Ken Roczen has not raced in the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations since 2018 at RedBud, when he, like the majority of the American-based racers, rode far below their normal level. Roczen returned to the event for Team Germany this year, and he was very, very good, running up front in all of his races and securing the overall win in the MXGP class with 3-2 scores in his Sunday motos. He even led much of the third moto before Jett Lawrence got around him for the win. Lately, it seems like it doesn't matter where they race, Roczen and Lawrence are gonna battle.
Our man on the ground, Kellen Brauer, talked to Kenny after the motos.
Racer X: Kenny Roczen, MXGP overall winner today. Pretty eventful day overall, but for you, it looked like it was pretty comfortable out there, huh?
Coming in Friday. You said I'm not really a motocross guy anymore, but you kind of looked the part today. Did you kind of exceed your expectations then from the weekend?
Difficult question because I really struggled with the track. My wrists are not happy. I don't have the best wrists anymore, as you guys know. And this was a hard pack track that I haven't ridden in many years and it wasn't like even a clay hard pack, you know, it was rocky and I don't even know, like it was brutal out there. It got so rough and choppy. My hands are so shot and, and it was just a funky one. Like it wasn't a regular motocross track, how we know it in the States. You know, we're pretty spoiled with how deep they rip it. So I made changes to my bike pretty much every time I went out. I struggled in the last one actually, a little bit, like I didn't quite like it, it was too stiff in the rear and too low in the front. So it felt a little bit different than in the first moto that I did. But, yeah, at that point it doesn't matter, right? You gotta just throw it out and, and go for it.
So, and then fourth for Germany today. Is that one where you're like, oh yeah, we were in the fight all day or is it like, oh, I wish we could have got on the box?
Um, I wish we would have gotten on the box but, I don't know, there were too many crashes that my teammates had going on, unfortunately. So that kind of threw a wrench in there. But as long as everybody gave their best, you know, we know that with this one race it's, it can go either way. So we kind of went right in the middle, and the podium was right there for the grabs and, yeah, we couldn't pull it off, but there's just only so much we can do.
Main Image by Matt Rice