HRC Honda’s Ken Roczen scored an impressive fourth-place finish after being sidelined for nearly a year at Saturday’s Anaheim Supercross opener.
When the gate dropped for the main event, the German was slow off the line, leaving him outside the top 15 around the first turn. By the completion of the opening lap, Roczen had made his way into 12th. He continued his charge through the field, moving into sixth halfway through the 24-lap main event. Despite a mistake around the middle of the race, Roczen took the checkered flag in fourth.
“Earlier, I said if I win, get third, or fifth, it doesn’t matter and I’ll be happy, but when I came off the track, it did matter to me. I really wanted to win,” said Roczen. ” I was bummed because halfway through, I had the speed and was catching those guys, but I made a mistake where I scrubbed and dragged my boot on the ground and almost crashed. I was riding a little tight and tried to shake it off, but towards the end I tried to just keep it smart. I didn’t want to do anything stupid because there’s a lot of racing left. The more I think about it, fourth place isn’t too bad. We could’ve had a way worse night, and I really think without that mistake I would’ve been on the podium. There were some nerves on the line just due to lack of experience starting with 20 riders. I kind of messed up both times and just dumped the clutch, so I was pretty far back in the main event, which was a little sketchy. I think if I had gotten a better start, my night would’ve been even better. I’m happy to be here and excited to keep racing.”
For his return to racing, Roczen requested that Fox make him a butt patch that read “Bleed for This.” When asked, Roczen explained that it was inspired by the movie of the same name, about fighter Vinny Pazienza, who broke his neck. “Everyone said he could never fight again, but he pulled it off and basically came back to be the best,” Roczen said. “I just felt like it fit perfectly for my situation because so many people doubted me. I actually met the real guy who the movie is based on at a NASCAR race prior to the 2017 season, which is pretty cool.”
Roczen ended up channeling his inner Ronnie Mac, as he finished the race with no helmet visor. The visor on his Fox lid is held on by magnets and is designed to pop off after an impact for safety.
During daytime qualifying, Roczen impressed everyone in the second session, laying down a 52.409” lap to score the fastest time of the day, while teammate Seely was sixth-quickest with a 53.182”. MotoConcept Honda’s Justin Brayton secured seventh and GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin landed 10th.
