Ken Roczen led wire to wire in Phoenix to take his first win of the season and put himself back among the tile contenders in a class ride on the HEP Suzuki with Jason Anderson unable to do anything with Roczen but taking home a strong second place to keep his title hopes extremely relevant.
Jett Lawrence came back from a mediocre start and going off-track with a little help from Cooper Webb to catching and pass Eli Tomac for third and take the red plate by six points as the top two in the championship had tough days.
Aaron Plessinger went down while putting the pressure on Roczen in the opening couple of laps and had to come from 19th to 10th while Chase Sexton took ninth after battling a hand injury after a crash during the week.
AP goes down while running second 😔
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) February 11, 2024
🎥 Monster Energy 450 Main Event LIVE fueled by @QuikTrip#SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/v2bxwMJdCt
Despite all that, the top 7 are still only seperated by 17 points!
Roczen said: “I haven’t won much in the recent years so I take these moments in so much… My start was really good. I got a super good jump. I may have shut the throttle off a little bit too early, so I almost got swallowed up there. But I had the inside and as I went around the first turn I’m like, ‘This is what I need’… The track was really tricky, it just got so slippery. I made so many micro-decisions on the track in certain areas that I picked out; as I ran through some of the first few laps I just noticed some of the key spots that are really tricky and can really bite you. So I just managed the race the whole way… I tried to not look at the time, I just clicked my laps, lap after lap. My Progressive ECSTAR Suzuki was working flawless out here today. I haven’t done many changes at all and it shows. You know, I’ve got to give it up to my whole team, my crew behind me, Peyton at home, my family, Griffin this is for you. I’ve been telling him the whole time I’m going to bring some trophies home, and especially wins, so I finally did it and this is an unbelievable moment for us.”
Lawrence said: “[I] didn’t give myself the best opportunity to go on for a win today with just getting a terrible start. But it was cool to climb my way through. It was a cool accomplishment to catch and pass Eli… So it was a cool accomplishment and just happy I was able to fight back to a podium position. [The] front boys they were gone… so especially going similar speeds here you can’t catch up, you can’t give ‘em that extra gap… It was a good finish to get third, especially with how it started.”
While Anderson commented: ““Oh 100% [I’m happy with a podium]. I’m really excited to walk out here with second. But at the end of the day I felt like I left a little on the table. I started riding tight there for a second, but, with how gnarly our class is, it’s pretty cool to be up here… Honestly this is one of my home races so everyone from the 505 out here, thanks for showing up and supporting.”
After one week off, the Western Regional 250SX Class racers were back on the track for Round 5 of their regional championship. RJ Hampshire took the win after clawing his way up from a fifth place start as Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen led early but finished the race in second after Smith went down twice, including running into the back of Kitchen as Levi slowed for yellow flags in a rhythm section!
Smith down again 😱#SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/Dacw7bEcHx
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) February 11, 2024
Team Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda took third, earning his first podium ride of 2024. The top three riders in the Western Regional 250SX Class, Kitchen, Hampshire, and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Jordon Smith are now separated by only five points.
Hampshire said of his race: “[It was] a really tough day. Man, I had that case [coming up short on the track’s large double jump in the] first timed practice. Man, that hurt me quite a bit. [I’m] getting up there in age so those don’t go by so fast… [In the] main event, got a decent start, made those passes quick. And [then] just kinda rode my own race… You know [my win at] A1 was so easy, and then, you know, you have some bad luck… Man, we work hard and it’s awesome to repay this whole Austrian team with another win. We get six weeks off now [for the west coast 250SX Class] so I get to recover a bit, but yeah, so stoked! Thank you! Arizona was awesome to me, ready to go back home.”
Highlights
Image: Feld Entertainment Inc
