Ken Roczen on Unadilla National Season Debut: “Outdoors is tough. Straightens you out real quick!”
Ken Roczen made his season debut in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday at the Unadilla National. The Suzuki rider suffered injuries late in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship that sidelined him for the final two rounds and required surgery, making it a summer of rehab and building back up just like he was forced to last summer as well after injuries in supercross. His ultimate goal is to be fully ready for the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Playoffs, which start September 6 in North Carolina. However, Roczen decided to lineup in New York and get some racing in and see where he stacked up against his competitors.
At his season debut in Pro Motocross Saturday, he brought home a strong fifth-place finish in the first moto. He was running inside the top ten again in the second moto (running eighth) until he pulled off on the 12th lap. The German rider finished 5-38 for 13th overall in his first race since the Pittsburgh SX back in late April.
This morning, he took to Instagram to provide some insight on his weekend.
Here is Roczen's full caption:
"Unadilla is done and dusted.
Overall it was a pretty decent weekend i think.
I put myself in a vulnerable position to race with having little time on the bike.
Nothing replaces actual seat time.
How ever, i m glad i went and blew myself out a little bit. It’s the best thing for you and pushes your body to a different level almost immediately. My ankle held up good. I haven’t even really put my foot down much at home so i was pumped to feel it out.
I was pretty stoked on a 5th place finish in the first moto. I thought i rode decent. I definitely didn’t carry enough speed around the whole track with my line choices and stuff but that is all something that comes back within a couple of races.
The outdoor eyes gotta come back.
2nd moto i had about 15min in me. I was pretty gassed at that point.
The Intensity racing is always at another level than at home. The track was hard pack and super fast, bumpy and it all kind of beat me to shit 😆
I was cramping so bad in my obliques and under my rib cage i literally couldn’t inhale anymore it was like a knife in there.
I have never actually had that happen to that extend.
I obviously wanted to finish the race i only had 3 laps to go but it was such strange pain and not being able to inhale… i ended up going back to the rig and called it a day.
Anyway, i m glad i did it. Outdoors is tough. Straightens you out real quick!
Massive thank you to all the fans and the support. Hearing and seeing the stoked out there is something i always appreciate.
The team got everything handled as well and it always seems to all be on very short notice 😂 @hepmotorsports
Time to do some more work and be better! 🤘🏽"
