The 2020 AMA Supercross series’ seventh round and its first trip to the East Coast saw a return to the podium for Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen, who took a heat-race win before charging to a third-place finish in Tampa, Florida’s Raymond James Stadium.

Unable to replicate the strong starts that led to his early season success, Roczen struggled off the line in the main event and had to rely on well-timed passes to close in on the frontrunners. A mid-race fall hindered progress but didn’t deter the German; after losing the front on the backside of a triple while chasing down Cooper Webb, Roczen put in a string of consistent laps to get back into podium contention. Following a mistake by Adam Cianciarulo and a pass on Malcolm Stewart, Roczen rode a smart race to bring home his fifth podium result of the season.

Justin Brayton’s race was also marred by a poor start, and though he fought hard to come within striking distance of a top-five finish, the Team Honda HRC rider struggled through the final four laps and settled for ninth place.

NOTES

  • On Friday night, Xtreme Powersports hosted an open house, where hundreds of fans showed up despite on-and-off rain showers. Attendees had the opportunity to meet and get autographs from their favorite Red Riders, including Ken Roczen and Justin Brayton. Alongside the Team Honda HRC duo were GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton, Jo Shimoda and Jeremy Martin. Team BWR was also in attendance, making it no fewer than eight Honda racers at the table.
  • Roczen and Brayton showed a strong, consistent pace all day long, with Roczen qualifying second by way of a 48.052” lap time. Brayton was 10thquickest at 48.931”.
  • While Roczen’s bike will no longer carry the red number plates that denote the series’ points leader, his podium finish helped to minimize the deficit. He now sits in second place, just four points from the lead. Brayton gained one position and now sits eighth.
  • With the series now in the East Region, Roczen has transitioned from California to his home in Clermont, Florida, a move that simplified travel for this event. “This almost felt like an off weekend because on Friday I stayed home for quite some time and was able to do my stretching and all my stuff there,” he said. “It’s kind of nice having a whole lot less travel. I love it being here on the East coast.” Brayton has also switched back to his home in North Carolina.
  • GEICO Honda moved on from its challenging 250SX West season to kick off the 250SX East series in excellent fashion. Quick all day, defending champ Chase Sexton and teammate Jeremy Martin finished second and third, respectively, while Jo Shimoda took 10thin his rookie debut.
  • Having dominated the early part of the 2020 AMA Arenacross series, Phoenix Racing’s Kyle Peters and Jace Owen showed up for the 250SX East opener and rode within the top 10 for much of the day. Peters finished seventh in the main event, while Owen settled for 11thfollowing a strong first half of the race.
  • As has been the case at every race this year, there were more riders of Hondas than any other manufacturer in the 450SX main event, at six. Even more impressive, the same was true of the 250SX East opener, with no fewer than nine CRF250Rs entered in the main event.
  • The supercross community showed its support for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through its “This Race Saves Lives” event, which teams acknowledged by running graphics and gear inspired by patients’ artwork. GEICO Honda’s race bikes wore white and black with a “Believe” graphic across the radiator shroud. Memorabilia is to be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to St. Jude.
  • The Tampa round was the final race for Team Honda HRC Technical Director Takashi “Sam” Mishima, who is retiring after over 23 years with American Honda. To commemorate the occasion, everyone on the team (plus a few GEICO Honda members) presented Mishima with a cake and a special poster that they had all signed.

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

Ken Roczen  94

“It’s a bummer to lose the points lead but there’s a whole lot of racing left, and overall I’m happy with how my day went. I was pretty consistent throughout the day – I just didn’t get the starts I needed. I lifted my body up too much, so I was a bit deeper in the pack and had to work my way up to the front. Then, ultimately, I tucked the front off the triple, which cost me a lot of time. I’m still happy to be back on the podium. I appreciate being up here because on weekends like last weekend, when I’m far away from it, it’s not so nice. No red plate for right now, but I’ll keep trying to fight back for it and keep a positive mindset. We’ll keep working during the week to get some consistency in and try to be up there from the beginning, because the lead guys were just too far gone by the time we got into fourth or fifth.”

Ken Roczen

Justin Brayton  10

“Up until about four laps to go, it was looking like we could get a top-five finish, but right about then it kind of all unraveled and I ended up in ninth. I’m pretty disappointed with it to be honest. It’s been a challenging week for my family, with everyone kind of having the flu. Now my head has been pounding all day, so it’s been tough to focus. I kind of ran out of gas with four to go, but that’s racing and you end up ninth or 10th. The race was okay up until that, but the reality is that you get judged by your end result and it doesn’t matter how you rode through the middle.”

Justin Brayton

Erik Kehoe

Team Manager

“The goal has been to be on the podium every week, so it’s great for Kenny to get back up there this weekend. I think we’ve still got some things to work on, as we do every week. His starts weren’t as good as he had earlier this season, so we need to work on that a little bit. It’s a long season, so we’ve got to keep with that goal of being on the podium. It’s going to be a long series, so anything can happen.”

Erik Kehoe

Jordan Troxell

Mechanic (Ken Roczen)

“It was a different night. We wanted the win and we wanted to extend the points lead, rather than give it up, but this is still a step in the right direction after San Diego. For where we were in the opening part of the main – and to have taken a fall – to still come out with a podium and only get beat by a few points, I think we can walk away with a few positives from the day. There’s still a lot of racing left, so we’ll just keep getting after it. We just have to get our starts back; they haven’t been the greatest these past two or three weekends, so we’ve got to fix that.”

Jordan Troxell

Brent Duffe

Mechanic (Justin Brayton)

“The day started off well. Justin was feeling a good flow on the track and his starts were really good. Everything was actually coming together well until we had a bad start in the main event. Unfortunately, the pace is so fast right now that if you don’t start up front, by the time you get clear track ahead of you there’s no time to go anywhere. Fortunately, we’re far enough into the season now that the practice is there. Everything is working right. We just have to get that start and go from there.”

Brent Duffe

450SX Main Event Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 26 Monster Energy Kawasaki
2 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 23 Red Bull KTM
3 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 21 Team Honda HRC
4 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 19 Monster Energy Factory Yamaha Racing
5 HILL Justin 48 USA 18 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
6 WILSON Dean 15 GBR 17 Rockstar Husqvarna
7 STEWART Malcolm 27 USA 16 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
8 CIANCIARULO Adam 9 USA 15 Monster Energy Kawasaki
9 BRAYTON Justin 10 USA 14 Team Honda HRC
10 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 13 Rockstar Husqvarna
11 OSBORNE Zach USA 12 Rockstar Husqvarna
12 TICKLE Broc 20 USA 11 Red Bull KTM
13 FRIESE Vince 45 USA 10 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
14 DAVALOS Martin 47 ECU 9 Team Tedder
15 BOWERS Tyler 69 USA 8 Bowers Racing
16 PLESSINGER Aaron 7 USA 7 Monster Energy Factory Yamaha Racing
17 CHISHOLM Kyle 11 USA 6 Chisholm Racing
18 CUNNINGHAM Kyle 39 USA 5 H.E.P Motorsports
19 REED Chad 22 AUS 4 Mountain Motorsports/CBDmd/CR22 Racing
20 BREECE Ryan 86 USA 3 None
21 ENTICKNAP Adam 722 USA 2 The Privateer Journey
22 BAGGETT Blake 4 USA 1 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 155 Monster Energy Kawasaki
2 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 151 Team Honda HRC
3 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 144 Red Bull KTM
4 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 135 Monster Energy Factory Yamaha Racing
5 CIANCIARULO Adam 9 USA 128 Monster Energy Kawasaki
6 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 118 Rockstar Husqvarna
7 STEWART Malcolm 27 USA 106 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
8 BRAYTON Justin 10 USA 103 Team Honda HRC
9 HILL Justin 48 USA 93 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
10 BAGGETT Blake 4 USA 91 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
11 OSBORNE Zach USA 87 Rockstar Husqvarna
12 WILSON Dean 15 GBR 86 Rockstar Husqvarna
13 PLESSINGER Aaron 7 USA 77 Monster Energy Factory Yamaha Racing
14 FRIESE Vince 45 USA 70 Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda
15 DAVALOS Martin 47 ECU 59 Team Tedder
16 BOWERS Tyler 69 USA 42 Bowers Racing
17 BOGLE Justin 19 USA 24 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
18 CHISHOLM Kyle 11 USA 21 Chisholm Racing
19 REED Chad 22 AUS 21 Mountain Motorsports/CBDmd/CR22 Racing
20 RAY Alex USA 19 Cycle Trader Rock River Yamaha
21 BLOSE Chris 49 USA 18 Chaparral/FXR Racing/Honda
22 CUNNINGHAM Kyle 39 USA 16 H.E.P Motorsports
23 BREECE Ryan 86 USA 16 None
24 BLOSS Benny 60 USA 13 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS
25 TICKLE Broc 20 USA 11 Red Bull KTM
26 DECOTIS Jimmy 53 USA 4 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
27 BROOKS  Jason USA 3 3D Racing/ Factory Connection/ Motorsports Nation
28 AUTENRIETH Cade 330 USA 3 Mountain Motorsports/Factory Connection/Hinson
29 ENTICKNAP Adam 722 USA 2 The Privateer Journey
30 NOREN Fredrik 40 SWE 2 Autotrader/ JGR/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki Factory Racing
Author

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