GRIT 302 — 450SX — 10th — Ken Roczen

Continuing to excel, with this extensive of a resumé, was extraordinary. Yet even with countless years at the highest level, Suzuki's Ken Roczen still remained, a threat for an overall championship in the series! His ability to transition from one sector to another in practice was phenomenal. Through every facet of the raceway, the athlete from Germany was top-tier, and his outlook for the upcoming heat race couldn't have been more positive. Once onto the starting gate, he visualized his pathway to turn number one...however, what appeared to be a stalling of an engine, would have the German athlete trying to kick-start his machine just before the gate(s) fell! Though somehow, he remained composed

- and his jump from the starting line was remarkable and led to an

immediate capturing of the first-place standing! From there, Roczen simply couldn't be touched. He was flawless across all aspects of the Seattle canvas, and would charge to the finish Line jump to claim a commanding win...with an ample gap over Justin Cooper and Eli Tomac! In the finalé, he quickly worked his way into fourth - just ahead of Kawasaki's Chase Sexton. He immediately hounded the rear wheel of KM's Aaron Plessinger, who was third.

After a few moments of valiant pursuit, Roczen would accelerate past the Ohio native. Now into the bronze medal slot, he would trail KM's Eli Tomac and Yamaha's Cooper Webb...each, by a few seconds. Throughout the rest of the contest, he would make multiple attempts at nullifying the gap of the athletes who were ahead. Though with a deteriorating race-track, and heavy lap-traffic, the trek to the finish line would be anything but easy! Hunter Lawrence would then close-in, which led to a crash between he and the Australian in the sand section! Both would crash to the ground, though Roczen would lose a substantial amount of positions while trying to restart his motorcycle. Eventually, he would do so - descending to ninth. However, before the checkered flag, it was Dylan Ferrandis who worked his way past, forcing Ken to tenth as the race came to a conclusion.

Upon exiting the

racetrack, it certainly wasn't the result that Roczen wanted. However, the Suzuki competitor remained within the hunt for the overall championship - and his determination to climb much higher on the leaderboard, was evident as he departed from the stadium floor.