The Monster Energy AMA Supercross season started its eastern sweep with Round five in Tampa, Florida. A tight track with a troublesome sand lane created dramatic racing for the enthusiastic race fans inside Raymond James Stadium. Words: Suzuki
Ken Roczen (94) emerged from the first turn of the main with a fifth-place start. Roczen took over third place in the first two minutes of racing, then moved his Suzuki RM-Z450 cleanly into second place just five minutes into the race. At the race’s midpoint, battling for a podium position, Roczen was threading the needle between aggression and caution to work his way through the lapped riders. Just as broadcaster and former champion with Suzuki, Ricky Carmichael, announced, “Oh, man, these lappers are bad [congested],” Roczen came together with one in the sand section; the dramatic collision put Roczen on the ground and derailed his bike’s chain. Although Roczen was quick to re-mount, he was unable to continue the race. Even with the Tampa setback, Roczen sits just one point out of a top three spot in the point standings.
Roczen
“It was an unfortunate situation that happened in the main event in Tampa,” said Roczen. “It’s a long season though, so we are going to put this behind us and focus on the next race in Detroit.”
Brooks
“It would have been a great night,” reported Larry Brooks, Team Manager for the Twisted Tea/H.E.P. Motorsports/Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance Team. “We kind of struggled during the day, even struggled in the heat races, then we kind of got it together in the main event. But a lapped rider jumped on top of Ken Roczen and bent the rear sprocket. The AMA does not do anything to penalise the riders that are being lapped; they only give them a blue flag and let them kind of dictate what they want to do. And it hasn’t worked. It’s been this way for years and years and now we just got 18 points taken away from us because of a lapped rider and a DNF. It’s super disappointing. Ken Roczen was riding really good, and for him to have a rider jump on him – it’s just really disappointing. It is the sanctioning body’s job to take care of the lapped riders and all the officiating, and it just seems like we have not been taken care of. They are here to keep the riders safe, and I don’t think that happened tonight. It put our rider in danger, that’s for sure. But we’ll come back next week stronger and better. We still have a lot of racing left.”
The Supercross season now moves west for the Detroit Supercross at Ford Field on Saturday, February 15th. The event will be a daytime race, and the Suzuki racers and team members are ready and eager for whatever challenges lie ahead.
Image: Suzuki
