Coming into Anaheim 1 in the 2023 AMA Supercross season happy, fresh and cutting a revitalised figure, Ken Roczen was eager to get off to a fine start on his highly anticipated Suzuki return. Words: Ed Stratmann
And while he didn’t hit the highest of highs, which was somewhat to be expected, the German still put in an admirable shift at the season opener to secure fifth in the main event.
Starting off his day encouragingly by bagging the fifth fastest time in qualifying before riding to an impressive second in his heat race behind Chase Sexton, there was a lot to like about his early output.
With all eyes on him and his Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki, Roczen jumped out to a handy start to find himself in fourth and battling it out with the frontrunners in the early exchanges. Holding his own on the absolutely brutal track against the finest exponents of the discipline, he looked well and truly up for the fight.
Quickly moving by Colt Nichols into third by the second turn, next in his sights were Eli Tomac and Justin Barcia. Roczen then rapidly shot by the defending champion Tomac to send the crowd into raptures. The Yamaha superstar them immediately got Roczen back, as the #94 tried to find his groove and settle into the race.
Although he wasn’t riding with his typical swagger and style in the treacherous conditions, as his timing was a touch off and he didn’t look entirely confident, he notably kept in touch with the leaders.
Progressing into second when Barcia went down, it was impressive how he pushed forward and kept Tomac in his vision while holding off the hard-charging Malcolm Stewart.
The #27 would eventually get by him, but Roczen stuck to the task at hand and clicked off the laps, with him riding in a calculated, measured style, knowing there was no need to override given the gnarly conditions.
With so many of his competitors falling around him, the experienced pilot deserved credit for smartly navigating the race to remain in podium contention.
Despite relinquishing his podium position late on, there was no panic from Roczen, who instead rode out the race intelligently and calmly to claim a credible fifth.
By the numbers, the fact he clocked the second fastest lap time in the main behind only Tomac, was second quickest in sector two and fourth best in sector one underlined his speed. Moreover, upon analysing his lap times throughout, it was interesting to see how wisely he managed the race, with his times steadily getting slower as the savage track deteriorated further.
Kicking off his 2023 AMA Supercross campaign in solid fashion on a new bike and with a new team, much positivity could be extracted from his polished yet unspectacular body of work in the circumstances. “Our weekend in Anaheim was a fun one, but a gnarly one,” said Roczen.
“Quite possibly one of the gnarliest I’ve ridden. I’m stoked to get away with a top five at the opener. We’ve put in a lot of work and have some work ahead of us. It’s a solid start to the season. We didn’t blow anything out of the water, we didn’t do the absolute greatest either, and we have something to build on that I’m super stoked about.”
“I can’t even explain how happy I am to come out of there in one piece. I’m sure everyone was in the same boat, but feeling like a fish out of water is probably an understatement. I hope no one watched my first couple of laps in the main as I bounced my head off the bar pad what felt like about 15 times.
“Either way, I’m totally okay to get away with a fifth place for the first round. I pretty much doubled my way around the entire track and I was fine with it. We are working hard to keep building and we are taking it one race at a time. Seeing a full stadium for the first round was radical too.”
Taking a step in the right direction and just glad to get through unscathed and with a decent result, Roczen and his team would go on to enjoy a strong season, which was highlighted by his amazing win in Indianapolis, on his way to claiming fourth in the final standings that term.
Still on the team and fully motivated to keep flexing his muscles at the highest level, watching how he fares in the 2025 crusade will be captivating.
Image: Suzuki
