Levi Kitchen is on top of the SuperMotocross world. But getting there required more than recovering from a serious injury. He had to learn to trust himself again.
The 25-year-old Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider captured the 2026 Monster Energy SMX 250 Class World Championship in September 2026, securing his first professional title and ending a seven-year championship drought for his team.
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It was a career-defining moment for Kitchen, who had spent years coming close to winning a championship while battling injuries and setbacks along the way.
"It was unreal," Kitchen told OutKick OutDoors in an exclusive interview. "I've had some heartbreaks, obviously been close, but it felt really good."
"It was pretty emotional for me just because it had taken a while to win anything of that caliber," he added.
But the road to that championship was anything but smooth.
In March 2025, Kitchen suffered a violent crash during the Daytona Supercross that left him with a broken collarbone and fractures in his upper back. The injuries sidelined him for the remainder of the Supercross season.
And while he eventually healed enough to return to racing, Kitchen said the mental recovery was a different battle entirely.
"Oh yeah, big time," he said when asked whether it was difficult to regain his confidence after the crash.
"If I look back at that season, even when I came back on the bike, in 2025, I was maybe a top-five guy outdoors. And then at least was able to compete for the championship this year."
Watch Levi Kitchen's entire interview with OutKick OutDoors here:
That progression didn't happen overnight.
"Slowly but surely, I've made really good progress, and I have all my confidence back," Kitchen said. "It just goes to show, I think fans, or just anybody, don't realize how much injuries can really affect everything."
"It can be a real pain in the butt to build yourself back up."
For fans watching from the sidelines, a rider's return to competition might signal that the recovery process is complete. But as Kitchen explained, getting back on the bike doesn't necessarily mean getting back to the same level of confidence and performance.
It took time, patience and a different approach to racing.
Looking back on everything he's experienced, Kitchen believes one of his biggest improvements has come from learning to trust his abilities while also recognizing his limits.
"The biggest thing I would say is just finally the belief," he said. "The belief side of it is super important. And I think on any given day, if I show up with the belief that I can get something done, normally I can get it done."
But confidence alone wasn't enough.
Kitchen also had to develop a little more restraint — something that doesn't always come naturally in a sport where riders are constantly pushing the limits of speed and control.
"Just maturity of racing," he explained. "Now, if I don't really have it on a day, I try to be as smart as I can. Where before, I would probably still try and then end up on the ground or something."
It's a lesson learned the hard way, but one Kitchen believes will serve him well beyond a single championship season.
"I want to race for a lot more years to come and can't be too stupid," he said.
That shift in mentality paid off in September when Kitchen secured the 250SMX World Championship at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Ridgedale, Mo.
And the victory meant something special beyond his own accomplishments.
Kitchen's title ended a seven-year championship drought for Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, one of the most decorated organizations in 250-class racing.
"Mitch has done so much for me," Kitchen said, referring to team owner Mitch Payton. "Me and Mitch have gotten close over the years, and he's been a great boss and friend of mine now. So it was super special."
Despite finally capturing that elusive first title, Kitchen insists he isn't suddenly feeling satisfied.
In fact, winning the championship has only strengthened his belief in what he's capable of accomplishing.
"It didn't really take any pressure off," he said. "The only thing it did was help me with the belief side of things. Just being able to execute."
Kitchen has his sights set on both a Supercross and a Pro Motocross championship in 2027, and he plans to remain in the 250 class for at least another season.
"The Supercross Championship has been a major goal of mine, so that's my first goal," he said. "But overall, just maybe be a little better than I was this year."
And while the first championship was certainly worth celebrating, Kitchen knows there's no guarantee the next one will come any easier.
"I don't think you'll ever be satisfied, really, which is a tough thing," he said.
For now, though, Kitchen can take some satisfaction in knowing how far he's come.
A year ago, he was still working to rebuild his confidence after a frightening crash. Now, he's a world champion.
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And maybe the most important thing he learned along the way wasn't how to ride faster. It was knowing when to slow down.
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As Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in 2023, people around the world found different ways to express their solidarity with Palestinians. From wearing the keffiyeh to sharing watermelon emojis, these acts of solidarity took many forms.
For paediatrician Dr Abdul Qader Ismail, it was a poppy-shaped badge.
Alongside his work treating children for the NHS and writing picture books, Dr Abdul created the Palestine poppy badge shortly after Israel's war began in the besieged enclave. The badge gave people a way to show support for Palestinians at a time when expressions of solidarity faced growing scrutiny.
"I wanted to take a symbol that was beloved in the West, given the West's integral role in the suffering and injustice endured by the Palestinian people — from the Nakba, and even before it, to the present day, including the current genocide," Dr Abdul tells The New Arab.
Pinned proudly to his chest as he speaks, the poppy badge features the colours of the Palestine flag. He designed the pin himself, drawing inspiration from other designs he saw online.
For Dr Abdul, the poppy’s associations with remembrance, peace and the human cost of war make it a particularly fitting symbol for Palestine.
"If the poppy is there to remember those who fell in war, those who suffered because of war, and to symbolise peace and an end to violence and injustice, then I think Palestinians, who have suffered immensely, deserve the poppy just as much as anyone else," he adds.
He stressed that the badge was not intended to provoke division or hostility towards anyone. "It's not meant to be a symbol against anyone. It's not meant to be something that causes division or hate or anything like that," Dr Abdul shares.
In Britain, the red poppy is closely associated with Remembrance Day, when people honour the service and sacrifice of armed forces members who died in conflict. Over time, it has also become a symbol of national remembrance, and its use in political campaigns has sometimes sparked controversy.
But the poppy's significance extends beyond Britain. Dr Abdul highlighted that it is also a national symbol for Palestinians, arguing that this connection has been forgotten. He also pointed to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who, he said, fought alongside the Allies during the Second World War, as well as the poppy’s longstanding use in pro-Palestine activism.
Despite Dr Abdul having made the badge in December 2023, it has now caught the attention of right-wing media, who are accusing the doctor of "hijacking" Remembrance Day.
"I suppose like any media outlet, what they want is to publish a juicy story that gets them more readers and more attention and causes anger and debate, and so I suppose that's what media does, isn't it," Dr Abdul says about the backlash.
He strongly rejected any suggestion that he was anti-Semitic, pointing to his support for Jewish Green Party leader Zack Polanski and his longstanding professional relationships with people of different faiths and backgrounds.
He said he had joined the Green Party specifically because of Polanski's outspoken support for Palestinians and his opposition to conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
"Whenever people have tried to show support for Palestine, it's always framed by those who don't like it, that you are somehow a terrorist sympathiser or supporter, that you are anti-Semitic, that you're pro-violence, you're anti-peace," the doctor adds.
"It's always framed in that way to silence people, to stop them from speaking out, to stop them from showing their support for the Palestinian people, and this is no different than that."
While he had anticipated some backlash and personal attacks, Dr Abdul was surprised that the badge had attracted attention nearly three years after its creation.
The controversy, however, has had an unexpected consequence — a sharp rise in sales.
"Since these articles have come out… its sales have gone through the roof to the extent that I've actually run out of stock now," the doctor explains, noting that the sales within the last few months had "dried up."
He said the badge has attracted buyers from a wide range of backgrounds, both online and at pro-Palestine events, with interest extending well beyond Muslim and Palestinian communities.
"I can see the names of the people who are buying from me... They are from all kinds of backgrounds," Dr Ismail explains.
"There's a lot of support for this. People like the badge, people like the concept, and people recognise it for what it is: a symbol of peace and a symbol for showing your support for Palestine and the Palestinian people," he added.
Like the books he has written, the badge itself is not-for-profit, with proceeds going toward producing more badges and supporting charities working on the ground in Palestine or educating people about the cause.
Reflecting on the backlash, Dr Abdul acknowledged that anticipating criticism and experiencing it firsthand are two very different things, as he continues to navigate the attention his work has drawn.
"If [right-wing press] didn't want the badge to be sold or known about, they've done the exact opposite by writing articles about it," Dr Abdul concluded.
Anam Alam is a staff writer at The New Arab. She frequently writes about human rights and social issues, including women's rights and sex education
Follow her on X: @itsanamalam
Earlier this year, during an appearance on Kareem Rahma’s popular Subway Takes show, Jasper Craven explained line-crossing ceremonies, in which sailors celebrate first crossings of the equator. In US naval history, line-crossing ceremonies have at times involved violent hazing. But they have also involved pageantry, ritualistic performances of masculinity and femininity that tip over into drag. “Young men want love, support, community,” Craven said. “The military provides a permission structure to show love, often in very pure ways.”
It’s a characteristic insight from Craven, a freelance reporter who has made a singular beat from the intersection of masculinity and the American military. In his magazine features, Craven has scrutinized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s opposition to women in the armed forces via Hegseth’s undergraduate fits over The Vagina Monologues, and profiled Bernarr McFadden, a bodybuilder and publisher who oversaw two military schools “to impose his love of physical strength onto American children, the War Department, and the world.” Craven’s recent book, God Forgives, Brothers Don’t, follows some of our most insidious models of masculinity back to the military education programs that have shaped them for centuries.
Craven is a dynamic counterexample to the men he writes about, less interested in bulking up the boundaries of his identity than testing their limits. For a memorable Harper’s feature, he spent six months undercover as an employee of the world’s largest private-security firm. (During his first shift, a supervisor criticized Craven for his non-detachable necktie, which could be used to strangle him.) He is at once stridently critical and deeply compassionate. (He is also, as you’ll learn, deeply and truly funny.)
“There are myriad other ways to prove your manhood, and they’re not simply being emotionally vulnerable or non-violent,” Craven told an interviewer earlier this year. “You can actually fight for things: fight for peace, be a little risky, be a little reckless, break the law, put your body on the line. If it’s around a morally sound mission, that can feel incredibly validating.” I don’t take a lot of heart from the men Craven writes about, but I take some heart from his work.
—Brendan Fitzgerald
Peacham, Vermont.
The sluiceway at Gull Pond in Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Tom’s Diner in Brooklyn, New York; The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.
My folks, both filmmakers, shielded me from television and other mainstream entertainment as a child. Much as I resented their restrictions at the time, they forced me to troubleshoot my taste through the physical media available in our home, a beautiful process of discovery tinged by family lineage that I wish was still widely practiced. Nothing got me more excited than the films of Charlie Chaplin. I’ve consumed all his films, and The Great Dictator is my favorite. It is what much of my journalism aspires to be: narratively compelling, funny, and unflinching.
I’ll take any time on the weekend. On workdays: I like the mornings for research and making calls, and evenings for writing. To me, the midafternoon is almost always a slog.
Guessing what time it is without a watch.
I love Cold War ephemera. My two favorite gifts are a vintage poster of Dr. Strangelove and a Vietnam-era Snoopy Zippo.
Negroni and a cheeseburger at Long Island Bar.
Sound. Ideally jazz or a film score. I wrote my book about military masculinity mostly to the work of Bill Evans, Pharaoh Sanders, and the soundtracks from Jackie, Do the Right Thing, One Battle After Another, and Ken Burns’s The Vietnam War.
On bike rides.
Hauling a golden gorilla statute across America for a crypto concern during COVID.
New York City’s Prospect Park, my clawfoot tub, the bed.
Disney Adult YouTube vlogs. Still haven’t emerged.
The Baffler, Harper’s, The New York Review of Finance.
Evan Esnos’s 2017 New Yorker piece on the ultra-rich doomsday preppers. Wildly prophetic and totally bonkers.
Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe. Reads like The Italian Job or any other great caper movie: a political prophecy of ragtag bandits that is tense, propulsive, and brilliantly reported.
Probably my Harper’s dispatch on my six months undercover as a security guard.
Watching a movie or schvitzing at The Wall Street Bath & Spa.
Right now, Don DeLillo.
Tenacious. Hyperaggressive. Amped.
90 Day Fiancé.
Like any good reporter, I’m very nosey, so probably superhuman eavesdropping. Lost about 20 percent of hearing in my right ear when a speaker blew out at a college party. Would love that back, and then some.
I’ve got the curiosity of a cat, but I often don’t land on my feet.
I’ll either go on a bike ride or veg out on YouTube. The duality of man.
A hanging chad ballot. The EV Hummer. Some Trump steaks. An AR-15. My medical bills after I fell off my bike.
I am someone who writes anywhere and everywhere. Amtrak. Delta. Starbucks. My bed. The Wertheim Room at the New York Public Library has been the best of them all.
Jasper Craven is a freelance reporter covering men and the military for outlets including Harper’s, The New Yorker, New York, Wired, The Baffler, and The New York Times. He’s also the author of a new book for Simon & Schuster about the military’s influence on masculinity, entitled God Forgives, Brothers Don’t.
Following his interview with EU Today, Felix Jeff Vulis discusses his outstanding financial claims, his relationship with Kazakhstan and why he intends to bring the matter to the attention of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
For more than three decades, Felix Jeff Vulis has maintained close professional ties with Kazakhstan, a country whose transformation into a major international mining and industrial economy he witnessed firsthand.
His relationship with Kazakhstan began in the 1990s, when he helped introduce the country’s economic potential to American investors. In 2001, he joined Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), eventually becoming Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Executive Officer.
Under his leadership and that of his colleagues, ENRC expanded internationally, listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007 and entered the FTSE 100, becoming one of Kazakhstan’s most prominent industrial companies.
But the relationship between Vulis and the group that subsequently became Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) has taken a different direction.
In a September interview with EU Today, Vulis described his years at ENRC, the challenges of corporate governance and the impact of the British Serious Fraud Office investigation, which ended in 2023 without charges.
He also raised a question that had remained largely outside public discussion: financial and contractual obligations that he believes ERG and related entities have failed to honor.
The first interview concluded with Vulis maintaining that ending a corporate position would not eliminate previously established financial obligations.
Now, in this proposed continuation, Vulis addresses the outstanding claims more directly and explains why he intends to seek the attention of Kazakhstan’s highest political authorities.
EU Today: In your previous interview, you spoke about financial obligations that you believe remain outstanding. What exactly are you referring to?
Felix Vulis: Throughout my many years with ENRC, I held significant executive responsibilities and worked under various contractual and financial arrangements.
My position is that certain obligations arising from those arrangements have not been fulfilled. These matters include remuneration and other financial entitlements associated with my professional relationship with the group.
I believe the relevant documentation should be reviewed and the legitimate outstanding obligations settled.
EU Today: Are we talking about a substantial amount of money?
Felix Vulis: I would prefer not to discuss specific figures publicly at this stage. There are financial calculations, contractual documents and correspondence that need to be considered.
This is not simply about a number. It is about respecting agreements and commitments.
EU Today: Has ERG been given an opportunity to resolve these matters privately?
Felix Vulis: My preference has always been to resolve outstanding issues through professional discussions rather than public confrontation.
I believe that an agreement remains possible if the relevant parties are prepared to examine the documentation and engage constructively.
But after so many years, I also believe that unresolved obligations cannot simply remain unanswered indefinitely.
EU Today: You have indicated that you intend to bring this matter to the attention of Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Why?
Felix Vulis: Because Kazakhstan is not an ordinary country in my professional life.
My relationship with Kazakhstan began long before I joined ENRC. I have spent decades working with its industries, institutions and people.
I have enormous respect for the country and its economic achievements.
At the same time, the Republic of Kazakhstan is an important shareholder in ERG. I believe that shareholders, particularly those representing a sovereign state, have a legitimate interest in ensuring that companies associated with them respect their financial and contractual commitments.
I intend to inform President Tokayev about my situation and explain why I believe these outstanding obligations deserve attention.
EU Today: Are you asking the President to intervene personally in a private financial dispute?
Felix Vulis: I am not asking the President to act as a judge or to assume responsibility for obligations that legally belong to a corporate entity.
I am asking for attention to a matter that I believe deserves a fair and professional review.
Kazakhstan has worked hard to establish itself as a reliable destination for international investment. That reputation depends, among other things, on confidence that legitimate business commitments will be respected.
EU Today: Do you believe the matter could damage Kazakhstan’s international reputation?
Felix Vulis: I sincerely hope it does not.
Under President Tokayev, Kazakhstan has made important efforts to strengthen its international standing, attract foreign investment and build confidence among its economic partners.
I recognize and appreciate those efforts.
However, when a former chief executive of one of the country’s most internationally recognized industrial groups raises unresolved financial claims, questions can arise about corporate governance and the treatment of contractual obligations.
I believe the best way to avoid unnecessary reputational questions is to examine the matter fairly and resolve legitimate claims.
EU Today: You are an American citizen. Could this matter also be raised in the United States or Europe?
Felix Vulis: As an American citizen, I have the right to protect my legitimate financial and contractual interests through the appropriate legal channels.
If a reasonable settlement cannot be reached, I intend to explore every lawful avenue available to me, including bringing the matter to the attention of relevant European institutions in Brussels and appropriate authorities in the United States.
That may include the US Department of State and the US Department of the Treasury, where there is a relevant basis for doing so.
I would much prefer that such steps prove unnecessary.
EU Today: Would you also approach European political institutions?
Felix Vulis: I reserve the right to raise the matter with appropriate European institutions, including the European Council, through lawful procedures and established channels.
My objective would be to explain my position and seek appropriate consideration, not to turn a private commercial matter into an international political confrontation.
EU Today: Some people might interpret these statements as pressure on ERG. How would you respond?
Felix Vulis: I am simply explaining the options that may be available to someone seeking to protect his contractual rights.
I have no interest in harming Kazakhstan or creating unnecessary difficulties for its international partners.
But I also do not believe that a person should be expected to abandon legitimate financial claims simply because the other party is a large and influential corporation.
EU Today: Has this experience changed your opinion of Kazakhstan as a place to do business?
Felix Vulis: No. My respect for Kazakhstan remains unchanged.
I still believe it has extraordinary economic potential, particularly in mining, critical minerals, energy, infrastructure and industrial development.
Its strategic position between Europe and Asia creates opportunities that extend far beyond the extraction of natural resources.
The country has the industrial experience, human capital and geographic advantages necessary to attract significant long-term investment.
That is precisely why I believe questions of contractual reliability and corporate governance matter so much.
EU Today: What message would you like President Tokayev to take from your letter?
Felix Vulis: That I remain a friend of Kazakhstan.
I am proud of the work we accomplished there, and I appreciate the efforts of the President to strengthen the country’s international credibility.
I hope the relevant parties will examine my claims seriously and help facilitate a fair resolution within the appropriate corporate and legal framework.
The strongest message Kazakhstan can send to international investors is that legitimate commitments are respected and contractual obligations are fulfilled.
EU Today: What would you say directly to ERG’s leadership today?
Felix Vulis: I would say that there is still an opportunity to resolve these matters professionally.
We have a long shared history. I spent an important part of my life helping build this company into an internationally recognized industrial group.
I would prefer to conclude our outstanding business through dialogue, mutual respect and fulfillment of legitimate obligations.
But I also intend to protect my rights.
I believe the responsible course is to sit down, review the facts, address the outstanding financial questions and reach a fair conclusion.
EU Today: What would you say to your former employees in Kazakhstan?
Felix Vulis: Thank you.
People sometimes talk about corporations as if corporations build factories.
They don’t.
People build factories.
People operate furnaces. People go underground. People run power stations. Engineers solve problems at three in the morning.
Whatever disagreements exist today cannot erase what those people accomplished.
I remain extremely proud of having worked with them.
EU Today: After years of silence, why should ERG believe that this time is different?
Felix Vulis: Because I am speaking now.
For years I chose discretion.
That was a conscious choice, not an inability to speak.
I continue to believe that a negotiated solution is better for everybody: for me, for ERG, for its shareholders and for everyone associated with our shared history.
But negotiation requires two sides.
EU Today: What exactly do you want?
Felix Vulis: A table.
The appropriate representatives.
The documents.
A serious discussion about everything that remains outstanding.
And then a comprehensive settlement that allows everybody to close this chapter.
EU Today: An apology?
Felix Vulis: No.
A solution.
EU Today: Revenge?
Felix Vulis: Absolutely not.
Revenge is emotional.
This is business.
EU Today: And if ERG refuses?
Felix Vulis: Then I will continue to defend my rights through every lawful mechanism available to me.
And where I am legally entitled to speak about my own experience, I reserve the right to do so.
EU Today: Is that a threat?
Felix Vulis: No.
It is clarity.
There is still an opportunity to resolve this privately and professionally.
I would prefer that.
After more than twenty years of shared history, I think sitting around a table is a much more intelligent ending than spending the next several years sitting opposite each other in courtrooms.
EU Today: If the people running ERG read only one sentence from this interview, what should it be?
Felix Vulis: Call me.
Let’s sit down and finish this properly.
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