Page 42 - ISSUE-81

KEN ROCZEN
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Coming back from an injury riddled season, but can be a tough feet to conquer. The thought and constant playback of recurring images, coupled with foreshadowing and lingering questions of, “What if?” It can be a concoction of disaster, especially when spe- ci cally talking about the idea of Ken Roczen, and the horrible crashes he’s had to put in the rearview, within the past few seasons. However, the German native has been able to hop aboard the motorcycle yet again, and prove to us all that he’s a true piece of talent, and force to be reckon with. He was fast all throughout practice, and after con guring with a few different setups beneath the mechanic’s area, he sat out to to the line for moto number one. With the holeshot device in place, he blitzed off the line, and the clip would disengage; shifting and clutching with a quick one, two punch, he would emerge with the lead on lap one. The Honda seemed to be working great, and he would emerge as the pi- oneer of the frontier for the rst ve laps. However, he would then be joined by Eli Tomac who would stalk the number ninety-four for quite some time; with an apparent display
of patience, he wouldn’t be able to wait any longer. They would approach the big uphill triple, and Tomac would sneak around, pushing Roczen to the wayside. He would try and mimic the Kawasaki for as long as he could, but it was too no avail. Barcia would quickly follow suit, as Ken would leave his inside open in the rst turn; and the number fty-one would barge in, taking second. Roczen would sit third, where he would nish, looking ahead to moto number two. He would again storm off the line, but would quickly be over- taken by Justin Barcia on lap one. In very similar fashion of the rst moto, his woes would come in two’s, as the KTM of Marvin Musquin would pass him. Finding his groove shortly there after, he would launch up the far step-up, triple combination, landing meticulously in a sea of ruts. His con dence wouldn’t waver, and although his pace was imminent, there was a charge of green ash coming up just behind. It was almost lap twelve, but Roczen could withstand the pressure no more. He would lose position to Tomac, and nd his nal residing position in fourth. The result of his day, would be that of fourth overall.
42 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018