Page 10 - Issue_64

KEN ROCZEN
450 SX / 2ND
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> After all the drama and theatrics of Ken Roczen’s return at the beginning of the year, he has had a bit of a quiet season. He has been solid and sits third in points heading into Oakland, but he hasn’t had that “WOW’ moment yet. All of his races have been good top five rides minus the tough round at Anaheim 2 where he even admitted to feeling the anniversary effects of last year’s crash. He has had a few podiums as well, but his performances haven’t been flashy like we are used to seeing. This is expected coming off such a tremendous injury and he has been putting himself in good positioning for the long haul in terms of the championship. As the season goes on, one can only imagine his confidence will begin to build and he won’t be content with just podium finishes anymore, he’ll want to get back to his winning ways. At the beginning of the day in Oakland,
it certainly did not look like the night Roczen would get back on the top step of the podium. The track was insanely rutted and technical and he was struggling with it. He qualified abysmally with the fourteenth fastest time. This wasn’t his first trip around the block, so he and his team would surely make all the necessary tweaks and adjustments to get the number 94 back towards the front come race time. Roczen got his night going
by getting through the first lap of the heat race in fifth place. He settled in behind Josh Grant and started to develop a nice little rhythm. On lap five, he got close enough to make the pass on Grant he would do just that taking over fourth place. Next rider up was Marvin Musquin, but the Frenchman was too far gone for Roczen to catch so he’d bring home the fourth-place heat race finish. Roczen got one of his best starts of the year when the gate dropped for the main event. The Honda HRC rider started in second, right behind his teammate Cole Seely. Seely was able to build a little three second cushion on Roczen in the opening laps but Roczen was able to stabilize it. Roczen was riding smooth and consistent, not pushing the envelope too hard on the brutally rutted up course. The two riders continue to ride smart races until about halfway when Seely got sketchy and crashed in one of the rhythm lanes. This gifted Roczen the lead. Roczen hasn’t been in the lead too much this year so he had to be a little nervous back up there. He had about a three second lead on Jason Anderson in second and the two were running a similar pace. Roczen was able to keep Anderson at that distance until the latter stages of the race. He made a few mistakes with the lapped traffic allowing Anderson to get into striking distance. Roczen was definitely feeling the pressure with three laps to go because he made a critical mistake, missing a rhythm, and that allowed Anderson to motor by in the whoops. Roczen did not want it to end like that so he fought back and made a move back around Anderson and led him to the white flag. Anderson was all over him but if Roczen made it through the lap mistake-free, the win was his. Unfortunately, he’d fail to do so. He got sideways entering a rhythm section forcing him to double through the remainder of it allowing Anderson to jump right by. This time he was too far back to retaliate, and he’d have to settle for second. Roczen was fuming in his helmet after letting that win slip away but he fought to remain positive as he is only fifteen points back from Anderson and he is now second in points. Look for Roczen to enter San Diego with a lot more confi- dence and energy as this race may have gotten those competitive juices flowing once again.
10 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 4, 2018