RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing teammates Ken Roczen and Broc Tickle are ready to rock in Atlanta.
RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing riders Ken Roczen and Broc Tickle are hoping to seize oppoerunity as the Monster Energy Supercross Series heads to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for two consecutive weekends of supercross action.
Roczen, who has posted two wins thus far in the series, is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes at the series last two stops, in San Diego, California, and Arlington, Texas, and he intends to get back to his winning ways in Atlanta. Roczen is currently second in points to former teammate Ryan Dungey, also a two-time winner in 2015. Roczen has finished second three times and has finished outside the top four only once, following his painful crash when he came up short on a triple jump at the Oakland round.
However, Roczen should be buoyed by the fact that Atlanta is the site of his second career Monster Energy 450cc Supercross win, which came last season, and he is hoping that Atlanta can mark a turning point in his series battle with Dungey. With 10 Supercross races remaining on the 2015 schedule, Roczen knows that there’s no time like the present.
“We’re deep in the season, and we have to stay on track with our goals,” said Roczen who also has one Supercross East Coast Lites start in Atlanta where he finished sixth. “With the exception of Oakland, we’ve had really good results. Starts and holeshots have played such a big part in the outcome of these races that we know getting out of the starting gate third or fourth isn’t going to work. We need to get holeshots and win races. If we do that, the points should take care of themselves. Atlanta is a great track. I won there last year, so it’s obviously a race I’ve been looking forward to. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we’ll be on top of the box Saturday night.”
After a solid start to the season, Tickle had his own issues in Oakland and was forced to sit out Round 5 in Anaheim to rest his back. The 2011 Supercross West Coast Lites Champion returned to action at Petco Park in San Diego and has since strung together two top-10 finishes. Tickle sits in 11th place in the series point standings, eight points behind 10th-place Justin Barcia.
“The last couple weekends haven’t been my best and it’s frustrating,” Tickle said. “We all know what happened in Oakland. It’s been tough getting through all 20 laps of the main since I got back on the bike but we haven’t made it any easier by having to race our way through the semis. We just need a good, solid weekend where we transfer into the main straight out of the heat race so I don’t have to put in any more laps on my body than necessary. I need to focus on getting good starts, riding smooth and being consistent. That’s the goal. At least for the short term.”
RCH team co-owner Ricky Carmichael is confident that Roczen and Tickle have their Suzukis dialed in for a run at the series title, but the stacked field won’t make it easy. With four different winners in the first seven races, Carmichael knows the title is up for grabs.
“Ken had a great night in Atlanta last year, so I’m sure that will give him some extra confidence going into this weekend, knowing he’s been successful there in the past,” said Carmichael who claimed his first victory as a professional at the Georgia Dome in 1997. “Broc needs to keep pushing and improving each weekend. It’s a tough field so it won’t be easy but, on the other hand, he knows he has room to be better. I think at this point in the season, it’s crunch time for Ken. Over the last few weeks, there haven’t been many points taken or given. Now is the time where he needs to start logging some wins and cutting into that point deficit. At the very least, we need to beat that orange bike.”
Round 8 of the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series gets underway in the Georgia Dome on February 21 at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Points Standings (After 7 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Dungey-152/2 wins
2. Ken Roczen-140/2 wins
3. Trey Canard-129/2 wins
4. Eli Tomac-114/1 win
5. Jason Anderson-100
6. Cole Seely-93
7. Blake Baggett-86
8. Chad Reed-85
9. Andrew Short-82
10. Justin Barcia-71
11. Broc Tickle-83
12. Davi Millsaps-56
13. Jake Weimer-55
14. Brett Metcalfe-40
15. Weston Peick-33
16. Mike Alessi-32
17. Josh Grant-30
18. Kyle Chisholm-28
19. Josh Hill-25
20. Dean Wilson-23
Phil Nicoletti-23
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