THE WEEKLY FEED: KEN ROCZEN THEN AND NOW

FREEZE FRAME: Ken Roczen then and now

Ken Roczen has made perhaps the biggest comeback in motocross history. He left the Team RCH Suzuki effort after winning the 2016 AMA Motocross title, following a 5-win run in the SX series. Team Honda signed him in 2017 and prior to this season he has finished three events. He exploded his left arm and after a wicked crash, came back when few medical experts felt he would ever have a chance to race again. In February of this year another serious injury, this time to his good arm decimated the limb when it got sucked into Cooper Webb’s rear wheel. But the man has super human mental strength, went through more surgeries (which ironically gave his left arm more time to heal) and made his comeback at the Hangtown National. With very little track time Ken proved that he had the speed to hang with racers who have been training and racing for the 2-years that he was disabled. At Glen Helen he led for half the moto, with Eli biting at his rear fender and gets our rating as a full blown hero.

 

NEWS

 

Last Dog Standing is back! June 9th at Glen Helen Raceway

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Cody Webb has been dominant at the Last Dog. He’s passing this year as Erzberg is the week earlier.

 

DB’s Kyle Redmond finished second at last year’s Last Dog.

 

SOCIAL DISTORTION

 

Rocky Mountain’s Blake Baggett went down on lap one in moto 2 at Glen Helen, was mowed over by Barcia whose rear tire tore the left grip off his handlebar. Blake picked it up, sucked it up and fiinished the moto in 9th place. Truly a manly effort!

 

VIDEO JUKEBOX

 

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OUTTAKES

Six foot five inch Benny Bloss sits next to five foot seven inch Blake Baggett whose fork is locked down and his legs are nearly fully unlocked.

 

Ken Roczen may been away from the racing world, but he’s not afraid to get the start. This is classic body position.

 

CRASH AND BURN: A bit of carnage from the Last Dog a few years back

 

IN MY GARAGE

On the cover of the October 18th issue of CN put out in 1978 there’s a cover line with my name on it down on the bottom.
I drove up to Alamagordo New Mexico with my buddies Pete Smith and Dan Quinn to ride the National Enduro in Cloudcroft. I was racing a 1978 Yamaha YZ400 fit with an IT gas tank and a 17-inch rear wheel. The event was great as I rode on the same minute as George Hendrix, one of my heroes from Northern California. Great terrain, good special tests caboosed with a few technical glitches. I lucked out and won, though I didn’t find out about it until Cycle News came out.

WOLF: BACK IN THE DAY

The year 1995. The bike a Thumper Racing XR660. The scene, an ISDEQualifier…somewhere. Dick Burleson is on the bike to my left and at the time worked with TR and helped build my bike. Brother Mike is talking to me at a checkpoint before we hit the trail. I remember this bike to be a bike throaty sucker that wouldn’t stall in the tightest of terrain. Scotts did the suspension and for some odd reason it helped me get my Scott Summers face on and I actually raced great and enjoyed the machine completely. I rode two qualifiers that year and won the 40 class in each. My helmet features a Jerry Bernardo master piece- clown roadkill!
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