What Really Happened in Glendale 2026?

It’s always hot down in Arizona, and on Saturday night, no one was cooking hotter than the Chef, Levi Kitchen.

Of course, he had to get the terrible start out of the way first, something we’ve seen far too often this year. After a 19th place holeshot and crossing the start/finish line in 13th, Kitchen went to work for the rest of the main on what has been, statistically, the hardest track to pass on all season.

While most riders would be stoked to go from practically last to 2nd place, Kitchen isn’t calling this ride a win. He is already all but statistically eliminated from the championship. He doesn’t want moral victories. He wants real ones. But he’s close.

Kitchen proved in Glendale that he may be the only 250 West rider who can actually match Haiden Deegan’s pace through a main event.

The graph below shows how much time Deegan gained or lost to Kitchen per lap. Negative numbers mean Kitchen was faster. Now let’s walk through the race from Kitchen’s point of view:

Deegan vs. Kitchen Lap Time Delta

• Holeshot: 19th
• Start/Finish Line: 13th
• Time Lost through Lap 4: 11.6 seconds
• Rattles off 8 consecutive Fast Laps
• Finishes just 4.2 seconds behind

And let’s be clear, Deegan wasn’t just riding around. Yes, he was managing the race. Yes, no one was close enough to force him into a full send. But you don’t win a Supercross main event by being slow.

Look at the lap time ranks. Outside of the final lap, Deegan never ranked worse than 5th in lap time, and more often than not, he was top three fastest on the track.

Deegan vs. Kitchen Lap Time Ranks

So yes, Deegan was fast. But Kitchen was faster. Here’s the most impressive part. Kitchen laid down those lap times while charging through traffic, on the hardest track to pass on all year.

Through the first three full 250 main events this season, riders averaged 80 overtakes from the first full lap to the finish, or 4.9 passes per lap. (And no, that doesn’t include the chaos from holeshot to green flag.)

In Glendale? Just 64 total overtakes. Only 3.7 passes per lap.

Kitchen alone made 11 passes from the green flag to the finish. That means he was responsible for over 17% of all passes in the entire 250 main event. So yeah, he was on the move in every sense of the phrase. Moving forward through the field, and moving at the very top of the lap time charts.

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for that full 15 minute + 1 lap main event where Kitchen starts somewhere, anywhere, near the front. When that happens, we will sit back and enjoy the show.