SUZUKI’S KEN ROCZEN SCORES MONSTER ENERGY CUP VICTORY
October 19, 2015
LAS VEGAS – It was a great night in Las Vegas for RCH Suzuki’s Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen. Roczen scored the first Monster Energy Cup Championship of his career and the $100,000 prize Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Suzuki highlights for this weekend’s racing at the Monster Energy Cup included:
- RCH Suzuki’s Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen taking his first victory in the Monster Energy Cup.
- Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Blake Baggett scoring a top-10 finish, taking eight in spite of getting caught up in a crash in the third and final leg of the Monster Energy Cup.
- RCH Suzuki’s Factory Racing’s Broc Tickle turning in a surprisingly strong qualifying session, qualifying second for the main event, showing his true potential.
Big Night for Roczen
Ken Roczen has won a lot of races in his career, but none more lucrative than his victory in the 2015 Monster Energy Cup. Roczen went 1-4-1 in the unique, three-race main event to nail down the overall victory on his RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John's/Factory Suzuki RM-Z450.
After qualifying fourth, Roczen came out flying in the first of the three quick seven-lap finals. Roczen took over the lead on the first lap when early leader Trey Canard went down. Late in the race Roczen went through the “Joker Lane”, a slower section of the track that every rider must take at least once after the first lap, and Jason Anderson moved into the lead. Anderson mistakenly never took the required Joker Lane and crossed the finish line in first place, resulting in a penalty to Anderson that gave Roczen the moto win.
Roczen said he was pretty sure he’d won the first leg even though he saw Anderson in front of him.
“I was thinking, ‘Dude, there’s no way he beat me by that much,’” Roczen laughed. “I was riding alright, I could have been a little faster, but I didn’t know where he came from so I was pretty sure I was first, but I looked up on the (scoreboard) and saw Jason was first, but then they said he missed the Joker Lane.”
After finishing fourth in the second leg, Roczen came back strong once again in the third and final leg of the Monster Cup. On the opening lap, Roczen moved into the lead and then held on the rest of the way to earn his second Main Event win of the night and his first-ever Monster Energy Cup Championship.
“Let’s go, I’m ready for a fourth moto,” said an excited Roczen with a grin after winning leg three, the overall victory and the $100,000 first-place prize. “The last moto was my best from my side. I got a good start and just got out front. Especially on that track it was really important to get a good start. I’ve been in Germany so we tried to squeeze all the testing for this race into about a week-and-a-half, but it worked out.”
RCH Suzuki’s co-founder Carey Hart was pleased with Roczen’s victory.
“It was a great night,” Hart said. “We won the opening race of the season and the closing race of the season. We have a lot to work on for next year, but we made some big gains this year and ended things on a high note.”
Tickle Qualifies Second
Broc Tickle showed his potential in qualifying when he turned in a blazingly fast lap of 1:07.932 on his RCH Suzuki RM-Z450 to qualify second for the main event.
“I’m stoked with the improvements we made on the bike,” said Tickle, who ultimately finished 12th after a crash in the last leg. “I’m going to try to bring that speed I had tonight to Anaheim I and I think I’ll be there.”
Eight-Place for Yoshimura Suzuki’s Baggett, Stewart Sidelined
The 2015 Monster Energy Cup at Sam Boyd Stadium turned out to be a challenging outing for Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart and Blake Baggett. Stewart injured his wrist in practice, suffered a crash in the first main, and then decided to sit out the other two mains of the night. Baggett meanwhile finished eighth overall with a score of (4-9-18) in the three legs on his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450.
Stewart was injured during practice, and just one week removed from his victory in the Red Bull Straight Rhythm, had to decide whether or not to even attempt to race in the finals of the Monster Energy Cup.
“The day didn’t go how I planned” Stewart explained. “In practice I over-jumped this tabletop and jammed my wrist. It was super sore, but I just kind of rode through it. Then in the first lap of the main event I almost got landed on, the track was so muddy guys were going everywhere. I think it was Trey (Canard) who fell and when I went in there I saw him and hit the brakes and went down myself.”
After discussing it with his team, Stewart decided to sit out the rest of the night to keep from further injuring his wrist, but he came away ready for more in 2016.
“It was nice getting back out here racing,” Stewart concluded. “Between last week and this week it was a complete opposite, but it makes me hungry.”
Baggett had a strong showing in the first leg of the Monster Energy Cup, taking fourth. Then after a ninth in leg two, he was en route for a possible top five result when he got caught out by a crash by fellow Suzuki rider Broc Tickle in the third leg.
“I finished up Monster Cup and that third moto was a little rough,” Baggett said. “I was running decent and then in the last section of the sand I jumped in and Tickle went down right in front of me. I had nowhere to go. I went over the top of his bike and just endoed it out from there. I got stuck under my bike so my night was over.”
Prior to the crash, Baggett had a decent night going and in spite of not finishing the final of the three legs, Baggett still finished well enough in the first two legs to score eighth overall.
Suzuki’s MX teams now enter the off-season testing season in preparation for the opening round of the 2016 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series in Anaheim, California on January 9, 2016.
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