RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki’s Ken Roczen dominates round four of the Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross Championship in Pennsylvania.
With the announcement that reigning Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross Champion will be out of action for 6-8 weeks due to a neck injury, the question coming into round four of the
series at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, was, “Will anyone be able to stop Ken Roczen?”
Roczen answered that question today with an emphatic “No” as he easily rolled to a clean two-moto sweep, netting his ninth career Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross win and his third overall win in the four rounds so far in 2016. With no Dungey to keep him honest, the 22-year-old RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki rider made it look easy, claiming his sixth and seventh moto wins out of the eight 450cc National motos run.
Tomac appeared set to grab the holeshot as the 450cc field left the starting gate in Moto 1, but he drifted wide and allowed Roczen and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson to run one-two off the first corner. Tomac quickly moved back into second place, and settled into a pace that left him just under 2 seconds off Roczen’s rear fender as the moto commenced. But then Tomac went down in a right-hand corner on lap three, dropping outside the top five while Team HRC’s Cole Seely and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin moved into second and third place respectively after Anderson also crashed.
While Roczen clicked off laps with a clear track in front of him going on to win by 14.6 seconds, the battle for second place remained close for much of the moto. Musquin was ultimately able to pull clear of a five-rider fray to nail down second place, Anderson was able to close in on Seely and pass the Honda rider for third place on lap nine. Seely had no answer for Anderson, and would crash while running fourth, handing the spot to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel. After running second early, Tomac could only muster a fifth-place finish.
Afterward, Roczen said that even though he no longer concern himself with Dungey in the title race, bhis mental focus remains the same.
“We’re here to win, and all I do is ride with the most focus that I can possibly go to,” Roczen said. “The track is obviously gnarly out here. They put a bunch of mulch in, so the bumps get really big, and they water it so it gets super slippery…I could open up a gap, and just kept it on two wheels and rode smart.”
After finishing seventh in Moto 1, Autotrader/Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Justin Barcia snared the holeshot in Moto 2, but Roczen also got away clean and slotted in behind Barcia and made an easy pass on the opening lap. From there Roczen appeared set for another easy win, but Tomac had other ideas.
Tomac ran fifth on the opening lap, behind Musquin, Anderson and Barcia, but he quickly overtook Musquin for fourth and set his sights on Anderson and Barcia, as Anderson had passed Barcia for second place on the opening lap. Tomac appeared to be much more dialed-in to the rough and gnarly High Point circuit in the second moto, and he chipped away at Roczen’s lead. However, there simply wasn’t enough time as Roczen crossed the finish line just over 2 seconds ahead of Tomac. Anderson once again finished third.
Winning both motos cinched the overall win for Roczen.
“I just stuck to what I did,” Roczen said. “The track is really gnarly here, and it’s pretty warm, but overall I am happy with the day.”
Anderson’s consistent 3-3 finishes netted second overall ahead of Musquin, who went 2-4.
“It was a consistent day today,” Anderson said. “I was 3-3 for second overall, which is great. I just really want to stop getting outrun by those guys up front, so we need to keep working hard during the week to try and get up there.”
Musquin’s third-place overall finish marked his first career Lucas Oil 450cc podium visit.
“I was really looking forward to this race after a weekend off,” Musquin said. “I have been working on myself and on the bike, so I am really happy to get on the podium, my first [450cc] podium outdoors. Just like supercross, it was difficult at the beginning, and I got better. Hopefully we will keep building.”
2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Red Bull High Point National
High Point Raceway
Mount Morris, Pennsylvania
Results: June 18, 2016 (Round 4 of 12)
450cc Overall
1. Ken Roczen, Germany, Suzuki (1-1)
2. Jason Anderson, Edgewood, NM, Husqvarna (3-3)
3. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (2-4)
4. Eli Tomac, Cortez, CO, Kawasaki (5-2)
5. Justin Barcia, Monroe, NY, Yamaha (7-5)
6. Christophe Pourcel, France, Husqvarna (4-9)
7. Justin Bogle, Cushing, Okla., Honda (6-7)
8. Cole Seely, Newbury Park, CA, Honda (9-6)
9. Broc Tickle, Holly, MI, Suzuki (8-10)
10. Weston Peick, Wildomar, CA, Yamaha (13-8)
2016 Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross Championship Standings (after 4 of 12 rounds)
1. Ken Roczen-193/3 overall wins/7 moto wins
2. Eli Tomac- 152
3. Ryan Dungey- 131/1 overall win/1 moto win
4. Cole Seely-116
5. Jason Anderson- 113
6. Marvin Musquin-104
7. Trey Canard-97
8. Justin Barcia-92
9. Josh Grant- 88
10. Christophe Pourcel- 76
Justin Bogle- 76
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