Kick Start Kenny Has Some Fight Left

Ken Roczen wasn’t standing out in practice at Anaheim one but, when the lights came on, Ken Roczen shone! He looked brilliant all night long winning his heat race and then taking second in the main event with only Chase Sexton able to outpace the talented German!

On what changed from the day time to the night show, Roczen revealed he had been ill in the lead up to A1! “I was just stoked to be on the podium, because the last couple of weeks I hadn’t ridden much, my whole family we all got sick as a dog, but before I got sick I was feeling really good so obviously that’s in me and it was just getting back to 100% so I can ask myself to go out there and give it 100% and show the fitness I have.”

“We were tinkering a tiny bit with the bike not too much with suspension, I was doing some gearing stuff it was just very hard pack and very slippery and I haven’t been in California conditions in forever, I have just been in Florida so we were just tinkering with stuff a little bit. Honestly that last qualifying session was a little bit me I made the wrong choice in the beginning where I positioned myself to get a fast lap. I made a couple of mistake when I tried to do a fast lap and then a couple of laps I got messed up by somebody else and before you know it practice was over and I was 14th.

“I wasn’t stoked about it by any means but I was just calm and it didn’t bother me too much, I knew when the gate dropped I was ready to go and it proved it again, racing I put a lot more enthusiasm into my riding and into my focus than in practice.“

In the pre-race press conference Ken reference past tense about being a title contender, after his second place at Anaheim 24 hours later we asked Ken if he now believed he could contend for the title after his performance and his answer was interesting, forthright and honest: “I don’t know, I am just a little bit more mellow, 2021 I think was the last time I was really hunting for a championship, it seems so long ago but it really isn’t that long ago. Deep down, inside me, I think I can but I have really got to put it together over the whole season and that makes me not want to worry about it too much.

“That’s also where I think the calmness came from today, I have been in these shoes a lot and lately I have been far away from a championship. I think I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t believe I could do something about it. Tonight was a good start for but I am not worried about the championship, I am going to take it weekend by weekend. I haven’t been on the podium a whole lot these last few years, never mind winning. My goals are weekend after weekend and putting it on the box, if I can do that week-in, week-out , which I know is tough, but I can. It’s kind of fun playing those mind games as well with what you are capable of and what can happen.

“Let’s see where we are at at the end of 17 rounds, I sure would love to be up there and keep it exciting, it’s exciting for me too and my wife loves the racing side of things too, I don’t know, we are just enjoying ourselves right now, wherever that may put me.“

Before Ken answered that question, Chase interjected and said: “After I saw Ken win the heat race I said ‘uh-oh, we have a monster on our hands!’ Because I talked to him after practice, he is not so comfortable but after the heat race I was like, ‘here we go!’

It shows the other riders know how good Ken can be, maybe he will believe in himself a little bit more again after such a strong ride at A1.