Ty Masterpool to Replace Levi Kitchen in the 250SX West Region

The much-anticipated Haiden Deegan, Levi Kitchen, Austin Forkner, Jordon Smith, Jo Shimoda title fight lasted all of one round, with only three of the five riders left to race the 250SX West Region.

Prior to the season opener in Anaheim, Triumph’s Jalek Swoll sustained a torn Achilles, which left the team scrambling. Eventually, it was decided to move Forkner from the West Region to the East Region and plug in Stilez Robertson out west. The team is expected to announce a fill-in for Swoll on the East Region alongside Forkner.

Still, we had Deegan vs Kitchen and all the social media “beef” (I’m using that term lightly here) leading up to the opener. Then, Kitchen was a no show on Friday for press day and the speculation began as to what was going on. Well, it turns out Kitchen was sick and although he attempted to ride free practice on Saturday, it was determined that instead of going out to salvage a few points, they would move Kitchen to the East Region, which starts Feb 8 in Tampa.

This obviously left a giant hole in the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad as Cameron McAdoo, Seth Hammaker and Ty Masterpool, and now Kitchen, are all slated to race the East Region, leaving only Garrett Marchbanks to contend in the West Region.

Got all that? Good, we’re moving on.

While Drew Adams was signed to a long-term deal this off-season, and it was noted he “could” fill-in if there was an injury to a rider, it appears PC is sticking with the original plan: have Adams race Supercross Futures and then turn pro at the 2025 Pro Motocross opener.

So, who will ride West? Per Steve Matthes, of PulpMX Hockey fame, the team is going to move Ty Masterpool to the West Region starting this weekend at round 2 in San Diego.

This is not “official” currently, but Steve is usually spot on with this stuff. So, look for Ty this weekend and Kitchen in Feb.

UPDATE:

Kawasaki has made it official:

Main image: Kawasaki

Written by Slaw Dog

Just a dog trying to find my special bun.

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