The remarkable rise of Ken Roczen continued in Philadelphia this past weekend with another wire-to-wire win, his fifth on the season, and he grabbed the red plate with just two rounds to go. The roll the German rider has been on is pretty remarkable but it’s not over just yet.
Hunter Lawrence did give him a run early on and Cooper Webb did late but on a rainy night, a shortened main event it was Kenny taking it. And let’s face it, he was the favorite as the rain fell and the puddles got bigger and bigger. Even Webb himself on the PulpMX Show noted that some of the “hope” he had was that Roczen might stall/fall and have to kickstart the bike!
The pace of the top three was nutso, the guys were sending it. It was the top three in points all going bonkers out there in the slop to get to the front. We had Joey Savatgy on the PulpMX Show and he stated that on last lap while in fourth and going on the other side of the track, he felt/heard the flames at the finish line and was astounded they were that far in front of him.
Roczen’s up four points with two races to go. The things that are amazing IF he wins this are:
- He’s been at this WAY longer than any first-time champion
- He’s by FAR the oldest first-time champion we’ll ever have
- He’s on a privately owned team
- He’s on a bike that hasn’t been developed since 2018
- His team manager, Larry Brooks, has been gone fighting cancer
- His mechanic owns a Beta shop in Texas.
- (Editor's note: Him overcoming his arm injury from 2017, we cannot forget about that one!)
Cool story for sure but we’ve got two races to go here folks.
A lead of four points ain’t great, you’d like it to be three, but if I’m Hunter Lawrence or his fans, nothing is over (said in John Rambo’s voice). Look, the last three “mains” haven’t gone your way, but when the track was basically dry in Cleveland, he ran away with the win. Then the rains came and this week, it was worse than it was in Ohio and he was going after Roczen until he fell. Yes, there’s the “he fell” part but he rode pretty well until then. And it’s the mud and I saw Roczen come within a shift lever of ruining himself on a tough block in a rhythm lane. Inches haven’t been on Hunter’s side lately but we *should have dry tracks the next two weeks and Lawrence will be able to get back to his old self. Nothing is effed here dude.
As I mentioned, we had Cooper Webb on the show and he said it’s looking good for him to be back at Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing next year and that also, he IMO, kind of conceded that he REALLY needed the six-point swing in the title fight to happen in Philly. He got close, he charged hard but, in the end, he resigned himself that it’s going to take a miracle.
Still, three straight second places here is a nice bump for him after three weeks off the podium. He’s been a disrupter here in the title chase and this weekend might see the return of Eli Tomac who could also upset the apple cart in his hometown race.
Shoutout to Joey Savatgy who continues to impress, bummer he got hurt earlier this year, missed a race and then had to battle through injury when he came back. Well, last two weeks it’s been 5-4 for #17 Honda rider and he’s firmly establishing himself back into the factory guy mix.
The 250SX East class isn’t exactly thrilling all of us right now but this weekend, Cole Davies clinched the title with a win. It continued a remarkable run of Yamaha winning in that class as well. Davies really impressed out there after me thinking that maybe, just maybe, the mud might be a bit of a weakness last week. This week he rode great to take a rather easy win and the first title of probably many. The Kiwi kid has been on quite a fast track to start his SX career.
Seth Hammaker tried. Oh, he tried really hard. He knew that Daxton Bennick was who he needed to get to send his title hopes to SLC in a slim chance, but he went down while sending it on the last lap. And that’s of course after taking a huge header while leading lap one. Seth needs a massage and some chiro work after the last few weeks.
To end this column, I thought I’d take you dear readers through a bit of my day in Philadelphia.
Get to the track around 9 a.m., walk in from the Uber and first person I see is Mitch Payton from Pro Circuit. So of course, I wander over and unusually, we don’t get into some story from the '80s or '90s! I chat with him about his lineup for next year (should be close to the same), Chase Sexton’s struggles on Kawasaki (that’s what most people talk about in the pits these days), the MXGP team and what they’re running and more.
I wandered over next door to the Factory Kawasaki truck and ran into head Team Green guy Ryan Holliday to talk Steelers NFL draft and the SMX Next class racing that night. I check in with Derek (Garrett Marchbank's mechanic) and Oscar (crew chief), and they tell me they’re happy. And then I look over and they’re changing clamps on Chase Sexton’s bike. Before the bikes hit the track. I don’t know man.
It’s time for track talk so head down to the stadium floor to mostly talk to people, it’s why I call it “track talk” and not “track walk.” Although I do like to wander over to the whoops and see what they look like as a lot of nights, they’re the decider of things.
There’s a lot of ball busting that goes on during this, most of it directed at me, the poor media member. I’d file a complaint with HR but I’m not sure there is one. I do seek out Wil Hahn and surprise him with the middle finger, which is great, he acknowledges the great win on my part.
I get more than a few people commentating on my wearing shorts on the cold day but also, Seth Hammaker’s in shorts as well. They don’t come any tougher than Seth, so I know I’m in good company.
I head up to watch the qualifiers and get lost when security leads me to the wrong level for the press box. Fun times wandering around Lincoln Financial Field in the dark. Finally find it, JT is up there hanging with Kellen Brauer and Lewis Phillips (and other members of the media). I pour myself a coffee and settle in to watch qualifiers!
After that’s over, I head down to the pits, and I go to the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna truck to interview Big James Stewart for a Racer X magazine profile. That takes about 20 minutes, and I head over to ClubMX truck where the riders aren’t there but Chad Reed is!
Reedy’s been helping the team out, doing a good job and we immediately get into a discussion how, in my opinion, Chad would be a terrible production bike R&D guy. Not surprisingly, he thinks different.
Walked out to the Fly Hospitality truck to “meat” my dear friend Nick who owns a meat company. This man has saved me thousands of dollars and I’m eternally grateful to call him my dear friend. Met his brother and then Justin Brayton and Adam Cianciarulo joined me as well for some bench racing before the night show.
From there it was the HRC truck to get a coffee, Tommy Tenders was in there with Lawrence’s agent Jacob Hayes and Tenders got into what he’s heard about people taking photos with the Rocky statue. It proved to be completely wrong BTW. Emma Lawrence joined us for a bit as we bench raced about the upcoming 450 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
With that it was time to head up and watch some races. Liam Draper, GNCC star joined us in the press box for a bit and then the peoples champion, Adam Enticknap, was up there as well. Lots of excitement in the stadium, the rain didn’t stop it from being a good night of racing.
From there it was back down to the pits for post-race interviews, and it got a LOT colder after the race. Light rain fell the entire time, so it was a grind out there for the media. Please pray for us. Also, the Philly Flyers game let out about the same time as I was leaving the pits. I didn’t rent a car, did the Uber thing all weekend and because of this hockey game (my favorite sport finally bit me!) I had to wait in the cold rain for 30 min to get a ride back to the hotel.
Got back to the room, uploaded the podcasts and went to bed around 1 a.m. for a nice 16 hour day. Alarm set for 7 a.m. to head to airport and onto Denver we go!
Thanks for reading, email me at matthes@racerxonline.com to chat about this or anything else. This 450SX title is awesome!
