Anaheim 1

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Viewpoint: Ken Roczen

Viewpoint: Ken Roczen

Lewis PhillipsJanuary 10, 20220

Ken Roczen started the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross campaign in the best possible fashion; he reached the chequered flag first and added twenty-six points to his championship total. Roczen had won the season opener three times previously, so why was this triumph such a surprise? The crux of the situation is that he did not have the most productive month prior to round one and made that quite clear to all who would listen.

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“There were a couple of changes going on, then I went to see a doctor over there [in Europe] to try and figure some other things out,” Roczen said about his pre-season preparation in a media event. “Everything was going to plan until kind of like mid-December or the beginning of December. I came down with a gnarly sickness for some reason – it was not COVID-19 – and I am still battling the effects a little bit. It threw a wrench in our programme for this December and it was a bit of a struggle.”

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It is not overly surprising that such a statement caused pundits and fans alike to move away from the Honda HRC rider. A month-long illness should be taken seriously, especially at such a pivotal point in the off-season programme, and some would argue that him finishing seventh in timed qualifying was an example of some rust. Roczen was just five tenths from the fastest qualifier though and that should have been a hint that he was stronger than anyone had imagined.

There was no sign of him struggling during his heat race, which he won convincingly. The lap times that he recorded from beginning to end did not fluctuate much at all – every time that he recorded was within the same second. The main event, which he led from start to finish, following a similar pattern, as he stayed in the same second for the first eleven laps of the main and avoided a significant drop in the second half. One could certainly argue that Anaheim 1 was Roczen at his best.

“I felt surprisingly good actually,” Roczen said about his form in the main event. “It just ultimately comes down to not riding much in December. It is not that you are necessarily less fit – it is just that when you do not do twenties all of the time then they feel foreign. I felt pretty good. It was a little weird having that big a gap, with that much riding time to go. I guess it was kind of nice with how tough the track was. It is just a weird position because you want to be careful but not too careful.”

Do the events of the past two seasons allow fans to really appreciate Roczen at his best? Winning Anaheim 1 is a monumental achievement and should ignite an avalanche of conversations about his title chances. It feels as though the common consensus is that everyone has seen this story play out before though. Roczen always starts strong – he had the red plate after three events last season and the year before that as well, then he had it after two rounds of 2019 Monster Energy Supercross. This is what he does.

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Even if Roczen has a twenty-point advantage after the west-coast swing, most will still be sceptical. It is the second half where a microscope is placed on him. There were sub-par showings at the end of last year that remain at the forefront of minds and prompt a cloud of negativity. There is something that everyone tends to ignore though – he lost the title by thirty-five points last season and was twenty-two down heading into the finale. It is not like his season was a bust and he was closer than most give him credit for.

Is this going to be the year that Roczen puts it all together and claims the 450SX title? That is too far out to dive into at this point but remember what a force he is. Perhaps the turbulent month of December had an impact on his performance at Anaheim 1, more so than anyone noticed from the stands, and he will only get stronger in the coming weeks? History has taught us that he is difficult to beat through the first portion of the calendar.

Andrew Short Stage 8

Andrew Short: “Today was a little rough for me. I needed to pick up my pace a little to make up a bit more time so from the start I really pushed, but after 19 kilometres I got lost. So that wasn’t a great start to the day. Once I figured out where I was I got back into it and my pace was pretty decent after that. After refueling I really nailed the navigation so despite a bad start, I turned it around pretty good. I’m still aiming for a strong finish to the race and with four days to go there’s still a long way to the end.”

450SX Main Event Highlights - Anaheim One 2022

It wouldn’t be an AMA Supercross if the big players didn’t perform brilliantly, erratically or angrily—and that was the case at the 2022 AMA Anaheim 1 Supercross. While Ken Roczen got the holeshot (in both his heat and the main) and benefited from Chase Sexton’s mistakes, behind Kenny was an all-out war between every other big name player in the 450 class. Cooper Webb raced a strong race to second at A1, while Justin Barcia was on the podium. On his new Yamaha Eli Tomac circulated in 10th for most of the race, but benefited from the mayhem in front of him to get to sixth by the flag. As for Dylan Ferrandis, he has to regroup and start over. His 16th place, just means more focus on his starts from here on out.

Jett Lawrence

Interview: Jett Lawrence

Lewis PhillipsJanuary 8, 20220

It’s been an eventful week in the world of Monster Energy Supercross, as injuries have forced late changes to the 250SX West entry list for Anaheim 1. Jett Lawrence was one of those casualties, sadly, as a crash on December 27 left him with a fractured rib. Jett was lucky to escape with a relatively small injury, but it was still far too painful for him to ride and thus Hunter Lawrence was drafted in for the opening round at Angel Stadium.

Jett and Hunter were both in Southern California on Wednesday evening, as a pre-race press conference was held for the duo at the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa. It was a revolutionary event and one that opened eyes as to how much more could be done in the sport. The event also provided MX Vice with a chance to talk to Jett about his crash, injury and just how close he came to trying to racer at Anaheim 1.

“It sucked. I was feeling really good and very, very excited for the west coast,” Jett told MX Vice. “I just made a slight mistake and it ended up costing me, which sucked. Thankfully, I came away with just a fractured rib like you said. Very lucky with that. I get to have another second chance. Luckily, I have east coast to go to. Not like 450s where it is like, ‘Come on you have to suck it up and still go.’ It sucks, but it has kind of worked out a little bit.

“Monday was kind of the tell. I rode and tried to see if I could push through it. I still had a sharp pain. If it was not for the sharp pain, then I think I would be okay. The bone has kind of healed – it is more muscle now. I still had enough of a sharp pain where I could barely ride. I was so gutted.”

Let the Games Begin

2022 Dakar Rally Results: stage 6 cancelled after 100km – Sanders wins

07 January 2022 | Rally

Results from stage six of the 2022 Dakar Rally where tougher than usual riding conditions caused its cancelation – Daniel Sanders didn’t agree but won anyway taking a GASGAS one-two ahead of race leader Sam Sunderland.

Dakar Stage 6 in a nutshell:

• The switcharoo game played out by the organisers between the bikes and four-wheelers these last two days didn’t quite go to plan today. Competitors on two and four wheels separated for two stages, the bikes running yesterday’s car route today and vice versa.
• But after all the four-wheelers had ploughed the route and because of wet conditions (in places, our images don’t do it justice), it made heavy going for the bikes, dangerous some said, and the 400km special was cut to 100km.
• The official statement from race direction reads: “The bike and quad race was stopped at the first NEU (neutralised zone and fuel point). The degradation of the track due to the passage of cars and trucks yesterday, on the top of recent heavy rains made the course impassable.”
• Not everyone agreed with the decision, stage winner Daniel Sanders being one: “For me, there was no problem with the terrain. We’ve done many races like this…They [other riders] rang the officials and complained and they called it.”
• If you’ve ridden any muddy off-road event, Romaniacs or a Scandinavian winter enduro for example, these decisions seem hard to grasp. But these bikes are bigger, faster and the logistics of time and safety have to be taken into account. 
• Sanders was fastest out the blocks, those enduro skills helping when the going got tough and he bagged the stage six win. Whether he wanted a picnic today or not.
• The winning margin was 2:26 over Sam Sunderland with Matthias Walkner a further 10 seconds back in third.
• The early stop and the stage conditions meant the times were remarkably close – just seconds separated each rider right down the running order, not just the top 30.
• Danilo Petrucci got a rude awakening after yesterday’s historic stage win. First away means no-one in front and just some scribbly marks on a piece of paper to follow on this technically more demanding stage. Danilo had a minor tip-off three minutes into the stage and was quickly gobbled up by the following pack.
• The stage win moves Sanders past Adrien Van Beveren to third in the general classification, five minutes behind Sam Sunderland who leads with KTM’s Matthias Walkner sandwiched between the GASGAS boys ahead of tomorrow’s rest day.
• It was a disappointing end to week one for Ross Branch who also crashed early and injured himself. The Yamaha pilot DNFs his second Dakar on the factory Yamaha.

Feel the need for more stage six analysis? Read our daily Dakar notebook: 2022 Dakar Rally Notebook: stage six – should they have cancelled it? 

Brett Cue 2-Stroke at Nona’s Nightmare - 2022 YZ250

Musquin New Approach

Program for 2022 ‘completely different’ says Musquin

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Frenchman enters new season motivated and pressure-free.

 

Image: Supplied.

Marvin Musquin enters 2022 revitalized by a ‘completely different program’ led by David Vuillemin heading into the Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

Musquin, 32, has experienced success in off-season events in years past, the 2022 pre-season being no different as he was crowned the ‘King of Paris’ when he clean swept the 2021 edition in France.

However, with a multitude of accolades achieved at these one-off events, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider is still chasing an elusive 450SX crown, a revolutionized approach heading into this season potentially the key to achieving such.

“This year is a lot different, my program is completely different, I decided to stay here in California and have DV with me at the practice track,” Musquin detailed, now on a Supercross-only arrangement with KTM riding the all-new 450 SX-F Factory Edition.

“I tried that in the past, in 2019 to have him with me but it didn’t really fit the program with Aldon [Baker], so this year was a lot different and I really wanted to work with him out on the track, and I knew it was going to be different and fun.

“He made me do different tracks on the actual track and like different rhythm sections and working on the whoops and stuff, that’s exactly what I wanted and it worked so I’m excited about it.

“But definitely the expectations, I have no idea but I want to do good, there’s so many good guys and I like it like this. There’s actually no pressure but I’m glad to be here with Red Bull KTM and we will see how it goes Saturday. It’s definitely a new program that brings motivation and more fun and more freedom going into the championship.”

Musquin started and finished the 2021 450SX championship strongly – a podium at Houston’s opener and a victory at round 16 at Salt Lake City – but suffered in the mid-season, crashing in the heat race at Arlington 1, forced to miss Arlington 2 before a tweaked wrist hampered his return at Arlington 3.

The is no doubting Musquin’s speed, and if the fresh program is the key to unlocking consistently throughout the season then he could be a real threat for the 450SX title when the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross championship kicks off this Saturday in Anaheim, CA.