The 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is still young, but so far RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/ Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen has been knocking down the pins at an alarming rate. The trend continued at Thunder Valley, where Roczen trounced the competition with perfect 1-1 scores, winning both motos by significant margins. The only moto he has lost this year came when a part of his air forks broke while leading last weekend. Here’s what he had to say about yet another outstanding performance in the post-race conference.
Racer X: Good day for you, talk us through it.
Roczen: Yeah, the day was great. I’ve said it before, I’m not that great at practice, and I was going seventh onto the gate. But I’m never worried about that, I’m a racer and I love to race. It’s where I do well. Grabbed an awesome start in the first moto and I was super stoked to get the holeshot. Never looked back, had a minimum number of mistakes, and collected a win. That was great, and we went into the second moto with a strong mentality and wanting to get another good start and another win. I didn’t get a great start, I actually hooked a little with [Justin] Bogle and his elbow clutched my bike, it was pretty crazy. I tried to make some quick moves here and there but at the same time I didn’t try to rush it, I knew we had some time. The roost definitely hurts though! I’m going to look like I was playing paintball. Overall I can’t complain, going 1-1 is a great thing and we’re going into an off weekend now, I’m happy about that. It comes at a perfect time because I 100 percent believe I have another level in me and we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve to get even better on my part. I’m really excited for that. I’ll have some fun and relax a little bit this weekend and come back strong for High Point.
As soon as you got the holeshot in the first moto it seemed like you went at an almost ludicrous speed to get five or six bike lengths right away before settling.
I don’t know what it is, I’m never really a guy who hangs it out, I just ride where I’m comfortable and where it’s safe. So I guess the beginning of the race is just a strong point for me, putting in laps and feeling good on the bike. It all comes by itself. I don’t do sprints at home or any of those kinds of things. I feel like I have it in me, and when I feel good on the bike that’s how I ride, and that’s how it should be.
You mentioned some tricks up your sleeve. At this point, with things going so well, are you continuing to test and improve the bike?
Not on the bike at all, my bike is pretty dialed and I want to keep it that way. It’s more so myself. I have a good program going and but we another trick up our sleeve I mean to get even stronger and better on my part. The off weekend is perfect for that. With no race, obviously you can go a little bit harder. But it’s not always about going harder, sometimes it’s about doing different things. The same routine gets old and you it’s not that good for you, honestly. I do all kinds of different stuff to stay sharp.
Like celebrating National Donut Day and eating steak and mac and cheese?
Exactly, that’s part of it! No, those kinds of things, a little donut isn’t going to hurt. I probably burned a few thousand calories today. I’m having fun.
Yeah but it seems like you might be poking a little fun at some of the other guys who are super strict with their diet.
Yeah, I mean, for some of the riders it’s just the way they are, it’s a lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing my work and I’m pretty healthy, but I’m okay with a coffee and a donut in the afternoon sometimes.
How much different are racing and practice for you?
I don’t really care about practice. Practice for me is learning the track and getting a feel for the dirt. You put in one lap to get a decent position, but some of the tracks, like here, it doesn’t really matter if you’re first, fifth, or eighth. All of the gates are usually pretty good. I’m a racer and I know I’ve done my work. I’m super relaxed, it’s all about mental strength and relying on myself.
How do you feel about High Point and some of the other eastern tracks moving forward?
High Point, I’ve ridden pretty good there so I’m looking forward to it. We’re going back to Southwick too, back to the sand. Well, you guys call it sand, I don’t. I’m excited to have some different soil, it’s been off the schedule for a couple years. I’m excited to go back there and have a different track. When I was in Europe every year they would change up the tracks, at least a section, and I really wish they would do that here. At least Glen Helen does that. They switch up the sections, pretty much the whole track, and that’s kind of cool. I’ve only been here for five years or so, and I come to most of the tracks and I can already, without even doing one lap, I could probably put in a pretty fast lap time without even doing a parade lap. It would be cool, if they could, change up a few spots once in a while.
You seem like you’ve struck a balance in your life with your routine.
I put in my work, believe me. My mental strength comes from that. I’m also eating good, it’s not like I’m eating a donut every day. I’m doing my thing and that’s where my mental strength comes from. I got my bike dialed now and I could probably eat a pizza before riding and still feel good on the bike. It’s not going to change my mentality going into any kind of riding.
Do you feel it’s important to show racers there’s more than just one route to doing well?
Yeah, I mean, some guys go after the salad, the nonfat, whatever, and there are other riders like me who don’t just eat nonfat or whatever. You can definitely live a little. Honestly, it’s really just our sport. I know a lot of pro athletes, endurance athletes, who do their thing and their nutrition is way different than everyone thinks it has to be. I’m not really a big person anyway and I’m riding a 450, it has plenty of power to have a couple more pounds.
You said you were going to switch things up over the break. What do you have planned?
I like showing it with my results. I like mixing my things up. I have a training partner and we do things together and make it like a competition. It makes it fun and it makes us stronger. I’m pretty sure I can reach the next level and that’s what I’m working on.
Last week you were pretty calm outside after the mechanical problem. Did that change once you got inside the truck?
No, absolutely not. My hat’s off to RCH for trying new things and trying to figure things out. Obviously it failed and we took everything off, but it was worth a shot. We were trying to make everything better and figure out a solution for certain problems. I was pissed when I was riding obviously, but it’s not like I was yelling under my helmet. I was like, ‘Damn!’ But at the same time I didn’t let it distract me, I only had two laps to go. I want to win the championship and I don’t care how I get there. If I have to ride five laps with a flat tire I don’t care. I got a finish and we got points, and that is all that was on my mind. I definitely have my hat off to those guys, they’ve been doing an amazing job. Things like this fail, we’re just trying to make it better.
Last week at Glen Helen, quickly describe what it was like riding the bike without any pressure in the forks.
It was literally metal to metal. I couldn’t jump anything, especially where that big step-up triple was in the back, you turned around and there was another step-down, and there was just that little kicker where you’d land in the ruts. I literally barely launched off it, I could probably jump farther on my bicycle, and I landed right in a hole and my hands almost blew off. It was metal to metal, no cushion whatsoever. And obviously going down the hills and those bumps, it was super hard. That’s pretty much it. It was a super long track and probably the most jumpy outdoor track we have, especially the big jumps and that didn’t make it any easier.