RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing ready to keep working in Oakland

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Put in the work, reap the rewards.
 
That’s the collective sentiment around the RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing camp these days. And rightfully so.
 
After winning two of the first three events of the season, Ken Roczen, rider of RCH’s No. 94 Suzuki RM-Z450, comes into Oakland with a nearly perfect 1.3 finishing average and a 12-point lead in the 450SX championship standings. Roczen earned his fourth career 450SX win last weekend and if the 20-year-old rider can pull off his third win of the year Saturday night at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., he’ll become the first Suzuki rider to win three times in the first five races of the season since RCH team co-owner Ricky Carmichael set that bar in 2006.
 
Roczen’s RCH teammate Broc Tickle turned in a commendable fifth-place finish last weekend at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and jumped two spots, to seventh, in the championship. Since returning to full-time competition following a catastrophic injury last year, Tickle has finished eighth, 12th and fifth, respectively, to open 2015. The solid effort last week was Tickle’s third career top five and first since last year at Daytona.
 
If either Roczen or Tickle can win this weekend, they would be the first riders since the Monster Energy Supercross series returned to Oakland in 2011 to win in both 250SX and 450SX competition. Tickle won at Oakland in 2011, while Roczen took the checkered flag two years later.
 
“I feel great about this weekend,” said Roczen. “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and work on getting my body better. I’m still not 100 percent but it felt great to get another win last week at A2 and I’m going to fight hard again when we get to Oakland.”
 
While a 450SX main event trophy still eludes Tickle, the Holly, Mich., rider picked up the 250SX win at O.co Coliseum while riding for legendary team owner Mitch Payton. In two 450SX Oakland starts, Tickle finished 13th in 2012 and eighth in 2013. An incident during his heat race kept him from starting last year’s main event.
 
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Oakland this weekend,” said Tickle. “I got the second win of my career in Oakland and I love the dirt there. That’s one reason why I like it. The year I won, it rained a little bit so it was wet and sloppy. I’m just really looking forward to it. I’m coming off a good weekend at Anaheim Two so I’m going to keep on focusing on my starts and keep doing the things I’ve been doing. The goal this weekend is to back up A2.”
 
RCH team owner Carey Hart was pleased with his team’s performance following Round 3 and liked what he saw from his riders on the track. With Roczen leading the points and Tickle making forward progress, Hart is eager for his team to pull into Oakland to see what this weekend brings. 
 
“We’ve got a lot of momentum,” commented Hart. “Broc did a great job last weekend at A2. He’s really getting his starts down. The win was a good boost for Ken to keep his confidence up. We’ll get back on the test track this week, put in the work and come into Oakland this weekend, rolling.”
 
The 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross makes its annual visit to Oakland this weekend when Roczen, Tickle and the rest of the RCH contingent return to O.co Coliseum for the first of two annual visits to the Bay Area. The fourth of 17 races on the 2015 Supercross schedule will be televised live on Fox Sports 1 Saturday, Jan. 24, beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Adam Sinclair
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