KEN ROCZEN | GRIT-214 | 450SX

KEN ROCZEN | GRIT-214 | SX 450

The Suzuki rider would still appear motivated as he strolled onto the straightaway for practice, reminding himself of his accomplishment in Indianapolis just a few weeks ago. He put those in the industry on notice, especially enthusiast who'd doubted him; and yearned to do much the same while racing in the dreary atmosphere of Seattle. For practice, the softened grounds formed massive ruts that were to the advantage of the German, similar to the aforementioned Indiana run he'd found success on in his recent memory. Which certainly caused his confidence to rise, with a multitude of eye-opening whips being cast over the "SX" triple before the checkered flag was thrown. And it wasn't as though conditions were getting much better for his heat race, where roost was flung from countless rear tires all around him, as he advanced to a fifth-place standing on the first lap. Doing his best to "hit his marks" while omitting foot-dabs and cross-rutting, his line through the longest rhythm section contained multiple triples, though he didn't seem to embody quite the momentum of Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson who were blazing their way around the circuit. Roczen would maintain fifth for the majority of the moto, on the cusp of the top four while steadily waiting for an opportunity to advance when it presented itself. And that's exactly what occurred as lap five began, with Roczen moving into fourth on behalf of Anderson's mistake. He would hang onto that standing for the remaining laps of the moto, established here prior to moving into the final round of racing. This led to the highest stage of them all, where he sped from the mesh grate with intensity before attempting to clip the inner most tuff-block of turn number one. His suspension would be thrashed when navigating through the largest g-outs, even in the early stages while clinging to the second-place position ahead of Eli Tomac, after Kevin Moranz would divert off track. His pace was solid, and he would reside runner-up for five laps, prior to being passed by Eli Tomac. This would take place in the vicinity of the finish-line, where upon landing from the final double, he swept beneath the Yamaha rider and would actually regain second for a few moments! However a mistake in the next rhythm lane was enough for the Yamaha rider to ultimately make his way around while Ken drifted to third. He then would move up a position (on behalf of Sexton's crash), but shortly thereafter lost the spot in the running order due to a charge from Cooper Webb. Webb's momentum in the longest rhythm lane (near the halfway point) was enough to thwart Ken's charge, putting him to third. In the laps that followed, it would be Justin Barcia who passed the German rider along with Jason Anderson and Chase Sexton as well. Finalized in sixth, Roczen's efforts were acknowledged by all in the industry and were accompanied with applause.

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