Ken Roczen Wins MXGP Class of Motocross of Nations

Ernée, France Monster Energy FIM Motocross of NationsMotocross of Nations

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?
Ken Roczen: I actually I don't know how comfortable [I was], this track was something else. We don't ride this kind of hard pack stuff. It wasn't that fun to ride, honestly. What made it fun though is the butterflies in your stomach and then you just look on the side of the hill right there and you see that many people is next level. Honestly, I'm so glad I did it. It may be one of the best Motocross of Nations I've ever really been to. So when it comes to racing side of things, for me personally, it was absolutely great. I mean, I had a little mishap in the first one. I stalled it actually. And you know, with me not having an electric start, my mindset at that point was like, you gotta be kidding me. Luckily I found neutral, pulled the choke and kicked it. I went from third to fifth. And then luckily could make a couple of passes happen again and went back to third. At that point I was rolling really good. I was catching Prado and would have been nice to see what I could have done if I would have just gotten closer. Oh, I did have some clear track at that moment because I had to work really hard to get Jeremy [Seewer] and Aaron [Plessinger]. But yeah, we'll never know. Anyway, in the second moto, I ripped the holeshot, which was freaking cool. You know, we were a small operating crew with my team and I don't remember the last time that a Suzuki's had a holeshot at MXGP. For me to do that and then get the MXGP overall win is something that, you know, I can check a couple of things off the box that I didn't really think about it. I kind of forgot about the whole MXGP overall thing, but the fact that we made it happen is so rad. I'm so glad I made the decision to come here and it was well worth it

Roczen was up front in Moto 1, but stalled while running third. He recovered to get the spots back and net third. He led much of the third moto until Jett Lawrence got by. His 3-2 scores were enough for the win in his MXGP class. Team Germany took fourth in the event. Matt Rice

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

Insight: Roczen Wins