Supercross

Ken Roczen Breaks Through For First Win in Three Years at St Louis

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Sunday, January 12th, 2020

6:58 PM

Ken Roczen Breaks Through For First Win in Three Years at St Louis

Ken Roczen celebrates his first Supercross main event win since 2017 in St Louis tonight

HRC Honda racer Ken Roczen has broken through for his first win in three years with victory at the second round of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Championship held at St Louis.

Roczen set the tone for his night early in the piece, rounding the first turn in second place just behind Motoconcept Honda‰Ûªs Vince Friese, before quickly working his way into the lead and racing away to an impressive five-second win ahead of Monster Energy Kawasaki‰Ûªs Eli Tomac, with Motoconcept Honda‰Ûªs Malcolm Stewart in third.

2019 450 Champion Red Bull KTM‰Ûªs Cooper Webb who continues to suffer from a cold crossed the line in 4th, while Australia‰Ûªs Chad Reed was sent to the LCQ after finishing in 10th position aboard his Mountain Motorsports Honda.

Rockstar Husqvarna‰Ûªs Zach Osborne lead the field through the first turn in the second heat; however, it was Rocky Mountain KTM‰Ûªs Justin Bogle who quickly captured the lead and led the opening two laps.

Bogle showed he had the pace to lead the field, but a crash left him near the rear of the field and in the process handed the lead spot back to Osborne.

Rookie 450 sensation Adam Cianciarulo then took his turn at the front of the field, making a move around Osborne before taking his maiden 450 heat win.

Osborne held on for second position, with round one winner, Monster Energy Yamaha‰Ûªs Justin Barcia worked his way through the field to finish 3rd, just ahead of Team Tedder KTM‰Ûªs Martin Davalos who impressed in 4th.

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team‰Ûªs Justin Barcia overcame obstacles to take a runner-up finish in St. Louis, Missouri, to advance his lead in the 450SX standings.

Bogle was able to work his way back into a top-nine position to qualify for the main event, while HRC Honda‰Ûªs Justin Brayton was off to the LCQ after a bike failure during the heat.

Reed earned the holeshot in the 450 LCQ and led the early laps until Brayton made his way by and raced on to victory.

HEP Motorsports Suzuki racer Kyle Cunningham also worked his way by Reed to finish second, with Reed qualifying for his 251st main event in third spot just ahead of Alex Ray in 4th.

When the gates dropped on the 450 main event, it was Osborne who led the field through the first turn, just ahead of Rockstar Husqvarna team-mate Jason Anderson and Yamaha‰Ûªs Barcia.

After an intense battle in the Main Event Jason Anderson came away with third-place. Photo: Simon Cudby

Roczen had other ideas and quickly jumped his way into second position and within a couple of laps worked his way past Osborne for the lead, while Barcia also quickly moved his way forward into second position.

While Roczen and Barcia cleared out from the field, the battle from third through to outside the top ten was a close one, with rider racing line astern with positions frequently changing.

Cianciarulo and Osborne got into a heated battle for third that resulted in both riders falling behind Anderson, with Cianciarulo also dropping another spot further back behind Brayton in 5th.

Out front Roczen was gone, slowly edging away from Barcia and cruising to victory by over seven seconds, with Barcia maintaining his three-second gap back to Anderson to the line.

Ken Roczen moved to second in the point standings with his win in St Louis

The win for Roczen was an emotional one for not just the rider, but the entire team after spending the past two years rebounding from two major arm injuries that nearly ended his career.

‰ÛÏThis is unbelievable,‰Û

Austin Forkner won his first main event for 2020 with a wire to wire win

In the opening 250 heat, it was Rockstar Husqvarna‰Ûªs Michael Mosiman who lead the field early; however, Geiko Honda‰Ûªs Christian Craig quickly moved to the front and rode away to take a comfortable win.

Mosiman held on to finish second, while round one main event winner, Justin Cooper aboard his Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha recovered from a bad start to finish third after a late-race pass on Australia‰Ûªs Luke Clout, who fired his Penrite Honda directly into the main event from his heat.

For fellow Aussie Aaron Tanti, he was forced to the LCQ after finishing one spot out of a direct qualifying position in 10th.

250 Heat two was near identical to the opening heat, with Penrite Honda‰Ûªs Mitchell Oldenburg grabbing the holeshot, just ahead of Monster Energy Kawasaki‰Ûªs Austin Forkner.

Forkner quickly moved into the lead and ran away to the heat win ahead of Oldenburg. At the same time, behind them it was another Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rider who had to work his way through the field, as Dylan Ferrandis recovered from a first turn tangle up, to finish 4th, just behind JGR Suzuki‰Ûªs Alex Martin.

Australia‰Ûªs Hunter Lawrence recovered from an early race crash to work his way back to claim the final direct qualifying position to the night's main event in 9th spot.

Troy Lee Design‰Ûªs Derek Drake made up for his mistake in the first turn of the opening heat, leading the LCQ from start to finish, winning by just over 10 seconds ahead of Australia‰Ûªs Yamaha pilot Aaron Tanti who qualified for his first AMA main event.

Mitchell Falk and Ludovic Macier finished in 3rd and 4th to fill out the 22 field for the 15 minute plus one lap final.

After qualifying 9th out of his, Lawrence lined up on the far outside of the gate for the 250 West main event, sweeping around the outside of the field the 16-year-old Australia grabbed his maiden holeshot, but was quickly relegated to second position behind Forkner.

Behind the leaders' things once again did not look good for the Star Racing team, with Cooper buried deep in the field, while things faired even worse for Ferrandis who got tangled up in a crash, leaving him to travel through the mechanics' area before re-entering the race a full lap down.

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing‰Ûªs Justin Cooper crossed the line second for another podium finish to help grow his lead in the 250SX West Championship.

Forkner with a clear track in front of him looked as though he would race away from the field. Still, Lawrence had other idea‰Ûªs keeping within one second of Forkner for the opening half of the race, while behind him, Craig worked his way into third ahead of Troy Lee Designs Brandon Hartranft while Cooper worked his way into contention.

Things then turned somewhat sour for the Geiko Honda team when firstly Craig crashed out of the race. Just moments later with Cooper closing in, Lawrence jumped to the side of the track, catching a tough block, resulting in a bent rear brake pedal, that required a quick trip through the mechanics' area and putting him back to 5th position.

It was an exciting night for Brandon Hartranft as the 250SX West rider earned his first-career podium finish. Photo: Simon Cudby

With the pressure gone from behind, Forkner raced on to win, easing up on the final laps to cross the line just over one second ahead of Cooper who maintains the championship lead. At the same time, Hartranft impressed in third to capture his first podium result.

‰ÛÏI started to ride a little tight about halfway, and started to think about it a little bit whenever I heard the crowd cheer, I knew I was in first, and I had a shot at winning this thing,‰Û