Ken Roczen made waves at the end of 2022, when he left Honda HRC and signed with HEP Motorsports Suzuki, a move that left many shaking their heads and counting him out. Roczen then shocked everyone by winning the Indianapolis Supercross and led the second most laps of anyone during the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, despite only competing in the High Point National. The 29-year-old then showed up at the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs and showed incredible speed, finishing on the podium every round (the only 450SMX rider to do so). He met with the press after the final round to talk about his partial race schedule, retirement, plans for the future, and more.
Ken Roczen, another big night for you, probably not the night you wanted. But again, an epic battle for you. I want you to take me through that last lap and trying to track down Jett Lawrence and how it felt to you on that track.
Ken Roczen: Yeah, I felt really good both motos and I didn't get off to a great start. I spun really bad after the gate and I should have shifted earlier but didn't have the greatest start, but weaseled my way through and had to make some passes happen. And then, obviously Chase was out front, and I was just trying to not let Chase get too far away and I'm super gutted. He made that mistake. I hope he's all right. But after that, it was pretty much just me and Jett the whole time and I was right on him and giving everything I had. I mean, we were literally pushing every inch of the track, and it had some tacky areas, but it was super slippery and slick and others. So, you just have to be so careful. But you can't rest too much in the turns because you lose time.
So, it's just this very, very fine line, but I gave it everything I had. And, I think the biggest bummer for me was, I know Josh [Hill] didn't mean to, but I was hitting the left side of the sand the entire time and, we came to lap him and, he slowed up and I went to the same line just because I thought he was going to let me buy, but he went in right in front of me. So, I ended up rolling the whole section and that just put a few seconds between me and Jett and we had about two and a half laps to go. So then in the last two laps, I just tried to put the hammer down again. I didn't want to just let him have it like that, you know, and reeled him back in, but obviously, we ran out of time. But overall, I'm super stoked just to be able to be in the mix in the battle and ride, how I'm riding at the moment.
That first moto seemed like the difference in the beginning was Jett was doing that four onto the table and you didn’t do that until later. But you were riding very aggressive, and did you feel like that was kind of crossing a line. You didn’t really want to push that far, and you just had to.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that I'm old by any means. But in my older age I do think five times before I do something. I knew that was coming. I saw it in practice and, I looked at it on the parade lap and so on and so on. But I don't know, I just waited too long and even after he got me, I didn't do it for another three laps or so and I should have done it two laps sooner, at least. That would have helped. But it was what it was, I ended up doing it and I guess I played it somewhat safe and tried to be smart. But I think my biggest goal is always to be mistake free and I didn't really make any mistakes all day out there, which was nice. But yeah, just doing that. I knew that I had it, but at the same time, I just kind of played it safe. I should have done it sooner. But it was what it was.
For you, it seemed pretty difficult to make up time on the track and you spent a lot of time within about a second and a half or so of him. Where were you finding any spots that you could even make time?
I mean, it was, but then it wasn't because obviously the field was super stretched out too. I just think that, at the very front, it's just like I said, we push every inch on the track, right. So, the tiniest mistake, it's just that little bit, like if you're in second, for example, where you can't really latch on anymore. So, we are going so fast that the tiniest mistake makes a big difference and then it's really hard to reel back in. So, it was tricky in its own way today with the loss of traction in some areas. But then at the same time, we're still making up time on other riders. So, I just think at the very, very highest level, that's just how it is. Whether the track gets really rough or not, it's just really, really tight racing. And I was actually really surprised for how basic the track was in practice. Like, I was like a over a second behind Chase on his fastest lap. And it's like, “How?” I came back to the truck and I'm like, “Where the heck is he that much faster?” But it's a little bit here, a little bit there and before, you know, it, it's a second.
Were you aware that once Chase went down that a pass on Jett would give you the championship. Whereas before that the pass on Jett wouldn't change anything in your mind?
Not really. I was riding as hard as I can either way. I knew before Chase went down the scenario had to be that I had to win. Jett gets second and Chase had to get at least third or worse, for me to win. But I was trying everything I can to pass Jett whether that was for second or for first anyways. But then once Chase went down, I just, nothing changed in my approach to the race. Honestly, I just wanted to ride as hard as I can for as long as I can. And I did that all the way till the end. And, obviously I went from third now to second, which I'm happy about, and after I feel like I've been getting pretty beat down over the last couple of years, so like I said, a win would have been so nice, but I'm also at the same time still building. I'm not the youngest anymore, but it's nice for me to see in my later stages of my career that I'm kind of coming back towards the other spectrum a little bit. So that's just really nice for me to see and we still have a few races to go before Anaheim. And for me, I'm just building every single weekend that I'm racing, and once Anaheim starts, we got a lot of races to go in a row. But I feel like I'm in a completely different mentality and I just take it race by race legitimately. I know we always say that in the past and what not, but I’m kind of just rolling with it at the moment and that seems to work.
You controlled your fate going into both the full three round playoffs and this weekend, will there be any moment from this experience that motivates you through 2024?
Absolutely. I feel like, especially lately, I've watched every single out outdoor race that I haven't been, even though I wasn't racing and same with the GP’s. So, everything has been motivating me lately. I think when you're in a good mindset, you can take motivation off of anything. I get motivated by my family as well. So, I've just kind of enjoyed the grind lately and coming to these three rounds, you don't really know where you're at because we're just practicing at the track and I'm not the greatest practicer, to be honest. I'm actually fairly slow most of the time compared to Chase and stuff. But I'm a racer. So once the gate drops, I feel like that’s when I shine the most and it was just nice to see where I was at and not just for one round, but for all three of them, and I'm extremely motivated these next races. I'm racing Paris and going to Motocross the nations. And I feel like those races are going to help me a lot in general, fitness wise and experience and everything. So, I just think we still got some stuff in the bag and like I said, we just build every single race that we go to and see where we're at in Anaheim. But right now I'm in a good spot and I get motivated by doing good actually, more so almost than doing bad. So, based on that we're in a good spot.
You have done some of the least amount of racing this year. But then we fast forward into these SMX rounds, and dude, I think at the first round, Jett kind of looked a little over it coming off the season. It's so much, like you've been there before your first 450 season, you see some other guys that are dealing with little things, but I mean, it really seemed like you were ready to rip these rounds and obviously it paid off. How different was this season competing such a limited schedule, but really being able to peak when you needed to peak.
That's what happens when you're a halfway retired part time guy. But ultimately, that's really the reason why I did this. Like in the past, I honestly lost fun racing period, and I wanted to rewrite that a little bit because I don't think it was fair. I've done this my whole life and always loved it and then you kind of fall into a hole and it's just not the same anymore. And I was just trying to grasp on to something different and I know you get shit from people. You know, “Why I'm not racing,” and “I'm scared,” and all this shit. But I have to also think about myself, and I want to prolong my career. And I thought about retirement at one point and now I'm thinking back, I'm like, “What the heck was I thinking?” But when you're in that position, you don't really see an out, or the light at the end of the tunnel. So that was my change for this year and I'm glad that I did it because I do feel like I'm a completely different rider than in the past. So now I'm gonna be able to build from here and I actually think that I can do this, even racing more again because I've just found something for me personally and also for not racing a lot, just getting the intensity back. I just found a certain something that helps me out and the way I create my program and everything and it seems to work out.
Looking at your results from supercross, they were kind of up and down. You had like a good string of podiums and then some stuff outside the top five and even outside the top 10. But for all of SMX, you've been the guy, you've been right in the mix. The whole time. Can you just touch on that a little bit? What's been the key to that consistency and how do you plan on bringing that to 2024.
It may have been up and down a little bit in the beginning of the season, but I think it was a pretty clear pattern of getting better towards the end. I mean, I know at some point there were riders dropping like flies, but I feel like I got the string of podiums towards the later stages of the season. And then I was building on that, and I feel like I haven't really been off the podium since. So, I got on the bike super late as well and testing while racing is always tough, right? Like we threw a lot at the bike and had to work out some issues. And then once we did that, I feel like there was a pretty clear pattern of moving forward.