Is Ken Roczen Underrated?

Is he?

I’m starting to think we all slept on Ken Roczen this off-season. Before Anaheim 1, we ranked our 450 title contenders and for the first time since he moved to the 450 Class, I didn’t have Kenny in my top five. Why? I honestly don’t know.

I think we forgot how good he was just a year ago. Prior to his injury in Nashville, Roczen was fifth in points, and had a win and four podiums already on the season. Yes, he was 39 points behind Jett and Webb, and may not have won the title, but he was damn good.

Maybe it’s because we think he’s on inferior equipment?

While Suzuki hasn’t had much updates in a long time and still has a kickstarter, Kenny doesn’t seem to mind. According to Steve Matthes on Racer X, Kenny got a factory transmission in his RM-Z for the first time since he got back on the brand, which can’t hurt, right?

Whatever it is, Ken looked like the old Ken in Anaheim. He shot to the front, gave Sexton a chase and settled in for a strong second. He, at least on Saturday, looked like a title contender.

Anaheim success isn’t new to Kenny. He’s won there four times in his career. On the podium, he made sure to point out that, while great, those wins didn’t lead to titles.

“I’ve won Anaheim 1 quite a bit and it kind of leads nowhere,” he said. “I was just stoked being on the podium because the last couple weeks I haven’t ridden much. It’s been a bit rough because my whole family, we all got sick as a dog.

“So, it was more so just like a kind of a relief and it was just these games that I played in my head before the main event where I said, ‘You know what, a second place would be kind of like perfect like not winning because that never has never led to a championship for me or anything, but a second would be just kind of sweet.’”

I went and did some digging into Kenny’s early season results since 2020. When Ken is firing on all cylinders to begin the year, he’s been in the title hunt till the end. When he has sporadic results through the opening five rounds, he hasn’t.

Ken Roczen Results Since 2020

2020

Rd 1: 6

Rd 2: 1

Rd 3: 2

Rd 4: 1

Rd 5: 3

Season end: 3rd

2021

Rd 1: 2

Rd 2: 5

Rd 3: 2

Rd 4: 1

Rd 5: 1

Season end: 2nd

2022

Rd 1: 1

Rd 2: 13

Rd 3: 5

Rd 4: 11

Rd 5: 8

Season end: 12th

2023

Rd 1: 5

Rd 2: 4

Rd 3: 3

Rd 4: 8

Rd 5: 4

Season end: 4th

2024

Rd 1: 10

Rd 2: 3

Rd 3: 12

Rd 4: 7

Rd 5: 3

Season end: 7th

Will Kenny stay in this title fight until the end? No clue. Be we at least need to acknowledge we probably slept on him a bit this off-season.

Images: @octopi.media