All Photos by: Chase Yocom

After a Supercross season that saw Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey dominate, everyone thought the #5 would win back-to-back 450MX championships in the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Instead, RCH / Soaring Eagle / Jimmy John’s / Suzuki’s Ken Roczen dominated the series from the first gate drop at Hangtown and clinched his second 450MX Championship two motos early last weekend at Budds Creek.

Click to take advantage of the great deals at Ride365
Click to take advantage of the great deals at Ride365

Kenny won the 450MX Championship on 2014, but it was a hard fought war with Dungey that went down to the final moto. This season, Ryan went out early with an injury, but before getting hurt, the returning Champ had nothing for the German. With Kenny winning 18 of the 22 motos and eight out of ten of the overalls run so far, there’s no question that he has been the man in 2016.

After Kenny’s Championship, he sat down in the press tent and answered questions about this Championship, switching to RCH, leaving Aldon Baker and more.

Ken hoists an AMA #1 plate for the second time in his career.
Ken hoists an AMA #1 plate for the second time in his career.

Congratulations on the Championship and sweeping both motos. Take us through moto one and moto two.

First of all, I felt pretty relaxed coming into this weekend, which was a bit hard to just go here and plan on getting another 1-1 like we had been doing all year. I didn’t want to come here thinking about the championship and all that kind of stuff. My practice went great. I’m usually not that good with one fast lap, but I was. Went into the first start with a lot of confidence and I actually pulled off another holeshot, which was amazing because when you think about where me and my team actually came from during Supercross. In SX we struggled really bad. We figured a lot out right now. It’s fun getting holeshots, ’causeI haven’t been having too many. Getting a holeshot made it a lot easier on myself and I raced to another win, which was amazing. I knew the championship wasn’t done so I went to the start gate again and told myself “I’ve got to go out there and win.” That’s what we did. I didn’t have the greatest start in the second moto, but I made it work. I just put in a quick sprint in the beginning and just kept the same gap and rode it home. It’s amazing to get the title, but to also stamp it, kind of. In 2014 I barely won because I was beat towards the end of the year. I finally felt like I’m exactly where I wanted to be. And I won the championship going 1-1, and that’s all I could ask for.

 

You won it all in 2014. Do you feel any different this season.

Any championship is great. Knowing where we came from in 2015 and the struggles that we had. We turned it all around to the positive. I got to give it up to those guys because it was so much fun this year to race. We’re communicating so well. We were able to rack up a bunch of wins—not just moto wins—but 1-1 almost every single weekend. That doesn’t come without putting in hard work, and it paid off. We have a saying in Germany that the first one is easy but the second championship is actually the hard one, but we’ve done it. I usually like to say—I don’t like to be the cocky one—but we’ve done it in a dominant performance. There’s nothing more I can ask for than what we have accomplished during this year.

Kenny clinched the Championship with a perfect 1-1.
Kenny clinched the Championship with a perfect 1-1.

This is your first overall win at Budds Creek, correct?

I believe so. I think I won maybe one moto last year but this was my first 1-1. Actually for a lot of the races we went to this year.—usually the first half of the season—I like all the tracks. The second half there were certain tracks that I didn’t really connect with, but one of them was Millville and I did really good at Millville. It just shows me that if I have the bike the way I want to, I can go fast on any track.

 

You said you turned the bike around a lot in supercross and you went back to stock triple clamps. I’m sure there was more than that. Was it a whole big change with a lot of things?

No, not really, to be honest. I tweaked my triple clamps, obviously went back to the stock ones. I believe we might have changed the gearing a little bit and it was the same for outdoors. Just my engine package together with the gearing, it worked out really well and that’s exactly the way I liked it. That’s just the way I liked it. Obviously, the skills pay the bills and in combination with that we accomplished everything we wanted. I couldn’t have asked for really a lot more. Every team has their little struggles and this and that and I still have mine with certain things, but it was definitely good enough. It was a way better bike than last year. That’s why I hardly ever complain about anything.

 

A year ago it was like, “Oh my god, the sky is falling, walls are crashing down”. Talk about how you guys stuck together when you probably could have all said, “This is not working.” You actually got better.

We want to make it work. We had a rough year last yea,r but I never gave up on them and they never gave up on me. I got a new mechanic and he is pretty smart, I would say. He helped out a lot. Combination of all that, and obviously my personal program has changed a lot too. I’ve tweaked it big time compared to the previous years. We’re a great team I would have to say. It’s fun.

There's no better feeling than knowing you are the best at what you do.
There’s no better feeling than knowing you are the best at what you do.

I think this is the first time a privately owned team won the 450MX AMA Motocross National Championship. A couple of teams have won it in SX that way. That’s something that a lot of people doubted.

Yeah, there are a lot of band-waggoners. Last year people said I should have never switched. It was like, I’m pretty much gone now, I can retire. And then all of a sudden this year it’s complete opposite. I don’t really care what some of the couch potatoes say and whatnot, but it’s what I think is right for me, not what anybody else is thinking. Obviously it worked, so I’m sure there was a lot fans that jumped ship at times.

 

I saw when I was down by the podium Ricky Carmichael came up to you. What did Ricky have to say?

I like to make people speechless, and I feel like that’s what I’ve done. There wasn’t a whole lot to say besides a “Good job.” Obviously, it was great to have him and a few other people from the team here that are not there every weekend, because I could have technically clinched the title at this race—which luckily I’ve done. I’ve always tried to block all that out because I wanted to come here thinking that it’s a normal weekend,like every other weekend—as if we had ten more races to go. To go to the finish line with the line, it was a monkey off the back. I think I asked my girlfriend to hose me down with some Coors Light but there was no Coors Light there! Overall, everybody was so stoked. I don’t know if they really had anything to say. It was just the fact that it happened. It just takes a little bit of time to really think about it. With that kind of performance luckily I think everybody should be happy and there’s nothing really to say. I was happy to be able to have Ricky here. We’re great friends off the track besides all the team stuff and all the motorcycle racing. He’s a great guy and I love talking to him, so it was great to have him here and be at the races.

 

One thing I’ve noticed this year is that right from the gate, right from the start, you’re so quick. It’s incredible! What’s your secret?

The big difference is that I eat, and I eat a lot! I’m just not fried. That is how I am. That’s how it was before I came to the US. ‘Cause when I was in Europe I had my program dialed and my dad taught me once the gate drops, you race. You don’t settle in and wait for a little bit. You go to the front. That’s what I’ve done this year. I’m eating good. I’m eating a lot. I have the perfect fuel and I’m keeping my tank full. I think I have the best communication together with my trainer and my training partner, Blake [Savage]. We have this crazy good relationship and communication especially. It’s nice having Blake there. He knows what I’m doing and he rides with me so he actually knows what it feels like to go out there and do two motos or do sprints and this and that. It takes a lot of toll on the body so we adjusted our program based on that. So I finally found what I need to keep my body almost at 100 percent—obviously it’s a long season and everybody’s going to have their lows. Not every week you’re going to feel like a million bucks, but it’s about making it work and we’ve definitely made it work.

Just like in 2014, rumors have Kenny taking his #1 plate with him to a different team. This time, factory HRC Honda.
Just like in 2014, rumors have Kenny taking his #1 plate with him to a different team. This time, factory HRC Honda.

When you left Aldon Baker a while ago, I think a lot of people thought the ship was going to sink. What’s he doing? Why is he doing it? You certainly found your own program.

Yeah, that’s what a lot of people thought but I proved them wrong. Aldon is a good guy. I like the guy for who he is, but I personally feel like he’s just uneducated and I finally am with a guy that is educated to its max. The communication we have, and especially not being narrow-minded, I think is a very important point. Certain people it works, for others it doesn’t. For me it didn’t and a lot of people thought it was going to go downhill, but there is not just one way to get to the top. I’m glad I proved people wrong, but I believe in myself and I believe in the people that I work with. And I’m not hiring a trainer or whoever for no reason, it’s because I believe in him and the work that we can do together. That’s ultimately what it’s about. I guess I’m alright.

Click to take advantage of the great deals at Ride365
Click to take advantage of the great deals at Ride365

Besides the Coors Light, how do you celebrate this Championship?

Well the Coors Light is not a one-time thing just because I won the championship. I have my Coors Light after every weekend. It doesn’t hurt me. I’m going to let it sink a little bit. We’ve got another job to do next weekend, so it’s not like the season is over. I want to finish strong. I’m not just going to go there and lollygag, so I want to give another 1-1 performance. So I’m just going to have a couple tonight and enjoy what actually happened today together with my team and all the people that support me. I had a few and I think we’re going to have a few more. I’ll be back on Monday, back to business, and I’m going to be feeling great.

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.