KEN ROCZEN PODIUMS, SUZUKI PUTS THREE IN THE TOP 10 AT DALLAS SUPERCROSS
February 17, 2015
ARLINGTON, TX – Suzuki was heard loud and clear at AT&T Stadium Saturday night in front of 54,931 fans at the Dallas Supercross, round seven of the 17-race AMA/FIM Supercross Series. Riders aboard Suzuki RM-Z450s earned three spots in the top 10, with RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/ Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen leading the way for Suzuki with a strong second-place finish. Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Blake Baggett also had a memorable evening, scoring fourth, the best result so far in his premier class rookie season.
Suzuki was also a proud part of a highly-visible attempt to make history at the Dallas Supercross. Vicki Golden, the 22-year-old three-time X Games gold medalist, attempted to become the first female rider to qualify for the evening program at an AMA Supercross event. She raced her HRT Racing/ ACM Services Suzuki RM-Z250 in qualifying and missed the cut for the evening program, but held her head high knowing that she was only 3.8 seconds off the pace needed to make the night show.
In addition to standout performances by Roczen and Baggett, RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle continued his strong comeback with a ninth, his second consecutive top-10 finish since returning from injury. Two other Suzuki riders put their RM-Z450s in the Main event, including Nicholas Schmidt (Team 3br dsc Suzuki).
AJ Catanzaro put his JMR Racing/Factory Suzuki-Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z250 in the Main for the opening round of the 250 East Supercross Series.
Roczen overcomes near crash
Characteristically Roczen had another strong outing in Arlington. He was quickest in qualifying on his RCH Suzuki. In the final, he started in fourth on the first lap, survived a big error, and recovered to rapidly make his way to the front of the pack. Roczen moved into second on lap six. By that time, his rival Ryan Dungey had opened a large lead and Roczen was unable to close the gap.
Finishing runner-up pushed Roczen from nine to 12 points back for the series lead, but he leaves the Dallas Supercross knowing he met the goal of staying in the thick of the championship hunt as the 2015 series moves into the middle stages.
"The track was really tricky," said Roczen, who earned his fifth podium finish of the season. "I got off to a decent start and made a really big mistake early where I almost crashed and that cost me big time. Other than that we were basically the same the whole time. Maybe he inched away a few places a little bit, but I’ll take second. It's a long, hard season and the championship won't come easy."
Baggett has the podium in sight
For Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, Arlington was yet another step in his development towards becoming an elite Supercross racer. Baggett nailed one of his best starts of the year and emerged third on the first lap. He slipped and lost a couple of spots on the second go around, but then on lap four, he was the fastest rider on the track and moved up to fourth after Davi Millsaps crashed. He kept pace with third-place Trey Canard for much of the race, but in the end, Baggett finished just 4.5 seconds off the podium. It marked his best result of 2015 and moved him up from ninth to seventh in the series standings.
“I got a good jump and came out of the first turn pretty good,” Baggett explained. “I made a little mistake and got passed by Roczen and Canard. I jumped on tow with Canard and tried to stay behind him. I was with him until lap 15 when I made another mistake and lost the train a little bit, but I had a steady ride to fourth and we’re making progress. We’re just a few seconds from being on the box and I’m just going to keep plugging away and try to keep my momentum going in Atlanta.”
Tickle shakes off the cobwebs
Tickle completed his second race since returning from back injury. The number 20 RM-Z450 rider felt like he was still clearing a few cobwebs from the layoff, but said scoring another top-10 wasn’t too bad. He ran 12th early on before eventually improving to ninth, making him the third Suzuki rider in the top 10.
“I’m still finishing top ten,” Tickle said of his progress to getting back to 100 percent. “That’s not too bad, but it’s not where I want to be. I still need more laps on the practice track. There are a lot of things I can get better at. I feel like I have a lot more in me, so I’m going to work on the little things I need to work on and take it race by race.”
Intense focus on Vicki Golden
The pressure had to be intense on Vicki Golden. Much of the media focus leading up to the Dallas Supercross was centered on her attempt to become the first female to qualify for an AMA Supercross. She was even featured in USA Today this week, so riding with the intense spotlight couldn’t have been easy.
Still she rode hard and found she needs to just take a few more seconds off her lap times to reach her dream of making the evening program. With her first race out of the way, Golden is looking forward to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta next week under calmer circumstances.
"The first one is always a bundle of nerves," Golden said. "A lot of press, a lot of attention. That definitely wore me out the last couple of days, but I’m glad to get through it and see where we are. Unfortunately, I did not qualify, but all week, I have been saying that if I don't qualify, I want to be as close as possible. We did that at least today. I felt good on the track today, and I just need to be loose on the track. I am going to make the most of this week and come back strong next week for Atlanta. Thanks for everyone's support."
Suzuki on track for opening round of 250 East Supercross
Suzuki was represented in the opening 250 East Supercross round when AJ Catanzaro put his JMR Racing Suzuki RM-Z250 into the final. “I only had one day on this bike before this weekend,” said Catanzaro, who finished 19th. “I guess that comes with the territory. I stuck it in the Main and tried to salvage what I could. We had a few suspension issues, but other than that the Suzuki was running great.”
A note of congratulations also goes out to Suzuki mounted Tevin Tapia, Ronnie Stewart and Alexander Nagy for qualifying into the 450 class evening program in the Dallas Supercross.
Team Suzuki races back into action again this coming Saturday (Feb. 21, 2015) at round eight of the 2015 AMA/FIM Supercross Championship, as the series moves to the Atlanta for the first of back-to-back weekend at the Georgia Dome. This week’s race will be televised live on Fox Sport 1 starting at 7:00 pm Eastern.
If you’re in the Atlanta area, come meet and get an autograph from the Factory Suzuki riders. They’ll be appearing at Mountain Motorsports, 2780 Cobb Parkway South in Marietta, Georgia, on Friday, Feb. 20th from 6:30-7:30pm.
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