We were able to catch up with the legend Mitch Payton on Thursday at the MXoN at a sunny Ernee to talk about finally win another championship at PC Kawasaki and being back at the MXoN for team USA.
And Mitch is glad to be back at the Motocross of Nations telling us: “Actually, it’s been really fun like I really, honestly, I feel like I missed it, you know? Being in France like I think it’s beautiful It’s pretty and then obviously the weather is always a little bit of an issue, but this is gonna be a great weekend And I’m sure everybody’s excited. There’s a lot of talent over here So I think it’s gonna be a great great race for everybody.”
But the different fuel for FIM events isn’t ideal with Mitch saying: “The fuel things a little bit of a bummer cause you know, we spend all year developing the engine for one thing and then all of a sudden you have to take that out put the other fuel in it. Then you got to do a bunch of testing with that, so it takes time during the week, you know, and we’re still racing the other series. So it kind of doubles up on what you’re doing and then the sound regulation is more strict, so we got to work on that to get the noise down too. So like it’s a lot of work to be able to come over here. So I understand the American teams why some of them don’t want to do it too. It’s a lot of work and a lot of money.”
Mitch also said Deegan was considered to replace Hymas before Beaumer then stepped up: “It was like who can go? There was a possibility Deegan Could couldn’t consider coming but that didn’t work out and then Julian was on the list early on and then they asked him and To pick him was pretty easy because with KTM support, they have a lot of infrastructure in Europe, so getting a bike wouldn’t be that difficult and all that but you know, it’s a big step for him you know, we’re asking him to race a 250 last week in Supercross and Levi and Cooper. They they haven’t been riding outdoors, right? So then you race Saturday night and then get on a plane in and ride a GP the next weekend So it’s a big step.”
On Kitchen winning the SMX title he said: “We needed those starts during the outdoor series, right? Like if he could have had those probably would have been a different game. But he did it at the right time and he rode really good and he rode smart too, because he knew where everybody was at and then second moto it started raining and it was a little bit slick, so he said he was being a little bit cautious, but I think he did a really good job.”
Get much more below, including Mitch’s favourite memories of the MXoN:
