Roczen Takes the Win at Houston Supercross
OutdoorHub 04.01.12
Houston, TX – The Red Bull/KTM ride of Ken Roczen earned his first win of the season at the seventh round of the AMA East Supercross Lites Series in an unexpected last lap pass for the lead.
Roczen’s win in Houston marks his second career victory in the Supercross Lites class. Roczen, who is still recovering from the flu which plagued him last week, took it easy in practice as well as in his heat. He rode a solid pace in the first heat race to easily qualify into the main event with a 3rd place result.
In the main event, Roczen pulled a great start and rounded the first corner in 2nd place behind Justin Barcia. Roczen made a nice pass on Barcia for the lead on the first lap and held it into the next before Barcia was able to get him back. Near the halfway mark in the race, Roczen had heavy pressure from Blake Baggett which forced Roczen to push harder in order to pull away. He eventually put 3 seconds on Baggett to settle into 2nd place. On the final lap with a few corners to go, Barcia crashed and allowed Roczen to move into the lead. Roczen rode it home for the win while Barcia recovered and finished 2nd.
“This isn’t the way I wanted to earn my first win, but I’ll take it,” remarked Roczen on the podium. “Sometimes in racing it’s just having good luck and tonight the luck was on my side. I am really excited to take this motivation into my training over the next two weeks and come back even stronger at New Orleans.”
Roczen’s win tonight helps him move up one position in the championship point standings. He now sits in 3rd place as the riders head into the first break of the season.
