Photos all by Chase Yocom

We have no clue what happened in between Southwick and RedBud, but somehow HRC / Honda’s Ken Roczen was a different rider on Saturday. In the opening moto of the 2018 RedBud National, Kenny got into 2nd behind Eli on early in the moto, and while Eli did pull a gap on him, it was nothing like the over a minute gaps we had seen as recently as the weekend before. Then, late in the race, Kenny got a gift when Eli’s bike quit on him. And just like that, Kenny was in the lead and doing what he has done many times before: cruising it in for a moto win. Kenny has won at every level in his career including an MX2 World Championship and two 450 AMA Motocross titles but after what he has been through over the last two years, this win had to feel as good as any of them.

While a moto win was huge for Kenny in the grand scheme of his comeback, it was quickly obvious in moto two that he really wanted the overall. With Eli buried in the pack with his own issues, Kenny went after Marvin hard for the lead in moto two. Marvin was able to get a small gap on him, but once again Kenny was right on pace. In the end, Justin Barcia was able to come up and steal 2nd place in the moto from Kenny, but they both crossed the line just a few seconds in back of Marvin. While the day did not end exactly how Kenny would have liked it to, RedBud was a huge step in the right direction for he and his HRC team.

After Kenny’s 1-3 day for 2nd overall, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom caught up with him to talk about his moto win, his health and more.

We talked to Kenny at Thunder Valley and again for this interview at RedBud, and the vibe we got from the German is, he’s just happy to be back at the races.

Ken, awesome day for you. You won the first moto, which is a huge accomplishment for the year. In the second moto, you got 3rd for 2nd overall on the day. Can you talk about your day?

Absolutely! I got a pretty decent start in the first one. I was right behind Marvin and he crashed in front of me. I wobbled over his bike and lost a bunch of positions, but I really made something happen actually in the first couple of laps. I think after a lap or so, I found myself in 3rd or 4th, and I just kind of got up there really quick. I think [Eli] Tomac went down once or tipped over or something. From then on, I kind of gained on him a little bit. Then there were lappers and he gained a little bit on me, but once his bike broke I was leading towards the end and kind of going mellow and won that moto. It was huge! I loved it! It was a great feeling to have. The fans were insane. I’m glad they support me as much as they do.

Coming into the second moto, I definitely eyed up that 1-1. Obviously, it didn’t work out for a 1-1, but we still had a great race. I was battling as hard as I could, and at least I wasn’t a minute behind.

 

It looked like maybe Marvin kind of cross jumped you a little bit and then you got into him. Can you talk about that a little bit? Were you kind of trying to tell him, “Hey, stop cross jumping me”? (laughs)

No, maybe it was the rut, but if I would have jumped, we definitely would have collided in the air. I don’t know, I really wanted to get by him again and get a clear lap because I’ve been feeling pretty good in the races. Once he was up front, we kept it pretty much the same exact distance. I actually gained on him quite a bit at one point. We were definitely not too far off.

 

How was it with your arms today? That track looked absolutely brutal.

It was. My arms don’t bother me too much, actually. If anything, it’s my thumb. For whatever reason—I’ve seen a specialist—it’s definitely still tight. I have a lot of problems with my thumb, but I can make it through there. It hurts me a little bit at the end, but not to where it really slows me down or anything.

There’s just something about Kenny’s style that is amazing to watch.

You just went out there and won a moto, so obviously you showed not just yourself but everyone else that it can be done.

Yeah, absolutely! I said, “Even with two half arms, it can be done.”

 

I think we need to expand on that moto win. My god, what a huge deal. You’ve been riding well and it showed and you’re certainly a podium threat, but getting that moto win, it had to be huge.

Yeah, it was great. It felt like the good old times of 2016, you know, especially here at RedBud. I’ve always liked this track, but the way the crowd is here and everything, it’s definitely special winning here. Throughout the last lap, they were cheering so crazy. Normally when you race you can never really hear them because you’re so focused and everything, but I definitely noticed it. It was huge.

 

I noticed that too. I don’t think there was a rider cheered as much as you were. That’s kind of a testament to what you’ve gone through as a racer and your personality. How cool is that?

It’s amazing! It’s amazing! This is always a race that is the race for America. The fact that they cheered for me the way they did was an absolute honor. Even when I’m in the pits and everything, they come at me and they support me big time. I was really impressed. I don’t know if I should say surprised, but I definitely noticed they were going crazy. It’s a great feeling being up on that podium. My team loved it and my fiance Courtney, I seen her cry and everything. It was a big moment.

Putting the game face on before the moto.

We’re a little over half way through the series now. Do you feel pretty good about where you’re at and how you’ve been progressing?

You know, my results haven’t really shown what I’m capable of because I feel like we’ve been searching with the bike. Being on the Honda outdoors is new to me this year. Obviously I was really comfortable in 2016 and I got dialed in super early. We’re still searching. I’ve definitely made a step forward, but I feel like we can still get better and fine tune it. The last couple of weekends I was so far behind, but I couldn’t really do anything about it. Today it started becoming a lot easier for me to ride that pace so I could focus on which lines I’m going to hit and focus on myself. That helped out and I think we’re going to keep improving.

 

With you getting stronger and stronger every week, how much does that affect the bike’s setup? Are you almost always chasing the setup to keep up?

I’m usually just a fan of getting a pretty decent setup and leaving it the way it is, but first you gotta find that setup, you know what I mean?

 

Expanding on the setup questions, I would think it would be a detriment that your teammates are out right now.

We can’t really learn from each other. Yeah, that’s a problem, for sure. It’s good that those guys [the HRC team] are actually coming to my house this week. We can get some more testing in and just get better. I feel like now we’re to a level where I’m able to ride the bike a lot harder. It’s really tough when you’re searching and someone—for example Tomac—has three years on the bike. He’s definitely dialed, so that makes a big difference.

Author

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