Ken Roczen had to ride through the pain barrier on Saturday night in Birmingham and, for Roczen, the final triple crown came at the worst time after he separated his AC joint in a practice crash the week before. Somehow, Roczen rode well for fifth overall and only lost one point in the championship to Cooper Webb, 27 back, but still hanging in there despite the pain.
“It was a tough weekend for us here in Birmingham,” said Roczen in today’s Suzuki press release. “I had a practice crash a week ago and separated my AC joint a little bit. We rode press day to see how it felt, and it was pretty decent, but throughout the day on Saturday if definitely got worse. As we got deeper into the night it became a pain battle. But we made it through, ended up fifth on the night, and only lost one point in the championship.
“All things considered, we had a pretty good night and fought really hard. The Triple Crowns are now over and we’re back to regular races, and we still have a few rounds to go. I’m going to do my best to heal everything up during the week and try to just show up next weekend better than this weekend.”
