Image: Octopi Media.

HEP Suzuki racer Ken Roczen climbed to the runner-up position in the 450SMX standings to conclude the 2023 SuperMotocross Championship (SMX), with each of the three post-season events all part of his current ‘building’ process.

Roczen, 29, has battled illness throughout much of his recent career and in making the change to Suzuki this year has come a refreshed mental approach which, along with other factors have seen him revitalized.

The number 94 completed the 450SX season in fourth position and he made a cameo 450MX appearance at High Point, before shifting his attention to the World Supercross Championship (WSX) opener at Birmingham, in which he won.

That event in July marked his last gate-drop before the SMX playoffs, but nonetheless, Roczen was able to open the 450SMX post-season with second overall in Charlotte. He again was second overall at Chicagoland, this time winning in moto two, and entered the final round third in the standings and with a genuine shot at the title.

Roczen rode to second overall again on the night and that, coupled with the misfortune of former red plate-holder Chase Sexton, ensured he concluded the championship in the runner-up position.

“I went from third, now to second, which I’m happy about,” reflected Roczen. “I feel like I have been getting pretty beat down over the last couple of years, so like I said, a win would have been so nice, but I’m at the same time still building. Not the youngest anymore, but it’s nice for me to see in the later stages of my career that I’m kind of coming back toward the other spectrum a little bit.

“That’s nice for me to see and we still have a few races to go before Anaheim. For me, I’m just building every single weekend that I’m racing. Once Anaheim starts, we’ve got a lot of races to go in a row, but I feel like I’m in a completely different mentality and I take it race by race, legitimately. I know we always say that, or in the past or whatnot, but I’m just rolling with it at the moment at that seems to work.”

The attention of Roczen now shifts to the upcoming Motocross of Nations (MXoN) at Ernee, France, on 6-8 October, where he will represent Germany, before the final two rounds of the 2023 World Supercross Championship in Abu Dhabi and Melbourne.