Roczen On Fourth Overall At St. Louis SMX

St. Louis, MO SMX Playoff 2SuperMotocross World Championship

Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki’s Ken Roczen had a good St. Louis SMX with a second in moto one and then a 4^th overall on the night. Also, the two-time 450MX champion has slowly been transitioning to more of an “supercross” guy the last little bit! We had Kenny on the PulpMX Show Monday night to talk about his battles with our co-host Trey Canard, the SMX series and more.

Racer X Online: What’s the best race with Ken Roczen and Trey Canard?
Ken Roczen: Oh, man. We had a few, right? I think some of the moto races. What’s the one that always comes up? Is it Red Bud? And Thunder Valley too, I think.

Canard: They were good for at least 15 minutes! [laughs]

Steve Matthes: I was thinking Oakland when I think of you two guys, because you passed him for the win?
Trey Canard: No, San Diego.
KR: I don't think I remember that. What year was that?

TC: 2015.
KR: Oh, okay. Got you.

SM: Canard could scrub. Huh, Kenny?
KR: Oh, yeah. One of the best. For real. Maybe it doesn’t look… You can make a scrub look spectacular but not really do what it’s supposed to do, but basically swallowing up that takeoff - Trey, you were super good at that.

TC: Thanks, man.

SM: Kenny, St. Louis was good for you. That first one was awesome. You battled with Coop [Webb] in the second one. Good job. You had to be happy with the riding, compared to Charlotte.
KR: Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, like I told you, what made the world of difference for me, I went back to my supercross suspenion. Clickers, I changed it up a little bit for SMX. Nothing crazy, just a handful total. But that made the world of difference to me going into the second practice. Even though I was eighth or something, two seconds off the lead. I didn’t even care about that because I just felt comfortable on the bike. So then going into the night show, my mentality is way different than when I’m unsure or I know that I couldn’t really ride the way I wanted to.

So, I was very happy with both of those motos. Much better comeback than Charlotte. I tend to forget as well that it was only the third race back after injury. There were little things that I realized. I learned so much from last weekend just being up towards the front and battling both motos the whole way. You have to pay attention to such extreme detail. I feel like you only get that back with having racing under your belt. I’m glad that it went the way it went. Sometimes as a rider, you need it. It kind of tends to once you start right back up where you left off before injury, and sometimes it’s hard to do. The racing has definitely been helping me just getting back with it.

Eli Tomac actually started ahead of Ken Roczen in moto one, but Ken went around him in the sand to take over second. Align Media

SM: So, you’ve raced Eli Tomac 150 times, maybe more. Does he have tendencies that you know he’s going to do? I’m sure he’s got some on you also, but when you got Eli breathing down your neck and you got that Yamaha sucking air and making all the noise and him wide open with the clutch in, do you know what he’s going to try to do at different times, after racing him for years?
KR: Honestly really all of the top guys, you just can never let up. It’s just so hard to get a bit of a gap to where you can kind of just chill for a little bit, because he’s going to be there the whole way. He’s going to be there the last lap. He’s going to be there in the middle of the race. He’s going to be there in the beginning of the race. So, from my standpoint right then and there, nothing crazy. I don't think he was ever close enough to dive into the inside of me. So, you have to go the whole way. Then obviously Jett was coming too. I don't think you ever have to really worry about anything stupid, necessarily. It’s going to be a wide open, hammer fest all the way through.

SM: You just know, this dude is not giving up.
KR: No, there’s no such thing.

SM: I imagine the way Kenny rides in the low RPM’s and the way Eli does not, can you even hear your bike when Eli is behind you?
KR: Yeah, that’s why I’m trying to get a little bit of a gap so I can actually hear it. You know what makes that a lot better? I’ve been riding with earplugs for quite a few years now. But what I love about them is that it tunes out so much and you kind of only hear what you need to hear. Especially also about your own bike. It dulls everything out around you. I feel like you can focus much better on yourself.

"He’s going to be there the whole way. He’s going to be there the last lap. He’s going to be there in the middle of the race. He’s going to be there in the beginning of the race." -Ken Roczen on racing Eli Tomac Align Media

Kris Keefer: I’ve tried it. I understand if they’re close enough, you’re able to hear them, but without earplugs you can kind of feel what side they’re on. With earplugs, can you still kind of feel what side they’re on if they’re right on you?
KR: Yeah. I would say you have a sense for it. I feel like you’re almost more in tuned with it, if you do have earplugs. You have to give earplugs a chance. It doesn’t happen in one day, two days. I would say give it a solid week and then you won’t be able to ride without them. A lot of people that have tried them once, they’re like, “I can’t really get behind it.” But I gave it a chance, and now it would be so hard for me to ride without earplugs.

SM: Our friend Darkside rides with death metal playing in his ears. He has a little mp3 player with GWAR or something.
KR: Whatever floats your boat!

TC: The thing I like about the earplugs - I rode with them a couple weeks ago. I had a company send me a pair. I was like, yeah, I’ll give them a shot. There’s so many random noises in the motor, and I’ve had enough happen - bike shutting off on me. It takes out a little bit of that, “What was that funny noise?” I can imagine if I’m racing with someone, it makes it a little less anxious in that you’re not hearing everything. So, I like what you said about hearing what you need to hear. I feel like that’s a good way to say it.

SM: I was asking Hunter about Eli and he’s like, “Yeah, dude, he’s behind you and he’s wide open on the outside. You’re like, wait, did I miss a berm that was out there? Is that a better line?” Because it’s so distracting. He’s pinned and got the clutch and the brake on.
KR: Yeah, it seems like it’s either wide open or not at all. You got to respect that. It’s so typical him. That’s why I admire him. He looks like he would have bent the frame on the bike!

Keefer: Mark from REP Suspension and the guys, Jamie, they went out there last week testing with you. Specifically, I work with Mark a lot, and I call him a beautiful mind because if he looks at you, it looks like he’s staring into your soul to figure out what the fuck is going on with you. It really stresses me out at times, but then he comes up with the… I don't want to say crazy settings, but off-the-wall enough you’re like, I don't know if this is going to work. Then you ride it and you’re like, wow. It’s a different feeling, and I kind of like that direction. Do you get some of that vibe?
KR: Yeah, 100 percent. The style of dampening, I would call it, is different than what I have been used to over years. But at the same time, kind of always what I was looking for, in a sense. But it takes some getting used to. After being for so many years on different factory teams, everybody has their own unique little style of creating suspension. But I agree. Then the best part is that any time I have, not even a question, but if I give them every little detail that I feel, he comes up with something to fix that. They’re always very precise changes. It’s really fun to work with that. Having said that after us working together now for, it’s been a season where we actually haven’t done that much testing. That should tell you something, because I’ve gone through months and months and months of testing and not really ever knowing what to do now because something didn’t feel right.

Where we haven’t done that much testing, and then our guy here, Andrew, he’s the one that lives with us in Florida that is there on a day-to-day basis - he’s great as well. It’s just been really a fun duo to work with. He’s been really great. Coming back after so many years… We worked together on KTM and that’s when he was still more green. He kind of just started up and was starting to learn. Then you come back on a Suzuki. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised right off the bat. Also, just the cleanliness of putting the stuff together. I have to say my bike has been feeling over this entire year very consistent. Nothing ever changes. It’s very consistent from beginning until the end of the moto, and even on a day-to-day basis. I just feel like it’s put together methodically and clean. Knock on wood, we don’t want to talk about it too much and have something go wrong, but it’s been awesome.

"We were also working on the electric start. But I think a lot of the stuff is probably just a little bit down the road." -Ken Roczen on testing with Suzuki. Align Media

TC: The thing I like about Mark, and I’ve gotten to know him over the last few years. I worked with him at KTM a little bit. To me, your suspension guy has to have a level of confidence because you’ve got to be able to look at him and say, “I trust what you’re saying right now.” Some people will go, “Hey, we’re going to make this change.” And inside of you, you’re going, “No. That’s not it.” Where I feel like Mark is open. He’s not closed off. I think to me, that’s half the battle is finding someone that you can trust.
KR: It makes you be open-minded too, right? When you have trust in your person, it makes you be more open-minded to the change that they want to do as well, without questioning it.

SM: I do think that’s funny. You’re right about having confidence, but I do remember a few times at the test track with Ross Maeda, and I consider Ross one of the smartest guys in the industry. There was definitely times where he was like, “I don't know, let’s try it!”

Keefer: But you like to hear that as a rider, too.

TC: I think that’s where I’m going with Mark. You never get the sense of him looking at you and thinking you’re an idiot. Where there’s been a lot of techs that I’ve worked with where you say, “I want this,” and maybe it’s not exactly what you want. It’s just your way of explaining it. He’s the type of guy that goes, “Okay, yeah.”
KR: Or he’s just good at hiding it.

Take aside all the money you’re going to win in SMX. Is this SMX thing working? We’re almost three years in. Where are you at with all of this? Different tracks and different venues, and things like that. Just from watching, I’m not 100 percent on board. Again, love the money, but what do you think of this thing?
KR: I don't know, honestly. I’m just along for the ride at this point. It’s not like you have a say in anything anyway. I have stopped, not worrying about it, but I just don’t think much of it. This is what we’re going to race. This is what we’re going to do. Okay, I’ll be there. So, I don't know. I enjoy the racing side of things. It’s different. It definitely feels different. It was a little bit odd being in a dome at this time of year, but actually this year I just feel like we haven’t had an SMX race in an actual supercross stadium, so it was different. It was kind of cool. It changed the vibe a little bit. I did hear, or it looked like at least coming in for opening ceremonies, that the attendance wasn’t… I feel like this year for supercross, it’s been awesome, every race I feel like. So, I think that was maybe a little bit down. Why? I don't know. Since these are just three races, I haven’t been overthinking it. It’s something different, so I’m fine with it.

SM: The St. Louis crowd normally is awesome, and I was watching it going, where is everyone? Hey, so we talked a little bit about this in my post-race interview that we did, but for people who don’t know. The Japanese guys from Suzuki are back! They're here this week!
KR: Well, they’re not here this week. They were in Charlotte, and then they were here all week last week. But I think it’s more so, because all the testing, like Chiz (Kyle Chisholm) did some linkage stuff and Mark was there and obviously the Japanese. We were also working on the electric start. But I think a lot of the stuff is probably just a little bit down the road. Not too far, but more for supercross 2026. Because I haven’t done any testing with them so far, especially when it comes to suspension. There’s still stuff that we want to do, but we haven’t had the time right now because we’re racing. I was coming back from injury. We got to kind of get through next few weeks and then kind of look at the schedule and then re-plan some test stuff. But I think it’s going to be legit. I’m stoked.

Keefer: When you watch other guys ride their bikes, is there another bike out there that you’re like, “Man, that bike looks really good. Planted. It looks like it works good.” Is there something that you notice out there? Besides your own, obviously.
KR: If you look at Eli’s bike, for example, I don't know if it’s a Yamaha thing in general. I think Cooper has improved since he’s left KTM. So, I would say that the Yamaha as an overall package looks to be good. You’ve got to say Jett’s bike. I think he’ll make a crappy bike look good, so it’s kind of hard to judge. But his looks really good. It just also depends the rider. Everybody has a little bit of a different style. I’m kind of like Eli, if I fall off the back of the bike, I can’t ride. When you look visually from the outside, it may not look like that’s happening, but what I feel on the bike, I can feel it. I would say overall that the Yamaha would be a pretty good all-around package.

Roczen: “It’s going to be a wide open, hammer fest”