Will Kitchen be able to pull off a win in his home state and leave with a points lead? he dreamed of it. But now he actually did it.
“I never thought I'd be in this position,” Kitchen told the teenager tonight. “Maybe it was the first time when I was like 20 that things started falling into place. But, I don't know, it feels really good. And I knew this was always what I wanted to do. I knew that.”
“That's good,” he added later. “I'm living the life I've always wanted.”
Hampshire took over second place after Smith's error, but fell too far back to have a shot at victory. Additionally, he said in the post-race press conference that he knew he didn't have the speed that Kitchen had all day. So #24 came back riding his relatively clean and smart P2.
“The reality is I didn't have the speed to win,” Hampshire said in a press conference. “Obviously Levi supported me all day. To be honest, after the heat race, I never felt like, 'I can't go that fast anymore.' That's literally where I was. He was running incredibly fast and I wasn't comfortable doing it. ”
Hampshire said he even double-played the entire long rhythm section because he knew the track was getting rough and could easily get bitten at any time.
With four rounds left, the title still doesn't belong to the kitchen. However, if things continue as they are, Hampshire may remain the only threat to win the championship.
