Racing

Ken Roczen's Day At Budds Creek Motocross | MX 2016

Ken Roczen went 1-1 for 1 overall at round 11

August 26, 2016

Ken Roczen came into Budds Creek with a 63 point lead over Eli Tomac and a chance to clinch his 2nd 450 title in his young career. Ken Roczen in a dominating manner went 1-1 for 1st overall at Budds Creek and was crowned the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Series 450 Champion. We will take you through Roczen’s day from the first lap on the track to the late afternoon press conference.

Ken Roczen has held the red plate since the 2nd round at Glen Helen and has not relinquished it all season as he has won 16 motos out of 20 coming into Budds Creek. This week Ken added a sticker to his front plate to support his friend Jessy Nelson who fell in the second 250 moto at Unadilla and is dealing with a spinal cord injury. Ken’s bike was all prepped and ready to go out on the track for the first practice.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken went out in the first timed session and turned a 2:01.674 on lap 2 for his fastest time. This was 1.859 seconds faster than the 2nd fastest rider, Eli Tomac, recorded in the session. Here Ken takes the outside line on the off camber U turn at Budds.Photo by Rob Koy

In between the two practice sessions Ken signed autographs and talked to the fans. Ken also signed more autographs for the fans after the races as he and the team celebrated their 450 championship late into the night. Ken said that he treated the day as a normal race and wanted to go 1-1 at Budds like the many other races he had scored a 1-1 at before.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken was scrubbing the finish line jump all day to shave time. This is one of the things that separates Ken from the competition as he is able to keep his bike lower than the other riders and get it back on the ground and ‘scrub’ time off his laps. Ken turned a 2:01.297 for the fastest time again in the session. Ken was 1.664 seconds faster than 2nd place Eli Tomac.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken preps his gate before the first moto. Ken has been using this fan for the last few rounds to keep his core temperature down at the hot races that we had at Unadilla and Budds Creek.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken got the holeshot in moto 1 and started to gap the field right away. Ken would lead every lap in both mottos and finished 16.017 second in front of second place Marvin Musquin in moto one.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken is not only fast but shows a ton of style as he goes over the tunnel jump at Budds Creek. Ken said that if he has a bike that he likes he can go fast on any track.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken got into the lead in moto 2 right before the finish line as he passes his friend Andrew Short, who will be retiring after the Ironman race next week. Ken took off and dominated the second moto and clinched his second 450 outdoor championship. Here Ken drops in off Henry Hill in the middle of the moto. Some guys were scrubbing Henry Hill but Ken would scrub it a little bit and launch off the top and land a little further down the hill. It seemed that he was keeping his momentum up by doing it this way.Photo by Rob Koy

The RCH team gave Ken a champagne shower after the podium at Budds Creek. Ken said that last year he and the team had its issues, but halfway through the Supercross series the team and Ken started to gel with each other and the bike was getting better at the end of the SX season. The team came into the motocross series with a very good bike and as long as the bike is good Ken said he could win on it. Ken could have had a meltdown at Glen Helen when the team let him down with the fork issue, but Ken stuck behind the team and the they continued to have a dominating season together to claim the 450 title.Photo by Rob Koy

Team RCH and Ken Roczen are the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450 National Champions.Photo by Rob Koy

The RCH team celebrating the championship well into the night in the pits at Budds Creek.Photo by Rob Koy

Ken came to the press conference very loose and carefree celebrating with a Coors Light in Hand. Ken said that he was going to have a few Coors that night and celebrate with his team, and by Monday things would be back to normal with his training. Ken said his program allows him to have a few beers after the race on Saturdays and it won't affect his training. Unlike other guys who are on a strict diet, Ken said his program allows him to eat a lot and he believes that this works better for him than the strict diet plans he was on with his previous trainer. Ken went on and said that he has the best training program that he has ever had and they have tweaked it along the way and it’s working great for him. Ken said he was very relaxed coming into this week’s race and was going to treat it like any race and try to dominate it with a 1-1 moto score. Ken said it is amazing to get the outdoor title this. He plans on taking some time off after next week’s race and then get back to training for next year’s SX season. Ken finished the Press Conference by picking up the microphone and dropping it on the table.Photo by Rob Koy