At Pro Circuit Kawasaki, the numbers are impressive: 31 AMA titles and more than 300 wins to their name. Yet Mitch Payton’s structure is going through a dry spell. Since Justin Hill’s title in 2017, Pro Circuit Kawasaki have not claimed another Supercross championship crown. Riders have come and gone, wins have been taken, but the title has eluded them for nearly a decade. As head of Kawasaki’s official 250 team, Mitch Payton was present for a roundtable discussion ahead of the Glendale Supercross. Microphone on.
Mitch, Pro Circuit had a good weekend in Houston. Beyond Levi and Cameron’s results, what stood out to you the most?
Payton: I think Levi and Cameron are both riding very well. Starts help a huge amount. In both classes, whether it’s 250 or 450, results depend heavily on starts. It’s a crucial point: if you get a good start, you have a great chance of staying up front. And they both got out front.
A word on your East Coast riders, Seth Hammaker and Drew Adams. Seth injured his shoulder and had to undergo surgery. Drew had an issue during the off-season. How are they doing, and how is it shaping up?
Payton: They’re both doing really well right now. They’re training at the Dog Pound and riding a lot. Drew is really in one of the best shapes of his life, and it’s the right time to be in that kind of form. Seth has been really strong since getting back on the bike, and his shoulder feels better than ever. I think things are going to go very well on the East Coast.
With the recent dominance of Star Yamaha, what do you tell your riders to regain the upper hand? We see a lot of aggressiveness on track, but your riders stay clean.
Payton: I think you have to ride with that aggressiveness. If you look at what happened last week, Haiden did to Levi exactly what Levi had done to him in the past. A lot of people complained when it was Levi on Haiden, but when the situation was reversed, we didn’t go complaining. Aggression is part of the sport. You can’t always stay passive. Motocross has always been an aggressive sport, and that’s important.
Levi spoke about his problems with the holeshot device. He said you finally found the solution. What was it?
Payton: Part of the problem was that his front wheel was lifting on the gate. So we lowered his holeshot device more and more and more, until it was too low. When entering corners, Levi is a pretty smooth rider on the brakes; he doesn’t load the front of the bike very much, so the fork doesn’t compress a lot. Because of that, we had to go back the other way. When he returned to California, we worked on starts and realized that it wasn’t so much the position of the holeshot device that was the issue, but rather the fact that the fork wasn’t compressing enough to disengage it. We fixed that.
Have there also been improvements to the KX-F engine that helped at the start of the season?
Payton: Yes, we improved certain areas during the off-season. We did testing over the winter and thought it might make a difference. When the riders tried the changes, they realized they were much more significant than we had anticipated. We still have a few parts to test that could help, but as always, it takes time, and with different suppliers, things often arrive late.
Overall, the engine is much better than last year. That said, it was already really, really good at the end of the 2025 season. We had made some solid improvements, and these add to that. And I expect even more in the future.
Cameron has had several tough seasons with injuries. His goal is still to win regardless. Happy to see him back on the podium and staying in one piece?
Payton: Cameron is doing — in my opinion — a very good job. If you look at his résumé, he’s won a lot of races, worn the red plate, and been in positions to win championships. It hasn’t quite come together, but he’s riding well. I think he’s going to keep improving and progressing as the season goes on.
You’ve been loyal to Cameron, Seth and Levi, and they’ve been loyal in return. We often hear them say they want to win for you. What does it mean to you to have built such a tight-knit team?
Payton: It’s obviously very flattering. But I think above all, the guys in our team are really good people. They’re not idiots, they’re respectful, and that’s important for our sport. I’ve always been told that good things happen to good people, and I still believe that. I don’t think you need to be over the limit everywhere to achieve your goals.
Despite the Houston podiums, Levi and Cameron seemed to suggest that nobody was really satisfied.
Payton: A lot of people tell us, “Great, you finished second and third.” But for me, the job hasn’t been done. The job is to win, not to finish second or third. That’s our objective, and it’s also our riders’ objective. I don’t think we should lower our expectations; that would be taking the easy way out.
Last question: where is the new Kawasaki two-stroke?
It’s coming soon. Very soon.
