Troy Dog
I think most people assumed that going into the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship that Ken Roczen would win races. He got the monkey off of his back last year in Indianapolis, giving the Progressive Insurance/ECSTAR/HEP Motorsports Suzuki team their first ever win.
That win got the ball rolling. Since Indy we’ve had 18 races and Roczen has finished on the podium in 11 of those. He even won the MXGP class overall at the Motocross of Nations in France. This year he’s had three podiums and that puts him in a three way tie with Chase Sexton and Jett Lawrence for most this season in 450SX.
It’s safe to say that Roczen is in a good place both mentally and physically. He currently sits fifteen points out of first place in the standings.
“The mindset and the comfort for me personally is way different than 10 years ago, that’s for sure,” Roczen said in the Glendale press conference. “And even, just from a few years ago, I honestly feel like I’m now more ready than ever to battle for a championship than I’ve ever felt in the past. And that’s a nice feeling to have. So, I just value a lot of things that I used to stress about. Like practice. Every weekend is a bit different, and sometimes you need to force yourself to kind of like, quit being the way you are right now and just focus on the night show. So, it just really depends. Sometimes I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and then it just makes things a lot harder. I feel like today was honestly one of those days a little bit. I think I just know how to deal better with it honestly. It’s just, an experience thing, I think. I wish I would have that mentality a lot sooner than now, but I’m almost 30!”
Roczen’s win ties him once again with Cooper Webb on the all-time 450SX wins list for tenth with 22 wins a piece. He’s very much in the chase for his first 450SX Championship and hungry to get the job done.
Main Image: Octopi Media
