Ken Roczen carrying the red plate into Glendale is not something most people had on their bingo card coming into the 2025 AMA Monster Energy Supercross Championship. The HEP/Progressive Insurance/ECSTAR Suzuki rider came into the season a bit under the radar. After some underwhelming performances in his two AMA Pro Motocross Championship races last summer and in the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) during the off-season the Kenny buzz was low.
Roczen has the best average start position so far in the series, and his consistent 2-4-2 scores put him atop the standings. His qualifying speed has been all over the place, with qualifying times that have put him 14th, 5th, and 9th, respectively, but come race time Kenny has shown the speed to win. Last night in Anaheim, Kenny was 0.022 off the fastest lap of the race that was set by Jett Lawrence, proving it has been more than good starts and consistency that have put him in this position.
Kenny was excited about his performance in the main event at the press conference emphasizing, “The whole main event was really rad. I felt like I was in a four man battle the whole way. I had pressure from behind, and obviously the guys up front. Just a really tricky track, really slick in some areas and a lot of little techy things. I was just so happy with the whole main event. I just kept really focused and I felt really strong in the whoops, felt like I was able to catch to the front a little bit, and yeah, I am just beyond stoked to be on the podium honestly, it’s been a dream. “
When asked about his terrific start to the season and having possession of the red plate, Roczen said, “I was reminiscing about the red plate last week, how if I could have made the pass for third I could have shared it with Eli which would have been really rad. Besides having the red plate frequently in 2022, I haven’t had a taste of it in a really long time, especially not on yellow so it’s just a dream come true.”
He also talked about coming into the season under the radar.
“I guess sometimes we are just up for surprises, right? We’ve just been putting in a lot of work and it’s tough going through the off-season races just feeling like you’re not 100 percent or the motorcycle is not 100 percent, but that is also the time where experience just comes into play and just trying to be patient. If somebody had told me I had the red plate after three rounds I would have been like, 'You sure?'” he said laughingly.
Kenny admitted how he still struggles mentally with A2 ever since his monumental crash in 2017.
“Honestly, Anaheim 2 is a little bit of a funky one," he said." I just feel, I try not to be, I just feel a little more anxious of what happened in 2017. It’s just kind of lingering a little bit so in practice and stuff I’m just a little careful."
He also went on to explain some bike changes as well saying, “We tried some things this week and I had a new shock in and before the last practice I just went back to my base and that was the perfect decision we could have made as well just because it felt a lot more familiar to me so it seemed like everything we had done today was a success.”
The red plate will be under the HEP tent for the first time in the team’s history next weekend. Team manager Larry Brooks talked with PulpMX’s Steve Matthes after the race saying, “I did not expect to be in the points lead so early. I would prefer not to be in the points lead right now, but you know it is what it is and we’re going to fight all the way through it. Now we’re in the points lead at the third race and now we have a whole lot of racing to do.”
Brooks was happy to come into the season under the radar explaining, “It just build pressure, right? You don’t want all that on your shoulders to come into the season. I think Ken has been in this situation before, I’ve been in this situation before, the team’s been in this situation, so I think we just take it day by day, race by race and just.
Larry talked about getting the bike confirming some of what Ken said at the press conference, saying, “We’ve been working pretty hard with suspension, REP, we did a full week and we worked pretty hard on it, and we came here and kind of changed around a little bit and Mark (Johnson) and I and Ken we all kind of got together and made a couple changes before the night show and it was really good. We’re pretty happy with the suspension right now, Ken is super pumped and it’s hard to please him with suspension, so if he’s happy, you know the bike pretty good.”
Ken Roczen looks to go back-to-back in Glendale next weekend after winning the event in 2024. Kenny is one of the best in the history of the Triple Crown, so it is a fantastic opportunity for the #94 to extend his points lead and assert himself as a serious threat for this title.
