Roczen on Anaheim podium as AMA Supercross Championship kicks off

Ken Roczen put his RM-Z450 on the podium in the main event at Anaheim 1, as the AMA Supercross Championship kicked off for 2026. His teammate, Jason Anderson, finished fifth on his debut with the Pipes Motorsport Suzuki outfit.

 

After winning his heat race, Roczen - in a restarted main event following a crash for Malcom Stewart and Justin Barcia - emerged from the first turn in eighth place, but quickly set about making his way forward through the field, breaking into the top-three by the end of the opening lap.

 

A lap later and he moved into second place, and kept the leader within his sights. The gap hovered around the two second mark, but Roczen elected to settle for the runner-up spot and kick-off his season with a podium finish.

His teammate, Jason Anderson, was circulating in fourth place in the main event after finishing on the podium in his heat race, as he took to the dirt in his first competitive appearance for the Pipes Motorsport Suzuki squad.

 

He held the position right until the closing stages, when he dropped a position to fifth place, which still capped a solid debut for the 2018 450 champion.

 

Roczen commented afterwards, "We had a really good day the entire day in qualifying, the heat race, and the main. We got first in the heat race and then went to the main where we had a really good battle with the leader. We pretty much kept the same gap for the entire race and both of us put a big gap on third. I'm really happy to get away with a second place here; it's a great start to the season and now the focus is on the next round."

 

Anderson added, "It was a pretty eventful night for everyone, and for me it was solid. I've been a little bit under the weather but was able to manage the race with a decent start and ended up fifth. We’ll see if we can get better from there."

 

Everyone at Suzuki wishes a speedy recovery to Stewart and Barcia.