Momentum builds for Honda rider following three consecutive wins.
Image: Octopi Media
Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen hinted at the potential for a championship run following three consecutive Monster Energy Supercross wins in Indianapolis.
With the 2021 Supercross season more than a third of the way finished, Roczen has emerged as the front runner. After sweeping the Indianapolis residency and completing his first three-peat, he sits atop the standings 16 points ahead of Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) in second.
The red-plate holder didn’t have the best afternoon in qualifying at round six in Indianapolis. He found himself in eighth at the conclusion of the timed sessions, nearly one second off of Webb’s fast lap at the top of the timesheets.
“We started off in practice with a little bit of a struggle – just not really getting along with the track very well.” Roczen explained following the main event.”I felt fine out there, but I simply wasn’t fast enough. We went into the night show though, and I knew that I was a better racer and that we were going to get a good result.”
After a good start in the main event, Roczen had a run-in with Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas), the latter attempting an aggressive pass resulting in contact. Remaining calm, Roczen persevered to take the win, just ahead of championship rival Webb.
“I came in contact with Justin Barcia, who hit me pretty hard and bent my shifter a bit; I wasn’t able to shift until like half a lap later. I held my lines and focused as much as I could and we did the three-peat, taking home another win on a track that wasn’t really my favorite.”
No stranger to championship runs, the multi-time champion is beginning to realize the run he’s potentially on now: “Those kinds of nights are when you get another step closer to a championship run and it was really important for us to get more points and be gaining instead of losing.”
The Monster Energy Supercross series now moves on to Orlando starting this Saturday. The venue where Roczen will look to continue his streak, is just a stones throw from his training grounds at MotoSandBox.
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