"It's Been a Dream" – Ken Roczen Takes Over 450SX Points Lead

Yahoo

29-01-2025

Germany's Ken Roczen, riding for Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki, is once again a familiar presence on the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship podium. At Anaheim 2, the third round, Roczen secured a second-place finish for his second podium in three rounds. His consistency (2-4-2 finishes) has now earned him the championship points lead heading into Glendale for Round 4. For the first time in ten years, Suzuki holds the coveted red plate.
'Kickstart Kenny' entered the 2025 season opener at Anaheim 1 under the radar, with little chatter surrounding the #94. While he hasn't set the fastest qualifying times this season, when the gate drops, he delivers.
Roczen spoke after the night's racing from Anaheim 2 in the post-race press conference, where he was ecstatic, stating, "Yeah, I mean honestly, the whole main event was really rad. I feel like I was in a four-man battle the whole way. I had pressure from behind and, obviously, the guys up front and, just a very tricky track—really slick in some areas and then a lot of like little techy things like after the start area, like going over that little hump right there, hitting that rut was tough. And, after I passed Jason (Anderson) the first time, going over the double and then hitting the table—that's where I hit neutral on accident. My boot must have just hit it, and I backed out of the triple and then, had to go to work again. But I was just so happy with the whole main event. I just kept really focused, and I felt really strong in the whoops, felt like I was able to catch to the front a little bit, and yeah, I'm just beyond stoked to be on the podium, honestly. It's just been a dream."
When asked about the red plate and the new championship points leader after three rounds at a race where he had his gruesome arm injury in 2017, he reflected, "Yeah, I was, you know, reminiscing about the red plate last week—like how, you know, if I would have made the pass for third, I could have shared it with Eli, which would have been really rad. And, you know, besides having the red plate frequently, 2022, I haven't really had a taste of it in a long time and especially not on yellow. So it's—it's just a dream come true. And honestly, Anaheim 2 is a little bit of a funky one. Like, I just feel—I try not to be—but I just feel a little bit more anxious of what happened in 2017. Like, it's just kind of lingering a little bit. So in practice and stuff, I'm just a little careful. And, also, we tried some things this week, I had a new shock in, and, for the last practice, I just kind of went back to my base, and that was a massive—or that was the perfect decision we could have made as well, just because it felt a lot more familiar to me. So it seemed like everything that we have, done today was—yeah, a success."
Ten years since Suzuki has held the red plate in Monster Energy Supercross, Roczen was optimistic, "Yeah, I don't know. I guess we're just sometimes up for surprises, right? Like, we've been putting in a lot of work, and it's tough going through the—if you want to call it offseason or the offseason races—just not feeling like you're 100% or the motorcycle isn't 100%. But then also, that's the time where the experience comes into play and just trying to be patient. So now, if somebody would have told me I had the red plate after three rounds, I would have been like, 'Are you sure?' But, it's pretty rock and roll, not gonna lie. So I'm just gonna enjoy the moment, and of course, the work doesn't stop, and I'm just gonna try and put it on the box as much as I can."
The veteran riders of the 450SX class are still the top dogs in the fight. Roczen spoke about the trend of older riders still being competitive, "It's pretty much been dominated by older guys, to be honest. I think we all just really enjoy what we do, you know? I think, I'm pretty sure, all of us have gone through a hump to where we're kind of bitter at what we do just because it's—it's tough. It's really tough. But I think, we're all at the age to where, driving to the track on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, going to the races, 30 weekends a year—it's what we've done for so long. So I think, we're just passionate about what we do. And honestly, I think also we've gotten—I don't know if you want to call it lucky—but throughout the offseason, like, all of us have stayed healthy, you know? There were no, you know—we weren't grenading ourselves. And, I think everybody is firing on all cylinders at 100%, and that's the kind of racing that you get when we're all at the top of our game."
Roczen was asked about the two whoop sections back to back and the outlook on the whole track from Anaheim 2, "Honestly, they both broke down for sure, even in practice. I was a—I don't know, surprised? But, when you walk them, they were like cement—especially the rutted ones, right? But then we have hundreds of people doing hundreds of laps throughout the day, and you're just—you're going to break through the crust. But, that second set of whoops—even though they were rolled—they were no joke. I think—I thought they were pretty big. And of course, once they get cupped out, they start getting steeper and steeper. So then the rain played a big role too. And, I mean, overall though, I did enjoy the track. I thought it was technical. It was a very busy track—a lot of—we went from not really having a rhythm section last weekend, where we jumped three in and then quad out—that was the only rhythm section, if you want to call it—to having a lot of obstacles on a track here today. But overall, I enjoyed the whole track, honestly."
Roczen now faces the challenge of defending his points lead in Glendale this weekend. How long can 'Kickstart Kenny' hold the red plate for?
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