Team Suzuki Press Office – May 26.
RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen and Broc Tickle raced to fourth and 13th-place overall in Saturday’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross FMF Glen Helen National at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California.
RCH Soaring Eagle/ Jimmy John’s/ Suzuki Factory Racing’s Roczen’s solid outing – and podium in race two - propelled the German rider from 12th to sixth in the Pro Motocross Championship standings. Tickle’s day was full of challenges but despite finishing 12th and 15th in each of the day’s 450 motos, the rider of RCH’s No. 20 Suzuki RM-Z450 still sits 10th in the points table with 10 races left.
After fighting his way through last week’s outdoor season opener with an ailing back, Roczen rebounded by posting the fastest lap of Saturday morning’s qualifying session and looked to be in winning form before the gate dropped on the first 450 moto of the day.
Bad luck in the form of contact with another rider left Roczen hung-up shortly after the gate dropped and ultimately deep in the field when he pointed his Suzuki RM-Z450 in the right direction. Despite the incident, the defending Pro Motocross Champion charged back to finish eighth.
Roczen stepped-it-up in the second moto and bettered his first showing by a handsome five positions to record his first podium finish of the 2015 outdoor campaign.
“It seems like the luck wasn’t really on our side during that first moto,” Roczen explained. “I got tangled-up with someone and got stuck really long and started dead last, basically, but made my way up to eighth, which was ok. In the second moto, I got a little bit better start and fought my way up to third right away. I was behind (Ryan) Dungey and tried to hang on but I tipped over and that’s what cost me big time. After that, I just tried to be somewhat consistent. The track was really gnarly. I made a bunch of mistakes. If I could have cleaned up some places, it would have made my lap times quite a bit better. We’ll build from here. I’m ok with third place in the second moto. We’ll work hard this week and try to get back up top.”
For Tickle, Round two didn’t go exactly as planned, but the 25-year-old veteran took the good with the bad and set his sights on the next race.
“It was alright,” said Tickle after the race. “I was looking forward to Glen Helen. I felt like I rode well preparing for the National. The track was brutal. I felt like part of the issue was that I started off a little slow and that left me with a bad start. I ended up being around slower guys in the beginning of the race. Towards the end of the motos, I felt like I had some good flow going but it was just too late.
“I pulled into the mechanics area during the first moto, thinking I had a flat tyre and went back to 19th and then back to 12th, so that was a bit of a struggle. In the second moto, I stalled my bike on top of the hill, went back to 19th again and then back to 15th. I feel like I had some good laps at the end. I’m looking forward to Colorado and the rest of the races.”
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship heads to Lakewood, Colorado this week for Saturday’s True Value Thunder Valley National from Thunder Valley Motocross Park.
Glen Helen 450 Motocross Results:
1. Eli Tomac (1-1)
2. Justin Barcia (2-4)
3. Ryan Dungey (6-2)
4. Ken Roczen – RCH Suzuki (8-3)
5. Weston Peick (5-6)
6. Chad Reed (4-8)
7. Blake Baggett – Yoshimura Suzuki (7-7)
8. Christophe Pourcel (9-10)
9. Cole Seely (14-9)
10. Jason Anderson (38-5)
13. Broc Tickle – RCH Suzuki (12-15)
450 Motocross Standings:
1. Eli Tomac, 100
2. Ryan Dungey, 81
3. Weston Peick, 64
4. Blake Baggett (Yoshimura Suzuki), 61
5. Justin Barcia, 58
6. Ken Roczen (RCH Suzuki), 51
7. Jason Anderson, 50
8. Christophe Pourcel, 48
9. Chad Reed, 46
10. Broc Tickle, (RCH Suzuki), 43
