Roczen a Close Second at Arlington Supercross

Ken Roczen  ⁹⁴

“From the first few races this year to now, I’ve made some good steps forward. I’ve changed up some things in my program and put in some solid effort during the week, and I feel like it’s showing on the weekends. Of course it’s disappointing to put in that effort the entire moto and then give it away in the last turn. The turn before the whoops and in the whoops themselves is where I lost the most time during the main event. If I could’ve done that better or worked better with the bike, I feel like I could’ve kept my flow a bit better and had more of a gap between first and second. Honestly though, I’m just having a lot of fun; I haven’t been in a championship chase in a long time, and it’s really good racing. There’s always room to improve, and I don’t have a win yet, but we’ve been super-consistent. I’ll just use this as fuel, think about the feelings I had on the track, and then make a plan for the next race. I think we’re in a good spot.”

Cole Seely  ¹⁴

“I’d say the day went pretty well—overall, I’m pretty happy with everything from qualifying all the way down to the main event. Times were really close in qualifying, which is cool because it shows there’s a lot of talent in the class but it also means if you’re a tenth off, you’re way back. I was happy to qualify in the top five, and in the heat race it obviously felt good to lead some laps and win the thing; it was also cool that Kenny won his heat, so we sort of shared that I guess. The main went pretty smoothly. I got off to a pretty bad start, but I was able to make some passes right away—like five guys in the first lap. I managed to eventually get into sixth and ride there for most of the race. I didn’t really get too tired at the end, but after three rough weekends and seeing things finally coming together, I didn’t want to push the issue too hard. For most of the race, the top six were running a similar pace, and it felt good to actually have sight of the leaders.”

Erik Kehoe

Team Manager

“We’ve been working on starts, and both of our guys have been getting good starts as a result. In the heat races, both of our guys were right there on the starts and then got the wins, which is important. In the main event Kenny led all the way up to the last lap, even with the gap kind of going back and forth. I think he was a little frustrated losing the race like that, but he rode really strong—he was consistent and he was being smart for the championship. Cole won his heat and then rode well in the main—probably the most aggressive I’ve seen him ride. He came back to a sixth place, and he was solid the whole night. I think these rides will be big confidence builders leading into next week, and we’ll work to keep that momentum going. For the team, they did a great job even in the tough conditions—everything with the team has been really good.”

Oscar Wirdeman

Mechanic (Ken Roczen)

“That was a cruel one! It was a great day for 99.9% of it though. Kenny won his heat race, and then the main was good—he got by Tomac and opened a good little gap, which was pretty solid. Toward the end, Cooper Webb just slowed down less, so to speak; he was able to keep his momentum. They were really close for a few laps, and then Cooper got him in the last turn, so that stinks. But it’s good, because this was the best Kenny has ridden this year. It’s very bittersweet when you lose the race so close to the finish, but for sure it’s good for Ken’s confidence. For us, we’ve still got to look at the big picture, because we’re seven races in and only two points out. It’s still close, and it’s much better than we’ve done the last two years.”

Jordan Troxell

Mechanic (Cole Seely)

“This would be considered Cole’s best weekend so far. We came off three kind of bad ones, where we were in the mud or had some falls and things like that. Cole was really focused today, plus he’s had some success in Dallas before, so that helps with confidence. He was calm and loose all day, and he rode well during practice. In the last timed session he was fifth overall, which gave him a good gate pick for the heat race. He got the holeshot in that and was right there with Chad [Reed], who he got around quickly. Then he held on in the end after some pressure from Eli [Tomac] and got his first heat-race win of the season, so we’re really pumped on that. The momentum carried over to the main; his start wasn’t as good as we’d hoped for, but he was really aggressive on the first lap and cut through a bunch of guys right away and then picked off one or two more guys to get into sixth. He was able to see the battle in front of him and keep in touch with them, so I think it did a lot for his confidence. It’s our best one so far and something to build on.”