motocross where he has more experience really than almost anybody in this field did not
27:45get to see it today okay so we talked about riders coming back from injury and we always ask them
27:52how
27:53long they've been riding are they prepared physically but what about that first race jitters thing that's
27:58probably a lot harder to measure no it is and that's what's impressive about this guy you know the
28:04speed if you came here and been slow it would have been a disappointment if you wouldn't have had a
28:07great finish so to come out here and look as good as you did with all that pressure is great
28:11but then
28:12at the same time i think it helps as i was saying with joe shimoto maybe there is a lot
28:16of pressure
28:16you are a championship contender getting a bad start kind of resets that focus and allows you to find
28:21your groove without being up front where levi you only want to be up here if you feel confident in
28:26your
28:26belief as he makes a little mistake right there or you want to be in the pack to where you
28:31just kind
28:31of move forward and build to yourself um two ways getting it done next battle to watch here is gordon
28:38who has drifted back out of the top 10 and good to see julia boomer and the red bull ktm
28:44the orange 13
28:44back at the races that was a devastating back injury for the playoffs last year he told me yesterday
28:52the first doctor he went to said 12 months before you could even think about getting on a motorcycle
28:58and here he is that was september and in may he's back not just friday but racing
29:03it was fast to qualify and try to close in the top 10. yeah that's riders when we hear news
29:08like
29:08that we don't want to be like okay cool we've like all right have a nice day doc where's the
29:12next one
29:13we don't want to hear that kind of news will
29:17yeah nine months all up was what he told me then that was three months jason in a back race
29:24and then
29:24an additional four months with all of that hardware in that he had there and then he came to a
29:28really
29:29tough decision this is back in april keep the hardware in but the risk is james if you take a
29:35bad crash that could cause a break sort of either side of that metal work in there or take it
29:40out but
29:41if he felt pain when he got back on the bike when he takes that hardware out then he misses
29:46the start of
29:47pro motocross so a massive gamble there for juju he spoke to the team at red bull ktm he said
29:52they
29:52told him this is your health first we've got to take that hardware out if you missed the opener you
29:57missed the opener he took it out he said he was extremely nervous two weeks later when he jumped on
30:02the bike he felt absolutely nothing he said okay i know i can line up in parlor so he's been
30:07through
30:07a lot just to get to this round here yeah that's that's crazy and i'm sure that was a hard
30:12decision but i
30:13know for uh julian because of what ktm said and they look at your health first makes you want to
30:19get back out here and not only do it for yourself but do it for your team because you know
30:23genuinely
30:23they care about you so great to see julian out here um i'm sure it's going to take a little
30:28bit
30:28time to knock some of the rust off but at least he's out here and i can't wait to see
30:32what he does
30:33over the course of this season yeah last year it's very fast this race went four or five for fifth
30:38but
30:38that's a much different circumstance so when you see boomer 12 that's solid for you yeah i mean it's
30:46solid it's solid that the guy's even out here yes you know i think these guys overcoming some of these
30:50injuries you don't know it could one do one or two things it could break you mentally or it can
30:55make
30:55you even stronger and we've seen um both those things happen you look at the 450 class of hunter
31:00lawrence a lot of injuries look where he's at i think julian if he is pain-free stays healthy this
31:06is
31:06only going to make him stronger to where one day he might be up there where levi is leading these
31:10races time has expired so under two laps to go here for kitchen who has put hamacre and davies away
31:18still going to be a great start to the year for monster pro circuit kawasaki as they look for a
31:23one
31:23two and romano trying to hold on for four that would be phenomenal for him considering his road to
31:30get here shimota fifth yeah great great rob by the top five uh auto's not out of it for the
31:37podium
31:38here he's got davies inside again yeah i think what's happening with cole i mean one of two things
31:42he's a either it's the first race or he's either settled in uh third place or that rabbit's not in
31:48front of him so he doesn't have anybody to chase so it's kind of hard to move forward nick is
31:53still there
31:53and he's giving life into him nick understands that man if i can get on the podium i can make
31:58jason
31:58right and read that stat but first time it's a bunch of gears and solidify my rod for next year
32:04too that's right get it back to the podium sweep yeah it was two seconds faster than davies the last
32:09time around although you got to figure the 37 might catch a glimpse over his shoulder and say all
32:14right i gotta lock this podium down yeah i'm sure he will and you can tell by his body language
32:19that
32:19he probably was just relaxing a little bit um but that being said nick is really fighting i'm really
32:24happy to see that for him you know all these pro circuit guys because it's been a few years
32:29but great start and he's still closing in on cole
32:34but you know if you're nick if you have an opportunity i would say anything goes we know
32:39cole's got to be up here a lot but this could be a huge um wow boost for him as
32:43he's letting it all hang
32:45out yeah all right he knows what the podium would mean this would be massive
32:51again for a rider who is just a fill-in racer at one point thought maybe his career
32:57was done in a flash uh turned a pro a couple of years ago had a solid summer a lot
33:02of top tens
33:03then about two straight years of injuries got injured again at the start of last year thought
33:07it might be over but what did you say about injuries how they can build a guy up you know
33:12if
33:13you're a mono you're leaving nothing on the track yeah so you know this is your shot no and this
33:17is
33:18and just what i was saying about julian you know nick's out here he was able to race a few
33:22races this
33:23year and look what he's doing so i think for him it's if he came back from this injury mentally
33:28he'll
33:28be stronger and he's closing in on the supercross champ so all these guys got talent which is whether
33:34they stay healthy and they believe how good they are i'm happy to see it happen yeah you can see
33:39the
33:39belief right now but the white flag is out davie's going to try to weather this storm kitchen look at
33:45the lockdown what would be his eighth career moto win and it's actually would be a career best in
33:51pro motocross for hamacre even if he hangs on for a second yeah it's a career best but a lot
33:57of these
33:57guys out here but you know i was looking behind joe shimota's right there behind him so nick's got to
34:03push because joe's got popping this yeah and we know joe don't quit he always keep fighting and
34:08he looks better you know peeking out of things joe looks better than he did earlier this is what he
34:14needed this is the joe shimota that we've been wanting i was going to say is that not classic
34:17shimota that's what it is that's why i thought maybe if you put him out front you know it's a
34:22little bit different the nerves and he starts thinking about all the things he can lose but
34:25you put it where joe feels like he's more comfortable running these guys down this is the
34:30guy that beat hayden deegan towards the end of supercross and then ultimately to win that championship
34:35this guy right there never gives up and they better pick up their feet because joe shimota's
34:40coming man he just does not get tired he never gives up and remember folks the two moto format
34:48going to take the results of this one they'll all come back and race another 30 minute
34:51at two lap moto combine those results together for the overall so this could affect the podium
34:56this could even affect who wins the race this afternoon these passes down the stretch
35:02yeah and i think with this class and how deep this field is and usually the inconsistency this
35:07fourth place that joe is able to get around if he's able to win the next moto he could win
35:11the
35:12overall because a bad start and you could end up in 10th even though you know your levi kitchen with
35:17this speed so joe it really wouldn't matter if this was last place joe would be doing what he's
35:22doing but it could um you know be big towards that overall for him and each point pays in the
35:28championship per moto not per overall so you never know how close it could be at the end all we're
35:33trying to say here is there's plenty of reason for these guys to push to the end although no reason
35:39to push for the win because this guy is gone levi kitchen dominates qualifying takes his time goes
35:46fast when he needs to who's gonna fire first with digging out firing first it's levi kitchen wins
35:53the first moto of the year yeah what a strong rod by his teammates second um step handmaker great
36:03rob black cole let's see what happens behind him but what we say earlier he said the kitchen was open
36:08for breakfast i think it's open for lunch now okay moto too you know that is oh that's dinner
36:14that's dinner time don't worry about that you're full right now right how many courses
36:17can the chef make today davies as you mentioned comes across in third solid start to the campaign
36:22for him and shimoda did it he got romano wow what a great rod still great rod by nick yeah
36:29top five
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