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Ken Roczen and Glendale

Ken Roczen and Glendale

Jan 30

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It is crazy to think, in 2025, some 16 years after he made his Grand Prix debut in Portugal, with a seventh place finish in the MX2 class, that he would be heading into the fourth round of the Monster Energy Supercross championship, with the red plate and going to a stadium where he is the defending main event winner.

Roczen won Glendale in 2024 with a start to finish victory, taking the early lead at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and rode away from the field to score his first win of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season. He becomes the fifth winner in the first six rounds of a season marked by parity.

“It’s really hard to put into words,” Roczen said after his win in 2024. “I don’t win that much anymore. I haven’t won much in recent years, so I take these moments in so much. To do it here again after the heat race and I had some solid rides this year and the track was breaking up and I noticed some of the key spots there were tricky and could bite you and I just clicked away laps and I have to thank my team, my family, Griffin (his son) this is for you. I told him I would bring some trophies home for him, so this one is for him. I finally did it and its an unbelievable moment for us. I got a super good jump and maybe shut off the throttle and nearly got swallowed up. I went around that first corner and thought, this is what I need.”

Now, some 12 months later, there is still no pressure on the German, as everyone is looking at the big three, Jett Lawrence, Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton, despite the fact, Roczen is the man with the red plate.
We often see in sport, when legends stand up one more time, and be it Eli Tomac winning in a close battle with Jett Lawrence in San Diego, or maybe some other moments in all-time greats careers, but we all wonder, can “kickstart Kenny” take his privateer Suzuki to another win and put another main event on his already impressive career.

At the moment, he has 22 main event wins and is 11th in the all-time list, with Cooper Webb 10th with 25 wins. Now, its hard to see Roczen win another four or five mains in his career and move into the top ten all-time, but anything is possible with this legendary athlete.

Of course, last weekend at A2, Roczen finished second to defending AMA supercross champion, Jett Lawrence and it was a night he won’t forget in a hurry. It was at the same stadium that more or less ended his chances of ever winning another major title in America, but the veteran wasn’t about to think too much about his horrible injuries of 2017.

“Honestly, Anaheim 2 is a little bit of a funky one for me," Roczen said." I just feel, I try not to be, I just feel a little more anxious of what happened in 2017. It’s just kind of lingering a little bit so in practice and stuff I’m just a little careful. “The whole main event was really rad and I felt like I was in a four man battle the whole way. I had pressure from behind, and obviously the guys up front. I am just beyond stoked to be on the podium honestly, it’s been a dream. I was reminiscing about the red plate last week, how if I could have made the pass for third, I could have shared it with Eli which would have been really rad. Besides having the red plate frequently in 2022, I haven’t had a taste of it in a really long time, especially not on yellow so it’s just a dream come true.”

So, while we all look at the big three, lets also spare some time for the two-time MX2 World champion, two-time AMA 450 motocross champion and former World supercross champion. His dreams of winning the AMA supercross championship seem over, just too many guys better than him now, but a main event win or two sure would make for a great storyline, as he enters the final seasons in what has been a sensational racing career.

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