Motor

Kitchen Wins Hangtown 250 Overall, Deegan Lands First 450 Podium

Published On: 6/8/2026

Levi Kitchen celebrates his Hangtown victory as Haiden Deegan charges to his first career 450 podium in Round 2 of the Pro Motocross Championship.

Round 2 of the 2026 AMA Pro Motocross Championship played out again on California soil with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammates Levi Kitchen and Seth Hammaker coming up big in the 250 class – Kitchen winning the overall with a 2-2 finish and Hammaker, who placed 3^rd (1-9), taking charge in the overall series points chase, 85-78 ahead of Kitchen through 2 of 11 rounds.

And in the 450 class, Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Haiden Deegan scored the first podium of his career on the big bore bikes, placing 3^rd on the day with a strong 3-3 finish.

“Luck was on my side today,” said Kitchen, with the Hangtown win being his first outdoor victory since Budds Creek (Md.) in 2024. “I stayed out of the carnage (in Moto 2) and just tried to get around it all. There was a massive gap to the lead (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cole Davies), so once I got into 2^nd I didn’t want to risk pushing it to hard (to catch Davies). It’s been a long time since I won (13 races), so it feels good. I just want to keep the momentum going.”

The opening 250 moto was all Hammaker as he pulled the holeshot and led it through to the checkers, clocking the fastest times through the first seven laps of the race to score the max points. Hammaker also has 35 laps led through two races, nearly double that of 2^nd place Davies with 18.

In addition to the two 250 podium finishes at Hangtown, Monster Energy also featured three more racers in the top ten overall with Davies in 4^th (11-1), Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Nick Romano in 6^th (7-4) and Star Racing/Yamaha rookie Kayden Minear with a solid showing in 10^th (6-13).

On the 450s Deegan would battle Honda’s Lawrence Brothers (Jett & Hunter) in both motos and the rookie hung in there, looking especially good in Moto 2 when he rallied all the way back from 10^th place to make the podium and secure his first ever MX Nationals 450 class podium.

Said Deegan: “That was good today. I just want to get better and better each weekend. That’s the goal… just keep progressing with each moto and just try to be there. We’ll go back, put in the work, and try again next weekend.”

And while massive crash involving Monster Energy’s Justin Cooper (Star Racing/Yamaha) in the main downhill section would bring out the red flag in Moto 2 (more on Cooper’s condition below), several Monster Energy 450 racers put up excellent numbers at Hangtown. Kawasaki teammates Garrett Marchbanks (6-5) and Chase Sexton (11-4) would bring their KX450Fs home in 5^th and 7^th places, respectively, while Monster Energy AMA Supercross specialist Cooper Webb (Star Racing/Yamaha), who’s retiring from racing outdoors after this summer (SX only), put up two solid top ten finishes (9-9) to place 8^th overall on the day.

Hangtown MX 250 Class Results	450 MX Class Results
1^st – Kitchen (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)	3^rd – Deegan(Monster/Star/Yamaha)
3^rd – Hammaker (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)	5^th– Marchbanks (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)
4^th – Davies (Monster/Star/Yamaha)	7^th – Sexton (Monster/Kawasaki)
6^th – Romano (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)	8^th – Webb (Monster/Star/Yamaha)
10^th – Minear (Monster/Star/Yamaha)

Overall Standings (2 of 11 rounds)

250 Class	450 Class
1^st – Hammaker, 85	3^rd – Deegan, 75
2^nd – Kitchen, 78	5^th– Sexton, 61
4^th – Davies, 70	8^th – Cooper, 50
6^th – Romano, 61	9^th – Marchbanks, 47

Notes & Quotes

This just in from Justin Cooper… “Sh$tty way to end the day at Hangtown. Got a decent start in Moto 2 and had nowhere to go coming down the hill. I got a concussion and the body is beat up, but thankful everything else checked out okay. I remember everything throughout the day yesterday, including the start of the moto. Going to take it day by day and return when I'm ready.”
“Monster Energy/Pro Circuit has been working on their starts the last few weeks and their start seem to have figured it out.” – NBC’s James Stewart on Hammaker’s holeshot in 250 Moto 1.
“Levi Kitchen… he has a little bit of speed to burn.” – Stewart
The second moto crash that took out a sizable portion of the field, with Hammaker right in the middle of it, would be the difference atop the podium as the Moto 1 winner (Hammaker) would remount outside the top 20 before racing back to into the top ten (9^th).
“Those first couple laps [after the crash] were hectic coming through the pack,” said Hammaker. “I tried to just be patient and knew that if I could get into the top 10 that I’d have a chance at the podium. It definitely could have been worse, but we survived. All in all, it feels good to still be up here on the box.”
Monster Energy’s Nate Thrasher (Star Racing/Yamaha) was also involved in a gnarly crash at Hangtown and taken to the local hospital to get checked out. Thrasher also crashed at the Fox Raceway (Pala, Calif.) MX Nationals opener and was rewarded with a hospital trip there as well.
Great ride for Monster Energy’s WMX racer at the women’s pro MX race series opener at Hangtown, Lachlan “Lala” Turner (Yamaha), who went 1-1 for the overall win. “I just made it hard on myself,” she said. “I got the holeshot, then led and fell over and had to work my way up. I really worked for that one, so it means a lot.”
The Hangtown MX National in Prairie City, Calif., is the longest running race on the AMA MX calendar. 57 years they’ve bee racing pro dirt bikes at, or nearby (Plymouth, Calif.), the Prairie City Special Vehicles Recreation Association (SVRA) park – which was a former NASA rocket test site. Hat’s off to the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club of volunteers that put on the race each year.