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Ken Roczen couldn’t quite match the pace of Eli Tomac in quali- fying practice, but he still had enough in the tank to get himself the 2nd gate pick. He grabbed
a decent start in the first moto,
slotting into 5th place coming out
of the first couple corners. Roczen displayed his early lap aggressiveness on a charge down Mount St. Helen to move into 4th position, which put him behind the JGR Yamaha of Justin Barcia. He attempted to ride out of the main line to find away around Barcia, eventually out-braking him com-
ing into the rutted section after the downhill double. Canard made a mistake in the Tal- ladega corner which gave Roczen 2nd place and a clear shot at the leader, Ryan Dungey. Roczen started putting in fast laps and put the pressure on the defending champion, using different lines to stay out of the roost from the KTM.
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