Team Suzuki Press Office – July 11.
Ken Roczen and his RCH Suzuki Factory RM-Z450 raced to the second-step of the podium with two runner-up places at the weekend’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Red Bull Southwick National in America.
The Soaring Eagle/ Jimmy John’s/ Suzuki Factory Racing leader of the championship waged a spirited battle with eventual race winner Eli Tomac for much of both 450 Class motos Saturday afternoon but ultimately yielded the top spot to Tomac and go on to notch runner-up showings in the seventh round of 12.
Despite coming up just short on his sixth overall victory in seven races this season, Roczen still paces the points race where he holds-down a commanding 47-point lead with five events remaining on the 2016 calendar.
“I felt like I struggled, pretty bad,” explained Roczen. “No excuses. I struggled in the first moto so we went back and made some changes and it was better for the second one. It wasn’t ideal. I kind-of felt uncomfortable out there all day. Just tried to minimise the mistakes and do the best I can even though it wasn’t ideal. In the second moto we had a good battle going on. We were kind of yo-yoing there for a while. He (Tomac) had certain spots where he was faster and I was closing in other spots. We weren’t ever really close enough where I could have maybe gone up the inside and made a pass. It was a tough one out there.”