Coming into Anaheim 2 it was pretty cut and dry as to who was rolling in with the momentum and confidence but momentum and confidence exist in the ether.
Coming into Anaheim 2 it was pretty cut and dry as to who was rolling in with the momentum and confidence but momentum and confidence exist in the ether.
Photo By: James Lissimore
It’s not often we see a guy look as indomitable as Ken Roczen has for the last roughly 8 months. He started off rough in Supercross in 2016 but toward the closing rounds he had really connected the dots and not only gave ultimate back to back series Champ, Ryan Dungey a real battle, he came out on top. And did so decisively.
As Supercross came to a close, Ken looked even more incredible in the Motocross series where he secured the title and really never looked to be in doubt, even before Ryan Dungey exited the series with an awkward crash in Lakewood which left him with a broken neck. The MX series came to a close and it was transition time for Ken Roczen which saw him miss the Motocross Des Nations to focus his time on familiarizing himself with his new team and the personnel which make up the nucleus of that team. Factory Honda hasn’t seen a big bike championship since Ricky Carmichael brought them to HRC in 2004. That is absolutely incredible considering the Red Riders pedigree and track record in the sport. When the Honda crew signed Ken Roczen merely months into the 2016 Supercross season it was with one goal in mind, utter domination. They already had an utterly solid Cole Seely on the roster but with the still very young German and the potential he has shown in recent years, it was clear that Ken was going to be the number one guy that the team was expecting to end that drought of title-less years.
At the Monster Energy Cup, Ken looked like he had been comfortable on the Honda for far longer than realistically possible. He had that one miscue that left him with a DNF on the scorecard and out of contention for the overall winner at the MEC but no one who watched that raced had any doubt who the alpha-dog was coming out of the event. Ken wanted everyone to know he was confident and willing to carry the pressure of being the assumed number-one guy into and all the way through the Supercross series.
He took it a step further when he wore a suite, not the typical team garb, to the Anaheim 1 series kickoff press conference. He had everyone talking about him and that’s just what he wanted. It was showmanship and gamesmanship but don’t you dare doubt whether he believed what he was posturing himself as. He did. He signed up for it and and when asked about it in interviews, he didn’t mince words. This was his goal. Ryan Dungey had opted to be the respectfully reserved face of the sport and Ken Roczen was full of piss and vinegar and while he too kept it respectful, he wasn’t interested in any kind of indirectness when it came time to discuss him, his competition, his goals or his belief in his capabilities.
The confidence builds and with every smooth lap clicked off, that feeling of indomitability grows and instinct and reaction takes over what once would be contemplated and decided. It’s like walking. You learn it until it becomes the means to an end. You don’t need to focus on the mechanics of it anymore because it becomes second nature. Ken’s navigating of the track had become so fluid he was looking through obstacles instead of at them and sizing them up. It’s a simple progression from a prowess which affords itself to someone at that insanely high level. It’s incredible to watch, until the pendulum swings.
We saw a bit of this with Eli Tomac in the Nationals in 2015 until his massive crash in Colorado (the same section that ended James Stewarts series in 2014) which left him recovering from double shoulder surgery. He too had that fluid look which appeared impenetrable, yes- until it clearly wasn’t.
With all of the rain SoCal had seen in the days leading up to Anaheim 2, it was incredible how good the dirt remained on the track surface. Dirt Wurx has certainly learned over the years how to deal with these conditions and the effectiveness of their efforts is shocking. You could see though in the bases of many of the transitions of the track obstacles, that the moisture had seeped and saturated it’s way into the lower portions of the track surface. The lowest portions of the obstacles were softer than the higher areas and this manifested itself in rutting and cupping in the lower portions. That of course creates a kicker as wheel-spin digs into the lower portions and then as the wheel climbs up the obstacle into the drier soil where the integrity of the take off isn’t compromised by moisture and a ledge, or kicker, is formed and can have disastrous effects. It’s completely apparent in the video replays you’ve seen everywhere. Ken is navigating the track in the fluid fashion he has become accustomed to and learned to trust over the last few months. Racing forward, looking through obstacles planning ahead, instinctively responding, his reason and logic focused on race craft, not the minutia of technique. When he drops into the face of that triple rhythm he is already mentally so far beyond the obstacle that by the time he realizes that the rear end bucked, his only option is to literally eject. It had disastrous effects but that is the price you pay at that level of prowess in the sport. In order to reach that speed and capability, you have to race more out of instinct and reaction than preparation and thought. You have to trust the bike incredibly and leave a fraction of error-cushion with relation to the track and it’s constantly changing personality, just hoping that fortune is leaning in your favor and not changing drastically from one lap to the next.
It’s such a gnarly formula; racing. And it’s solely unique to Supercross and Motocross with regard to speeds, changing track conditions, fatigue, error and so many other factors. When we see someone like Ken Roczen with seemingly all the momentum in the world, looking like water flowing downhill, just so perfect, it really hits us hard. Even more-so his competition. You could see it on Dungey’s face in his on-track interview after the checkers and in his comments at the post-race press conference. Roczen’s crash rattled some guys. They all knew just as well, even better than all of us fans, that Ken was in that zone that we rarely see from guys in Supercross. There are so many intersections of error, correction, disaster and flawless execution that to see someone executing nearly flawlessly on the tip of the spear falter so dramatically in an instant, it’s a shock to the system and a reminder that what these guys all commit to lap after lap is just astounding.
Heal up, Ken.
