After it looked like some bad luck had taken Roczen away from the championship battle despite riding fantastic all year long, the German performed to an elite level yet again in Detroit but this time his title rivals finally gave up some points themselves!
Hunter Lawrence had a huge crash in the whoops to finish eighteenth as Eli Tomac took over the points lead with a subdued fifth, leaving Roczen as the man with the momentum and now only 15 points back with six rounds left and, crucially, riding the best out of all the title contenders right now.
After the race. Ken spoke about the importance of the win and how he has kept believing despite the bad luck recently that cost him crucial points in the championship.
Roczen on the win
I knew my back was a little bit against the wall, obviously at 31 points back. I knew what I was up against and I said for the past couple of weekends, I need to start winning some of these and not let the same guys, even though I ride really good, but let the same guys win and I keep losing points.
That’s been the most frustrating part over the last two/ three races. So it just all came together. I really believe today was the day, but then also you’ve got to go out and actually do it. So after the great start, I wasn’t all the fastest in the beginning of the race. I knew that they were coming. I changed my lines a little bit from the heat race and from qualifying and then ended up changing some stuff back because they were gaining on me pretty good.
But I didn’t let that freak me out just because the track was really tricky. You just had some super grabby, tacky areas and like the 90 degree turns without the berm before the finish was really slick. The whoops, obviously got demolished, I didn’t really make too many mistakes and it’s just a long race. And once it all comes together and you see that checkered flag, it’s like such a monkey off the back.
Right now it was just such a overwhelming feeling of emotions just because it’s also been a long time since I’ve gotten two wins in one season. So I hope I can add on to that, but it just, it all came together with my crew and everything. So it’s, yeah, I need to sit down a little bit and actually like fully let this sink in!
Playing it safe in the whoops
The track was super tricky and I almost felt a little bit too good in qualifying to be honest because it, everything kind of came easy. I felt loose but the track is technical and it does get rutted and it is tacky and the whoops do get beat to crap, you know? So in the heat race, I had one little moment in the whoops and I’m like, ‘whoop,’ there it was.
So I knew going into the main that I have to keep my composure and be a little methodical about it. I told my mechanic right before the race, that I want to approach this race in a mellow manner just because even though I have been crushing the whoops, it takes that one time of getting too cocky and sending it in there and you have a moment. So I just kind of steered clear of the bulldog mentality, you know, and that’s exactly what I did. I may have not been the fastest but I did put myself in good positions and hung in there and kept going.
Keeping the belief
I’m kind of my own guinea pig, if that makes sense. So over the last couple of years I’ve just worked on that and done things differently. I had a talk earlier with somebody about kind of doing whatever my heart desires.So I just, I stay happy throughout the season and obviously I got my hands full with my kids. I mean, that’s a whole other ballpark of emotional strength that you need!
So that’s definitely gotten me a lot more robust, but at the same time, I’ve put in the same effort over the last 10, 11 rounds. So even though I kept losing points, I couldn’t ignore that I’m riding really well and that I must be doing something right. So that’s what I held on to, you know, and it really is true.
Demolishing the fading narrative
It’s the truth. I mean, I get where the media and fans or wherever it is, I get where they’re coming from because I haven’t been able to finish the season over the last couple of years because of injury. So I guess I get where they’re coming from but the last time I faded in a season was 2022. Honestly, let it go. Let me do the talking out there and then if I keep doing it, you can go right back to it. But as of right now, there has been absolutely no signs and I’m sick of hearing it, honestly.
Having German fans at the race!
This year, and I feel like even last year, over the last couple of years, we have been absolutely sold out. Maybe it wasn’t quite sold out, but you know what I’m saying. It’s been packed and it’s just a joy to race in front of them, you know, win or lose. The German guys, I saw them, I think it was during opening ceremonies. So I knew that some were coming because I had some friends from Germany hit me up and be like, hey, there’s a whole bunch of people from Germany coming and this and that.
So they were close to the track and I saw the flag and yeah, it just, it feels great. And not just the German fans, but everybody. I mean, if the fans weren’t in the stadium, it would not even be half as cool.
