Ken Roczen, rider of the No. 1 Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450 for RCH Racing, took the overall victory in Saturday’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross UPMC Sports Medicine High Point National at High Point Raceway.
The defending Pro Motocross Champion jockeyed his 2-1 finish at the revered Pennsylvania track all the way to the top of the podium, recording his first overall and second moto win of the 2015 outdoor season.
Roczen’s RCH stablemate Broc Tickle logged a respectable 6-8 outing to bring his No. 20 Suzuki home sixth overall.
Despite the win, Roczen wasn’t able to close the points gap on series leader Ryan Dungey after the current championship leader went 1-2, earning the same 47 points as Roczen. The 21-year-old German rider was awarded the overall victory by virtue of the tie-breaker and his win in the second moto.
With seven races remaining on the 2015 schedule, Roczen trails Dungey by 37.
“It was awesome,” commented Roczen following the win. “The first moto, I kind of seemed to struggle again. I don’t know what it is with the first one. I didn’t get that great of a start in either moto. I got a little bit lucky in the second one. As soon as I was leading, I just put my head down and charged all the way. This was one of the hottest races we’ve had so far this year, so it felt great. It was good to make a difference and get that moto win and finally an overall win, too. Ryan Dungey was right behind me the whole time during the second moto so I had to work hard. This just shows that quality hard work pays off. We’re going to keep working and working so hopefully, instead of staying even in points, we can make the gap a little smaller.”
Tickle was fifth- and seventh-fastest in Saturday morning’s practice and qualifying sessions, affording him the seventh gate pick for the first 450 moto of the day. The Holly, Mich., rider got a good jump out of the starting gate and raced inside the top five for the majority of the opening moto before settling for sixth when the checkers waved.
In the second moto, Tickle got another good jump when the gate drop but a miscue during the second lap caused him to fall back to 20th. Still, the veteran rider barley skipped a beat and rallied to make his way back through the field, ultimately finishing eighth in the final moto of the day.
The solid effort earned Tickle two spots in the championship standings where he now sits sixth, just 14 points behind fifth place and fellow Suzuki Factory rider Blake Baggett.
“I was really looking forward to High Point,” explained Tickle. “I’ve always performed well there. The track had a lot of changes this year and all in all, it was a good day for the entire RCH team. The first moto, I got off to a fifth-place start and ran up front for a while and finished sixth. I was a little frustrated after that because I felt like I could have ridden a little bit better. I was tightening up and not riding like myself so I had to regroup between motos.
“Second moto, I got a decent start again but I slid out on the second lap and went back to 20th. After that, I made my way back up and finished eighth on the moto and sixth overall. I pushed hard after I made the mistake and tried my best to get back up front but it was too late. I’m looking forward to this week off to build and be better for Budds Creek.”
The riders and teams of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship get a well-deserved weekend off before getting back to work in two weeks when the series visits Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Md.
The first moto of the Geico Motorcycle Budds Creek National will be televised live on MAVTV Sat., June 27 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 10 a.m. Pacific. Coverage for the second moto will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on NBCSN at 9 p.m. EDT. All motos can be streamed live online through ProMotocross.com or the NBC Sports Live Extra app. NBC, NBCSN and MAVTV will combine to televise over 60 hours of racing over the course of the 12-round season.
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