Ken Roczen offered a health update following his sixth-place finish at East Rutherford Supercross on Saturday, April 27.
After a one-week break, AMA Supercross series resumed in East Rutherford, New Jersey where Team Honda HRC’s Roczen overcame a poor start to finish sixth.
In the 450SX Main Event, Roczen got a bad jump out of the gate, rounding the first turn outside the top 10. Roczen began manoeuvring through the pack, working his way into seventh behind team-mate Cole Seely.
The two ran 6-7 for six laps before Roczen overtook his team-mate with under 14 minutes remaining.
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He quickly closed the gap on the rider in front of him, making the pass and taking over fifth on lap eight. He maintained that position for much of the race but then came under pressure from Marvin Musquin near the end, ultimately losing the spot on the final lap and taking the chequered flag in sixth.
Speaking after the event Roczen offered insight on why he suffered a poor start and discussed how his ongoing health issue is still impacting his moto life. “Today started out a bit rough,” he said. “I haven’t ridden [a] supercross [track] since Denver—so two weeks ago—just because we did some outdoor testing and then because of what I’ve been dealing with, I wanted to give myself a little break.
“It’s taking a long time to figure out what’s going on with me, but the good thing is I felt better tonight than I have in the last few weeks.
“Unfortunately, we had a little mishap at the start with my holeshot button popping out, so that’s why I got that bad of a start, which obviously makes life a lot harder.
“I also rode pretty tight toward the end of the main event. The track was super gnarly. Overall, I’m happy that I felt better most the day and didn’t get as tired in the main as I have been.
“I’m going to see a few more specialists in the next couple weeks to get some legit answers.
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“It’s been tough because I feel like I haven’t been able to show my full potential in quite a while.
“In the beginning of the season you could see how well I was doing, and then it went downhill from there. We’ve had a few other good runs, but it’s been a challenge for sure.
“It’s tough because there’s nothing more that I want than to go out there, feel good, and do good for the team. I think we’ve been making the best of it and we’re doing everything we can to get things figured out.”
On the team’s poor starts, Erik Kehoe (team manager) said: “If I had to blame one thing specifically for tonight’s results, it would be our starts. We really need to get those starts figured out so the guys can put themselves in better positions at the beginning.
“It’s so hard to get a bad start and come through the field to battle with the front guys. Ken was riding pretty well but said he got some arm pump toward the end, so he wasn’t able to maintain.”
Roczen enjoyed the layout of the East Rutherford track, which was technical and tricky – breaking down as the night progressed. “The track was really gnarly,” he said. “The dirt was pretty soft and the whoops broke down big time. You really had to be on your game to stay consistent, and try not to make mistakes. It seemed like a very similar layout to Atlanta 2014 and I won that race, so it gave me some good energy during track walk. That didn’t translate throughout the day, though.”
The AMA Supercross series comes to a close this coming weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. On Friday, Roczen will participate in the pre-race press conference before taking to the track for a quick riding session. Later that evening, Roczen and Seely, along with the GEICO Honda team will take part in a fan fest party at Carter Powersports.
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