Roczen battles to victory in Detroit

Ken Roczen was impressive from the moment the riders hit the track inside Ford Field. Roczen emerged from the first qualifying session with the fastest lap time and followed that by matching his season-best results in the second and overall qualifying spots.

In his heat race, Roczen crossed the holeshot stripe outside of the top five, then quickly advanced through the pack. While setting the fastest times in track Sectors 2, 4, 6, and 9, Roczen delivered a second-place heat race result.

In the main event, Roczen launched off the gate, then used his Suzuki RM-Z450’s strong torque to earn a second-place start. With less than two minutes off the race clock, Roczen took over the lead and secured the position with a clean blitz through the whoops.

Roczen quickly pulled a three second gap over the rest of the field, then managed the race from the front. Taking his second win of the season, Roczen was nearly flawless on a track that bit several of his competitors. When the dust settled, Roczen had gained 17 points toward the title chase lead with six rounds remaining. 

“We knew what we had to do; it was obvious that being 31 points down we had to start to execute a little bit,” said Roczen after the win. “So, it was kind of fun to be in this little bit of a pressure position. And we made it happen tonight. We just had a really good day all day; I do have to say that [the track] was overall the trickiest in the main event. But we executed it; we got a good start and I just hung in there… I don't feel like I was the fastest in the beginning necessarily, but it was tricky. The whoops got really beat up, it was rutty, it was kind of grabby, and certain sections were a bit technical. But we hung in there, so it was an amazing win for us. And it's just fun to keep these dreams alive and it's fun to be in that position.”