HRC rider Ken Roczen was on fire last weekend, winning the second round of the 450 AMA Nationals and continues surprise everyone after he told the World he was going struggle in the early rounds. The media chatted with him and here are the questions and answers.

MXlarge: Are you surprised by your results so far?

Roczen: Yes, a little bit to be honest. I wasn’t full of confidence, and I definitely had some work to do. Luckily muscle memory starts to kick in and I am starting to feel better. We did some work on the bike and I wasn’t really happy when I left the track during the week. We had to go racing and it proved it was better and I knew what the bike was doing. Also, I like Thunder Valley in general and I like the clay and the ruts suits me very well and I dealt with the bike really well. I enjoyed both motos and for sure the first one, obviously me and Adam and Dylan battling was super fun and not just because I won, but just us three battling and being there and passing each other. It was a lot of fun. Obviously there has been some debate about not ripping it so deep, but I didn’t mind it and it allowed us to move around the track and use some other lines.

MXlarge: Can you give us some details about setting up the bike?

Roczen: The most difficult part is finding a good base, and everyone is different, for instance Chase likes his bike set up a lot different to me. I just felt we were not there, the base we had coming off supercross wasn’t good enough. I still know how to ride a dirt bike, but I just needed some time on the bike, time riding moto and get used to some stuff. I am pretty pumped with what we have come up with and I can see there is a good balance, but I still have to do motos. You have to get testing in, but the time runs away as well. What I raced with in Pala, it gave me a good idea what the bike was doing and what I needed. After Pala we had a couple of days under our belt with some motos and some testing on Thursday and again it wasn’t easy. I rode well in Pala, but I knew we needed to do some things to get the bike working better and there are a thousand ways to skin a cat right? So just because you are trying different things it doesn’t mean it will work. We came to Thunder Valley and made a tiny little clicker adjustment after times training, and we just ran with it. Now I have done a couple of motos I feel solid about it. It would be nice to try these settings on a different type of dirt and we are always trying to get the bike better. We will never get it 100% in everything, but if it has a lot of positive, we need to deal with the negative.

MXLarge: Did the moto win feel better than the second one and talk about the battle?

Roczen: The first one felt better, but it is so hard to say. After the first moto was done, I said it felt so rad, just getting passed and coming back. After I made some passes, and I am leading the guys behind can watch the lines and Adam is know for putting the heat down at the beginning. Once he got by me, I did the same thing, I just looked where he was riding and followed him around and then Dylan passed me as well and I did the same. I tried some lines that were better than what I was doing and just got into a flow and late in the race I charged it down and I had my areas where I was better than him. Once I got past Adam I just wanted to stay there and pressure him and I felt I could dive in there and that is what I did.

MXLarge: What is it like in the team truck, having the Aussies there and Chase, is it a different vibe?

Roczen: Honestly, with so many riders there, and the hospitality being so far away and with it being so hot, I was just in my motorhome a lot and I felt bad about that, because I like hanging around with the team, so I don’t get to talk with those guys much. I just did my own thing and only came out when I had to. We have a long relationship (with the Lawrence brothers), because when they were in Europe, they stayed at my Dad’s place, and he took care of them. My Dad got a motorhome for them, and it is a longer relationship, and it is all good. I get on with them well and I also get on with Chase and we hang out a lot away from the races.

MXlarge: You wanted everyone to know you didn’t feel good coming into the Outdoors, but that wasn’t mind games, you weren’t playing possum?

Roczen: When I read that, I can see how people think that from the outside, and I promise I wasn’t playing possum, just to clear the air.