ROUND 3 / SEPTEMBER 23, 2023
LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
MOTOCROSS I SUPERMOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P76
to come back from last. In moto
two, I ripped the start and rode
pretty well!"
Kitchen said he started the
race with minimal tear-offs, a
strategy that left him with no op
-
tion but to get a good start.
Kitchen's
teammate Jordon
Smith waited until the final race
of the year to show everyone
what he's made of. Smith came
from behind in the first 250cc
moto to take the surprising win
and put himself into contention
for the $500,000 prize money.
Unfortunately for him, he got
caught up in a first-turn scuffle
in the second moto and went
down. He fought through the
pack to get 10th in the moto and
sixth overall.
the lead group but still enough
for third overall and third in the
series. He cashed a $150,000
bonus.
"It's been a struggle since
Unadilla, even before that,"
Hampshire said. "Charlotte was
a disaster, last weekend was
better and even this week we
continued to make progress.
First moto was sick, then the
second moto, I just didn't really
have it."
Kitchen went on to win the
second moto but inconsistency
again hampered him on this
night. A 10-1 netted the Star
Racing rider fifth overall. "I had
a pretty good night of racing,"
Kitchen said. "I made a big mis
-
take early in moto one, so I had
and
he settled for fourth behind
the Star Racing podium sweep.
Second in the points earned
Shimoda a $250,000 payday.
"They fixed a lot of the turns
for the final race, so it was a
brand-new track again," Shi
-
moda said. "I'm better when
the track
gets rougher. That's
something I have to work on for
next year; have to be 'sendier,'
and that's what I was missing."
RJ Hampshire grabbed an
overall podium, his best result
of the playoffs. The Rockstar
Husqvarna rider, who's also the
MX2 pick for this year's Moto
-
cross of Nations, challenged for
the lead multiple times in race
one before finishing second. A
sixth in race two put him behind
Jo Shimoda came on strong,
but it was too little too late.
