Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen is on fire. He had the speed to have swept all four 450MX motos in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, but suffered a broken front fork while leading moto one at Glen Helen. He held on for fourth and came back to win moto two. That’s three of four moto wins this year and he still leads the points by two over Ryan Dungey.
He talked about it in the post-race press conference.
Racer X: Congratulations on the day, especially the moto two win. Tell us about your day today, the ups and downs.
Ken Roczen: My day was obviously pretty good. In my heart I went 1-1. It’s really all that matters to me. There’s nothing I can do about a mechanical. Obviously my air went out on my forks and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t jump anything. I didn’t want to jump anything, so I had to roll. Three laps riding like this, slower than a parade lap. It’s pretty long. So I just salvaged a fourth place. But second moto I got a good start and did what I had to do. This is not necessarily my favorite place. It was pretty sketchy out there. So the second moto I was trying to hold my lines and stay on the bike, because the last thing I want to do obviously is throw it away.
It looked like the rear end of everybody’s bike was just out of order for most of that second moto.
It was pretty tough, especially after the finish line. That whole section right there was a little supercross-ey I would say. But obviously you got ruts and those kinds of things. So it was tough.
How good does it feel though to just have things sorted? Obviously you must be healthy, the training’s good, the bike’s good. It’s got to just feel like a relief to just be that dialed in.
Yeah. Obviously this is how I should ride. This is how it should be if you want to win a championship. If you want to win a championship you can’t have me be unfit or have bad days on the bike or the bike is not running good. You have to work both ends, myself included, also the team, they have to give me a good bike and in return I give them a good body and obviously combine it to try to win a championship.
You made some progress at the end of the year last year but there have been big changes. Your bike is a lot different than it was last year. You guys kind of had to put in the work to build it again from scratch for this outdoors, right?
Yeah, it is. It’s very different. I’m actually pretty stoked right now because it’s pretty powerful, and especially where I need it. I grabbed a good start in the second moto. It’s just good right now, so I can focus on my riding and get better at that. Other than that I’m pretty happy. Nothing to complain about.
The diet you mentioned on the podium, steak and mac and cheese. Are you happy to be eating what you want and still doing well?
Yeah, I am.
In moto one you kind of sat behind Ryan a little bit and then late in the race you laid 2:26, 2:27. Was that something you were just kind of waiting for?
Yeah, I actually messed that section up once and it cost me like five seconds. I played catch up pretty quick. I was just kind of figuring things out, I would say. I was trying to find some good lines. I knew I would have to make something happen quick and not just stay behind and see. So for a while I was there and trying to find some good lines and once I was sure about it I went for it and made the pass happen.
Also in that first moto when you lost the front end, how close were you going for a couple of the jumps? You see who’s coming and you see you’re losing spots.
Yeah, I knew what was going on but a couple of times I just jumped little jumps and I landed right in the pocket and I almost blew my hands off. So I was like, “Man, I can’t jump anything big.” So I just kind of tried to maintain. I could only get fourth but that’s better than a DNF.
