Ken Roczen endured a dramatic night at Round 6 of the 2026 AMA SuperMotocross World Championship in Seattle on Saturday, February 14, showing both speed and resilience on one of the toughest tracks of the season.
Roczen looked strong from the outset, carrying momentum through the day and claiming an impressive heat-race victory to secure first gate pick for the main event. When the gates dropped, he launched into contention and quickly established himself at the front of the field, running in a tight battle with Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac as the trio pushed the pace.
As the rutted and deteriorating Seattle circuit became increasingly treacherous, Roczen continued to charge and appeared firmly in podium contention. However, a mistake in the closing stages proved costly. After struggling through a rhythm section and losing momentum before the whoops, he left the door open for Hunter Lawrence to make a move, which went awry with both riders going down, slow to remount, he was ultimately shuffled back in the order. Roczen regrouped to finish 10th, limiting the damage in terms of championship points and leaving Seattle just 11 markers off the lead.
Reflecting on the night, Roczen said, “Overall we had a pretty dang good day, honestly. This is always a crazy venue to go to, just because the track gets so gnarly. We had a really good heat race going and won that one. I had first gate pick for the main, and I got off to a decent start. Honestly, [I] was putting on a strong charge in the middle of the race. Cooper, Eli and I were all bunched up and riding really well. The track did get deteriorated really quickly, so I had a couple of bad laps there towards the end. I made a mistake and couldn’t double before the whoop section, and it just really cost me. It allowed Hunter to get way too close to me, and he pulled a move. He came over and apologised, and I have really no hard feelings towards it all. I think it was a little bit of a brain fart, and it was just unfortunate; with situations like that, we pulled the shorter end of the stick until I got going again, and then the main was over. So we ended up with not the greatest result, but we are only 11 points down. Overall, I rode well all day, and I had a really good main going, so I really can’t be too mad. We are going into Arlington next weekend to try this again.”
Despite the setback, Roczen’s performance reinforced that he remains a genuine title contender as the series moves forward. His pace, race craft and confidence were evident throughout the day, and with the championship picture still tight, the #94 remains firmly in the hunt heading into Arlington for Round 7.
