Ken Roczen, who has held the red plate in Monster Energy AMA Supercross for now nine different years (!), did not acquire the points lead in 2026 until two rounds to go. Not only is this the strongest he’s been at the end of a season, and at 32 years old, but it is also the closest he has come to a 450 supercross championship.
Heading into Denver, Kenny was four points up on Hunter Lawrence. The second half of the season these two have set themselves apart as the best two riders on the track. The problem is, they are pretty much equal in every way. Both have five wins and 12 podiums. And while Kenny had some bad races at the beginning of the series, he has come on strong at the end. Still the two are so closely matched that it is week to week to see which rider will be better on which track. Denver was no different, as Hunter got into the lead early and Ken had to make some passes to get into second, as he explained in the post-race press scrum.
“I, honestly, due to how I felt on the track, I wasn’t going crazy or ballistic in the beginning," Roczen said. "I wanted to have a clear track, and once I got into second, I purposefully didn’t try to override it to make something happen. Because I felt like my spot was where I was in second right there and I was fine with that. Most of the time when I feel pretty good, I can definitely unlock some speed in the beginning but for today I just felt like I did what I had to do to get to second and then we settled in.”
Knowing when to push, and when to play it safe is part of what separates champions from the rest of the pack. And now Ken sits just one point ahead of Hunter heading into the final round. With riders who are so closely matched, it is really anybody’s race and championship. It is also extremely exciting for the fans, a fact that is not lost on Ken.
“I’m happy with it, honestly," he said. "I wasn’t quite that comfortable on the track all day," he said."But then obviously when racing, you gotta go. But I had to make a couple of passes and once I got into second, I didn’t have enough speed to really have anything for Hunter, and I ended up just settling in. Just out of the way I felt on the track, and it was a tough main event anyways. The track was pretty beat up for how hard packed it was. And it just was a tough track it could bite you very easily. So, I settled in for second and we have a one-point difference now and it's fun for me as well, as a fan of the sport. Everything comes down to Salt Lake. There's really not much to say, it's all about next weekend’s race. I’m happy with tonight it was what it was. Yeah, second place, it's all right.”
Both riders are deserving of this championship, but no matter who wins it, a new, first-time 450SX Champion will be crowned. And while a case could be made for either rider, at 32 years old, there’s only so many more opportunities left for Kenny to be in this position. Not to mention his comeback story, down 31 points to being up four points in one season. But that is just this year. The real comeback is from his crash in 2017, while he was indisputably the best rider early that season, that almost cost him his arm. If he were to win on Saturday, this would be the stuff movies are written about. Something fans would love as we could rewatch this season over and over again.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 332 |
| 2 |  Hunter Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 331 |
| 3 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC  | 297 |
| 4 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 275 |
| 5 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | 251 |
