The Unadilla Motocross National kicked off the three-race home stretch of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross season. Heavy rains before the event had riders, teams and race fans anticipating a mud race, but strategic track preparation allowed the Unadilla MX National to present excellent track conditions at the historic, natural-terrain motocross track. Words: Suzuki
Ken Roczen (94) was quickly back up to race pace with top-five results in each of his qualifying sessions to earn a top-five overall gate pick. When the pack rounded the first corner in the first 450 moto, Roczen was in 15th place. He used his legendary first-lap intensity to put his Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki RM-Z450 into seventh place before the first lap was in the books. Roczen held a strong pace to earn a top-ten result. Roczen’s second moto start put him in fifth place at the holeshot stripe. Roczen was brilliant on the high-speed, rutted track and quickly put his Suzuki into second place. He battled with the lead pack and delivered another top-ten moto result to card a top-ten overall.
Roczen’s bold and unconventional personality will make his next move a unique one: he’s planning to compete in the 250 class at Ironman Raceway in two weeks. After that, the German racer is poised to enter into the SuperMotocross World Championship playoffs in a top-15 seeded position even after sitting out nearly the entire Motocross season due to an injury sustained in the Supercross season.
“The first weekend back in Unadilla was definitely exciting for us,” said Roczen. “This was the first pro motocross we have attended this year for me personally, so it was really hard. We had a lot of rain on Friday, and we thought it was going to be a mudder, but since the track crew sealed the track, it actually ended up being fairly hard pack and pretty beat up. On the first race I had a terrible start and worked my way up and finished seventh. I was unhappy with it, so we made some small adjustments to my Suzuki for the second moto. It ended up being better, and I had a much better start in Moto 2, working my way into second until about halfway. I had a train of three riders behind me that were clearly faster; I tried to latch on and stay there as long as I could, but obviously after three months off the bike it’s hard to expect to ride up front right away. But I feel we made strides throughout the day and improved from the first to the second moto. Of course, we always wish we could have done better, but at the same time, it’s somewhere to start. I want to improve the setup a little bit and I’m excited to come back for Ironman on the 250.”
Image: HEP Suzuki
