For round nine of the 2019 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, Team Honda HRC headed to the beautiful Pacific Northwest’s Washougal Motocross Park, where Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen secured his first podium finish since High Point Raceway, locking down second overall with a 2-3 moto tally.

In the opening 450 moto, Roczen launched down the start straight and around the first turn in fifth place before gaining two additional spots in the following turn to put him third heading up Horsepower Hill. Shortly thereafter, Roczen made the move into second and began working on the leader. He closed the gap and made the pass into the top spot on lap two. Once out front, the German took advantage of a clear track, riding smoothly and opening up an eight-second lead by the halfway point. Unfortunately, Roczen was unable to maintain his early race pace, which allowed Eli Tomac to close in during the final laps. The two fought hard, even coming together during their battle, but Roczen ultimately relinquished the lead and took the checkered flag in second. In moto two, Roczen got a seventh-place start but made some quick and aggressive passes, working his way into fourth on the opening lap. He continued his charge forward, making passes on third, then second before setting his sights on the leading Marvin Musquin. The two played cat and mouse for the majority of the race until Roczen came under fire from behind, once again by Tomac. He was unable to maintain his position, losing one spot to finish in third.

NOTES

  • Heavy rain throughout the week in Claremont, Florida, where Ken Roczen trains, led him to make a last-minute decision to ride press day on Friday at Washougal. Not only did this give him another opportunity to get some riding in, but it allowed him to preview the track and let the team try a few different settings prior to Saturday’s race.
  • During the morning qualifying practice, Roczen laid down a 2’17.567” lap in the first session, landing him fourth-fastest heading into the races.
  • The Washougal track features a unique first-turn section with multiple elements that pose challenges to racers. “This first turn is pretty sketchy,” explained former factory Honda racer and current Team Honda HRC test rider Trey Canard. “Not only is the turn itself really sloped but it’s also very fast coming down the start straight. Then after the first turn you have multiple rollers, which are pretty crazy when everyone’s going so fast right next to each other.”
  • Despite relinquishing the lead during the final laps of moto 1, Roczen’s speed early in the race was unmatched, as he laid down the fastest time with a 2’17.608” lap.
  • Following his second-place overall finish, Roczen remains third in the championship standings with 335 points, now only seven behind second with only three rounds remaining.
  • It was a solid day for the GEICO Honda team, as they had two riders in the top six, with Chase Sexton landing fifth overall via 4-6 results, followed by teammate RJ Hampshire in sixth with 8-5. Unfortunately, mediocre starts in both motos hindered them from fighting for podium contention. Christian Craig also made improvements this week, landing 12thwith 11-13, while Hunter Lawrence missed the race due to injury.
  • The Red Riders will now take their third and final break of the season before returning to action on August 10 for the Unadilla National in New Berlin, New York. “I’m looking forward to another weekend off,” Roczen said. “We’re leaving straight from here to spend a few days with some family before I head back to Florida. I’ll take some time to relax but still work hard to finish the season strong. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for the season to end though, so I can take some real time off to recover and come back strong.”

Media contact:

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

Ken Roczen  94

“I can’t really complain today. If you’ve seen my last few weekends, today was actually really good for me. I’m pretty happy to be back on the podium and to have an overall better day than in past weeks. In both races my starts weren’t that great, but I was able to make passes and find the front of the pack pretty quick, which was nice. I was trying to be aggressive until the end and give it my all but Eli [Tomac] was on it all day and I just wasn’t able to hold him off. I’m looking forward to this weekend off and to getting back to racing at Unadilla.”

Ken Roczen

Erik Kehoe

Team Manager

“To see Kenny get back on the podium today with a second overall was awesome. It’s been a tough up-and-down few weeks so today’s speed and consistency was nice to see. His end-of-race pace was still a bit tough, but he did a great job salvaging his energy and positions. We’ve got one weekend off to then finish out the season strong.”

Erik Kehoe

Oscar Wirdeman

Mechanic (Ken Roczen)

“We had a good day today. Bike-wise, we made a few small adjustments, but nothing too drastic. We’ve tried a few different setups the past few weeks to improve some issues and they haven’t worked, so we’ve continued to revert back to our base setting, which Ken knows and is comfortable with. We’ll continue to try and refine the bike, but I’m excited to see him back in the mix for the overall podium.”

Oscar Wirdeman

450MX Moto 1 Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 25 Monster Energy Kawasaki
2 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 22 Team Honda HRC
3 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 20 Red Bull KTM
4 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 18 Rockstar Husqvarna
5 MUSQUIN Marvin 25 FRA 16 Red Bull KTM
6 SAVATGY Joey 17 USA 15 Monster Energy Kawasaki
7 WILSON Dean 15 GBR 14 Rockstar Husqvarna
8 NOREN Fredrik 40 SWE 13 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
9 OSBORNE Zach USA 12 Rockstar Husqvarna
10 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 11 Monster Energy/ Knick/ Factory Yamaha Team
11 SHORT John 253 USA 10 ACM Services/ Short racing
12 BOGLE Justin 19 USA 9 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
13 LAMAY Ben 907 USA 8 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
14 MILLER Henry 81 USA 7 Trigger Racing
15 BOWERS Tyler 69 USA 6 Bowers Racing
16 KOGA Taiki 929 JPN 5 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
17 TEASDALE Isaac 921 USA 4 Team Babbitts
18 LOCURCIO Lorenzo 44 VEN 3 None
19 WEEKS James 700 USA 2 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
20 AUTENRIETH Cade 330 USA 1 Mountain Motorsports/Factory Connection/Hinson

450MX Moto 2 Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 25 Monster Energy Kawasaki
2 MUSQUIN Marvin 25 FRA 22 Red Bull KTM
3 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 20 Team Honda HRC
4 OSBORNE Zach USA 18 Rockstar Husqvarna
5 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 16 Red Bull KTM
6 SAVATGY Joey 17 USA 15 Monster Energy Kawasaki
7 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 14 Rockstar Husqvarna
8 NOREN Fredrik 40 SWE 13 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
9 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 12 Monster Energy/ Knick/ Factory Yamaha Team
10 WILSON Dean 15 GBR 11 Rockstar Husqvarna
11 BOGLE Justin 19 USA 10 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
12 SHORT John 253 USA 9 ACM Services/ Short racing
13 PLESSINGER Aaron 7 USA 8 Monster Energy/ Knick/ Factory Yamaha Team
14 LAMAY Ben 907 USA 7 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
15 LOCURCIO Lorenzo 44 VEN 6 None
16 BOWERS Tyler 69 USA 5 Bowers Racing
17 WEEKS James 700 USA 4 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
18 MILLER Henry 81 USA 3 Trigger Racing
19 TEASDALE Isaac 921 USA 2 Team Babbitts
20 MCCONAHY Noah 131 USA 1 Merge Racing

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 392 Monster Energy Kawasaki
2 MUSQUIN Marvin 25 FRA 342 Red Bull KTM
3 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 335 Team Honda HRC
4 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 324 Red Bull KTM
5 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 304 Rockstar Husqvarna
6 OSBORNE Zach USA 295 Rockstar Husqvarna
7 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 221 Monster Energy/ Knick/ Factory Yamaha Team
8 BOGLE Justin 19 USA 185 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
9 NOREN Fredrik 40 SWE 182 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
10 BAGGETT Blake 4 USA 175 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
11 FERRIS Dean 111 AUS 136 CDR Yamaha
12 SAVATGY Joey 17 USA 97 Monster Energy Kawasaki
13 SHORT John 253 USA 89 ACM Services/ Short racing
14 MILLER Henry 81 USA 87 Trigger Racing
15 LOCURCIO Lorenzo 44 VEN 86 None
16 BLOSS Benny 60 USA 84 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
17 LAMAY Ben 907 USA 75 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
18 BOWERS Tyler 69 USA 66 Bowers Racing
19 WILSON Dean 15 GBR 63 Rockstar Husqvarna
20 SEELY Cole 14 USA 59 Team Honda HRC
21 HILL Justin 46 USA 51 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
22 PLESSINGER Aaron 7 USA 48 Monster Energy/ Knick/ Factory Yamaha Team
23 WATERS Todd 477 AUS 46 Todd Waters Racing
24 MASTERPOOL Jake 146 USA 35 None
25 SCHOCK Coty 319 USA 25 None
26 WEEKS James 700 USA 23 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
27 KOGA Taiki 929 JPN 23 TPJ.com/Fly Racing
28 TOMITA Toshiki 718 JPN 21 Team Honda HRC
29 MERRIAM Dylan 559 USA 18 None
30 TEASDALE Isaac 921 USA 18 Team Babbitts
Author

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