Roczen Fourth Overall at Detroit Triple Crown Supercross

Round eight of the AMA Supercross series at Detroit’s Ford Field played host to the second of three Triple Crown races, and Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen overcame flu symptoms to notch a fourth-overall score via a consistent 5-6-5 race tally. In the night’s first race, Roczen got a poor jump out of the gate and was pinched off heading down the start-straight, shuffling him to the middle of the pack. He made some quick passes, coming around in ninth after the opening lap. Roczen continued his charge forward, working his way into fourth by lap six. Unfortunately, a few laps later a mistake caused him to relinquish one position and take the checkered flag in fifth. The German struggled off the start again in the second race and came around the first turn 10^th. Roczen worked to salvage as many positions as possible, making his way into sixth during the 17-lap race. When the gate dropped on the night’s final 450SX race, Roczen launched his CRF450R to a seventh-place start. He struggled to make the passes needed to quickly get him to the front of the pack, fighting the exhaustion that had set in due to his sickness, but he eventually overtook several riders before settling into fifth.

Unfortunately, Roczen’s teammate Cole Seely was sidelined after taking a rock to his sternum during the day’s first qualifying session. The Californian attempted to participate in the second practice but was in too much pain, and he sat out the night show as a result.

NOTES

• On Friday night, Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely joined GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton and BWR Honda riders Tyler Enticknap and Carlen Gardner at Genthe Honda in Southgate, Michigan, for a rider appearance. The Red Riders signed autographs and took pictures with fans before signing a wall in the dealership.
• For the third weekend in a row, teams battled cold temperatures on race day, with a Saturday high of 41 degrees. Due to the conditions and lack of space for a regular pit setup, mechanics and crew were forced to pit in the tight confines of the semi trailers.
• The Detroit Supercross marked the second Triple Crown event of the season, and once again, teams were allowed to send two bikes through tech inspection for each rider. Seely’s mechanic Jordon Troxell had built his spare bike prior to the trucks leaving California, but Roczen’s extra CRF450R needed to be built in Michigan. The work was performed by technician Lars Lindstrom, who had spent time after the previous race in Arlington preparing the needed parts. When it came time for Lindstrom to do the build, his fellow mechanics made a friendly bet that he couldn’t complete the work in under three hours. “It depends who you ask, but I won,” Lindstrom said. “I had almost everything prepped and was pretty efficient; however, I realized after the fact that there were a couple things I could have streamlined more; I had to do a few graphics and break a chain, so that took more time than it needed to. I finished in just under three hours, but if I had to do it again, I think I could drop it quite a bit.”
• Between the two qualifying sessions, HRC Team Manager Erik Kehoe joined Jim Holley and Daniel Blair on “Race Day Live” to discuss Roczen’s and Seely’s comeback seasons.
• Despite a large stadium floor, lap times were low during the day’s qualifying practice. MotoConcepts Honda’s Justin Brayton was the top Red Rider, laying down the third-quickest time of 47.478”. Roczen was fifth at 47.606”, followed by Seely in sixth with a 47.629” lap.
• This weekend marked round three of the 250SX East Championship battle, with GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton showing impressive speed all day aboard his CRF250R, scoring the quickest time in qualifying practice before riding to a third-place overall result with 4-4-2 finishes. Sexton sits fourth in the championship with 60 points.
• This week, Team Honda HRC heads to Atlanta for round nine of the AMA Supercross series. On Friday, the riders will take part in a dealer appearance at Mountain Motorsports starting at 6 p.m.

Press contact:

Mandie Fonteyn // Jonnum Media // mandie@jonnummedia.com// +1 (951) 537-0454