Despite some bad luck in the previous events, Roczen entered the first Indy round with a narrow 450SX points lead, and he demonstrated his unrelenting drive as he returned to the top of the podium in dominant fashion. The German was strong throughout the evening program, taking the win in his heat race before grabbing a third-place start in the main event. Roczen quickly advanced to second and was involved in an action-packed battle with Adam Cianciarulo and Eli Tomac before he made a strong pass for the lead seconds before the halfway flags went out. He briefly lost the lead when he ran off the track, but he regained it and never looked back, holding off Tomac to the finish.

Roczen’s teammate Jett Lawrence showed impressive speed throughout the day in the 250SX East class, posting the best qualifying time and finishing second in his heat race. Lawrence made a mistake at the start in the main event, and soon after had to stop to avoid another rider on the wall jump, leaving him in 12th place. Undeterred, the young Australian charged through the pack to third with three laps remaining. When he attempted to pass Christian Craig for second on the final lap, the two collided and went off the track, dropping Lawrence to fourth at the finish.

NOTES

  • Team Honda HRC personnel arrived at the Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday morning and received their first COVID-19 tests for the three-round Indianapolis residency.
  • The first Media Day riding session for Indianapolis took place at the stadium on Friday with Team Honda HRC riders Ken Roczen and Jett Lawrence both participating.
  • Although Team Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton missed the first Indianapolis round to continue rehabilitating his right shoulder, he participated in several interviews on Saturday morning, via Zoom from his home in Florida, including a live segment on ESPN 107.5 FM for the Jeff Rickard and Joe Staysniak Show, an interview with The Indianapolis Star, and Race Day Live. Sexton is hoping to return for the third Indy round.
  • Roczen posted the fastest 450SX time in the first qualifying session and the fifth-best time overall, at 47.428”. Muc-Off Honda’s Justin Brayton was seventh-best at 47.808”, and SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda riders Benny Bloss, Broc Tickle and Vince Friese were 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-best, respectively, with times of 48.496”, 48.714” and 48.817”.
  • In 250SX East qualifying, Lawrence posted the fastest time with a 47.278”, in the final session. Muc-Off Honda’s Mitchell Oldenburg was sixth at 48.473”, with Phoenix Racing Honda’s Joshua Osby eighth.
  • Roczen finished on top in the second 450SX heat race, with Tickle placing fifth and Brayton posting a ninth-place result. Heat 1 saw Bloss finish eighth, while Friese was 18th. Lawrence was second in 250SX heat 2, whereas Oldenburg and Osby were third and fourth in heat 1.
  • As the 450SX winner, Roczen took part in the post-race virtual press conference, and the following afternoon he was also interviewed by the nationally syndicated SpeedFreaks Radio show on Sirius XM
  • With the first race of the Indianapolis triple-header complete, the riders and teams are preparing for round 5, which happens on Tuesday, with round 6 set to take place Saturday.
  • The 450SX win was the 16th of Roczen’s career in AMA Supercross, with his previous victory having come at last year’s fifth Salt Lake City round, on June 14.

Media contact:

Kayla Mead // Jonnum Media // kayla@jonnummedia.com // +1 (760) 822-4786

Ken Roczen 94

“What do I say–I’m speechless! We won the heat race which was great, but then the main event was chaotic. The track really deteriorated and there were more ruts than you can count. We all made some mistakes out there. I capitalized on Eli [Tomac] going down and had to make my way around Adam [Cianciarulo], who was riding really well, which definitely didn’t make it easy. Later I ended up cross-rutting off of the second double so I was deciding in the air whether I could brake and still tuck to the inside to stay in the track, but I would’ve gone into the Tuff Blocks. I had to make my way all the way around the berm; I couldn’t get an advantage so I had to let Eli by, but in that same lap he left the door open and I took the opportunity to pass him. From there on he was pushing hard, but I kept him behind me and we made it happen. It was one of my best races that I’ve had in a long time, and I’m really happy that I could fight back and not just give it to them. This was our first win of the season, after a lot of unfortunate events that went on in the last few races. Tonight was our night and we won, so I’m beyond stoked!”

Jett Lawrence 18

“I was feeling really good on the track, qualifying P1. In heat 2 I got a really good start with the holeshot but went down in one of the turns in the first lap, so I came out top-10 and made my way to second, which felt really good. In the main event I messed up my start and feel like I couldn’t have done any worse, to be honest. That didn’t give me a very good shot at winning, but I had a really good flow and made my way up to around sixth, but unfortunately I hit the rear end of another rider on the wall jump which made me stop. I had to roll back down to go back up, putting me back to 12th. I made my way through the pack to fifth and realized Jo [Shimoda] was right there and passed him. The next rhythm I got [Michael] Mosiman, and then Christian Craig was just up ahead, so I knew at that point I could actually get second. On the last lap I tried to make a pass before the whoops, and Christian and I ended up colliding and getting tangled up, which screwed us both. I still finished fourth for the night, which isn’t really what I wanted or needed. I’ve given Colt [Nichols] more cushion in points, but I’m hoping to close that gap on Tuesday and stay in this hunt for the title.”

Erik Kehoe

Team Manager

“Ken and the team needed that win! Ken will get a good boost of confidence from that and keep the momentum going into round 5. Jett continues to show brilliant speed and is learning valuable lessons every week, and he’ll use this experience to be more consistent in his goal of podium finishes.”

AMA Supercross 450SX 2021
Race Round 4  

450SX Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 ROCZEN Ken 94 GER 26 Team Honda HRC Honda
2 TOMAC Eli 3 USA 23 Monster Energy Kawasaki Kawasaki
3 WEBB Cooper 2 USA 21 Red Bull KTM KTM
4 CIANCIARULO Adam 9 USA 19 Monster Energy Kawasaki Kawasaki
5 OSBORNE Zach 16 USA 18 Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Husqvarna
6 FERRANDIS  Dylan 14 USA 17 Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha Yamaha
7 ANDERSON Jason 21 USA 16 Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Husqvarna
8 SAVATGY Joey 17 USA 15 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS KTM
9 PLESSINGER Aaron 7 USA 14 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki Kawasaki
10 MUSQUIN Marvin 25 FRA 13 Red Bull KTM KTM
11 STEWART Malcolm 27 USA 12 Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha Yamaha
12 BRAYTON Justin 10 USA 11 Muc-Off Honda Honda
13 BARCIA Justin 51 USA 10 TLD/Red Bull GasGas GasGas
14 TICKLE Broc 20 USA 9 SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda Honda
15 DAVALOS Martin 36 USA 8 Team Tedder/Monster Energy/Lucas Oil/KTM Racing KTM
16 BOGLE Justin 19 USA 7 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS KTM
17 FRIESE Vince 40 USA 6 SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda Honda
18 HARTRANFT  Brandon 28 USA 5 Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports Suzuki Suzuki
19 BLOSS Benny 37 USA 4 SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda Honda
20 CHISHOLM Kyle 11 USA 3 Chisholm Racing KTM
21 POLITELLI Austin 981 USA 2 Old Town Construction/ TripTagger/ Yamaha Yamaha
22 ENTICKNAP Adam 722 USA 1 Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports Suzuki Suzuki
AMA Supercross 450SX 2021
Race Round 4  

250SX East Region Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 NICHOLS Colt 64 USA 26 Star Racing Yamaha Yamaha
2 MOSIMAN Michael 42 USA 23 TLD/Red Bull GasGas GasGas
3 SHIMODA Jo 30 JPN 21 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki Kawasaki
4 LAWRENCE Jett 18 AUS 19 Team Honda HRC Honda
5 CRAIG Christian 29 USA 18 Star Racing Yamaha Yamaha
6 OLDENBURG Mitchell 49 USA 17 Muc-Off Honda Honda
7 DO Thomas 773 USA 16 Tech32/KTM Marseille KTM
8 SHORT John 55 USA 15 Barx/Chaparral/Ecstar Suzuki Suzuki
9 OSBY Josh 95 USA 14 Phoenix Racing Honda Honda
10 HARLAN Grant 76 USA 13 Tilube Storm Lake Honda Honda
11 VARIZE Joshua 241 USA 12 KTM Orange Brigade/Factory Connection KTM
12 SAYLES Hunter 99 USA 11 Race Driven KTM/Hoosier/EVS/Ryno KTM
13 HAND Jeremy 122 USA 10 World of Wheels/AM Motocross/Wiseco Honda
14 SIMONSON Devon 170 USA 9 PR-MX Pelletier Kawasaki Kawasaki
15 MORANZ Kevin 85 USA 8 TPJ/Fly Racing KTM
16 SCHLOSSER Hunter 193 USA 7 None Yamaha
17 FLEMING Wilson 185 USA 6 Team BWR Honda
18 SHAW Lane 124 USA 5 TPJ/Fly Racing KTM
19 MILLER Max 604 USA 4 KTM Orange Brigade KTM
20 SANFORD Maxwell 162 USA 3 Tilube Storm Lake Honda Honda
21 CAMPORESE Lorenzo 384 USA 2 Gaerne, Shoei, LC384, NLAB Kawasaki
22 KARNOW Logan 88 USA 1 Madd Parts/Double Eagle MX/Namura Technologies Kawasaki Kawasaki
Author

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