Ken Roczen has talked about his incredibly close relationship with team manager, Larry Brooks, who is now having to step away from the races to battle stage 2 colon cancer.
Roczen, who dedicated his win in Glendale to Larry, said he feels Brooks is like his dad in America, and, with the German now just five points out of the championship lead, he is doing his team manager proud in 2026.
Ken said of Brooks: “You know, since my dad isn’t really here, I talk to my dad almost every day or every single week, for sure about racing and whatnot, but he can be my dad, and the funny part is, the relationship that Larry and I have, he’s a little bit like my dad here without having my dad here, if that makes sense, so he’s so genuine. And the game plan, like every time I’m out there, I want to make him proud, I want to make us proud, and it just feels like, I guess a little bit honored to be able to ride for him because of his history in the past with champions and all the riders that he has represented and done really cool things with.
“And I think before we even got together, the time where he was working for B teams and maybe not winning or being on the podium constantly, I know that’s ultimately what he wanted, and for me to be able, or for us to be able to get there in the fashion that we did is a moment that is really close in my heart, it really is. So having him not here was a tough pill to swallow for the last few rounds.
But we all got his back, his health is the most important in all of this, and to me, it feels like he’s here anyway because we talk morning till night, no matter what, you know, we keep in the loop, we watch dark fish together, send each other videos, and he analyzes everything, so for what it is, I still feel like he’s somewhat present.
“To be honest, he’s really the only team manager that I’ve ever had that when we go down to the line, he’s right there, he’s right on the start, he doesn’t care about being in the manager tower, actually hates being in the manager tower because he can’t really see anything, or it’s just positioned funky sometimes where you don’t really see the whole track. He would probably ride the bike for me, honestly, if he could, you know what I mean?
“He wants to be right there, and that’s what I love about him because every time we go down, we look at the start, we talk before, we make a game plan, and we execute exactly what we talk about every single time, and I think since we have done that over the last three years or four years, however long we’ve worked together, it’s just become a natural relationship. It’s the funnest team or best team manager that I’ve ever raced with, hands down.”
