Ken Roczen Makes Championship Gain Despite Tough Highpoint National

‰ÛÏI kind of struggled with the track, especially in practice, I wasn‰Ûªt really gelling with the new layout," Roczen lamented.

"As always though, I went to the first start confident. I got a decent jump, but there was a big pileup in the first turn that I was involved with. I got run over, had bikes on top of me, and was basically at the bottom of the pile. Luckily nothing was hurt or wrong with the bike, so I just had to come from behind and made my way up to seventh.

"After the first moto, I came back in and just tried to get as much rest as possible before the second race. I told Oscar [Wirdeman] that I was going to get the holeshot and I did, so I was pretty stoked about that. I tried to run up front as long as possible, but I didn‰Ûªt have it today and faded. I still finished third, which is good. I have to be okay with it, even though I‰Ûªm a little bummed. The first start crash could‰Ûªve been worse, and I‰Ûªm happy I was able to bounce back in the second race with a good start and be up front for a bit. I‰Ûªm happy with fourth overall," Roczen concluded.

With his High Point performance, Roczen moved up one position in the championship standings, to fourth, with 131 points (just nine behind third), with 16 motos remaining in the season.