Ken Roczen And RCH Suzuki Win Monster Energy Cup
RCH Suzuki Factory Racing's Ken Roczen
picked up a cool $100,000 by winning the fifth running of the
Monster Energy Cup at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, USA at the
weekend.
The feat marked one of the highest profile victories to date for
the RCH Soaring Eagle/ Jimmy John's/ Suzuki Factory Racing team,
co-owned by five-time Supercross Champion Ricky Carmichael and
Freestyle Motocross visionary and entrepreneur Carey Hart.
Roczen turned in a 1-4-1 finish in the three 10-lap main
event-format race to take the overall victory that promised to pay
$1 million if a rider could sweep all three segments.
"I felt great out there," Roczen said. "The bike felt good, but we
only had a week and a half to really go through a lot of testing.
We tried to squeeze everything in and it worked out. I think that's
the best I've ever seen the track in Las Vegas. Normally, it gets
rock-hard and dry. I think all the moisture and rain we had
previously helped a lot. In the morning it was wet and pretty muddy
but for how hot it was during the day, the track was pretty
good."
Roczen's RCH stablemate Broc Tickle
finished 12th overall but, despite not battling bar-to-bar at the
front of the field, the Holly, Michigan rider felt good about his
performance to close out the 2015 season.
"All in all, I think it was good," commented Tickle following the
event. "I showed some intensity that I struggled with during
Supercross. I feel like we made some improvements to the bike and
that showed Saturday night. I was stoked with the way I was riding.
Unfortunately, results-wise, it didn't show on paper but I'm still
stoked with where I'm at. Ivan (Tedesco) has been testing for us
the last two months and that's made a big difference. I'm going to
take a couple days off and then go overseas and race in Italy. I'll
stay on my feet and work on the things that I need to improve
before Anaheim. Hopefully, we'll come in there with some speed and
a little more confidence and I'll be right there."
Both team principles were on hand in Las Vegas, with Carmichael
handling broadcast duties for FOX Sports and Hart keeping a close
eye on the action from the pits.
"It
was a great night for the team and obviously, for Ken," explained
Carmichael. "We still have a long way to go but I'm really happy
about the direction we're heading and the people we have in place.
Everyone has a great support group around them and we need to keep
it that way. We'll keep striving. We're not quite at the level
where we want to be. We're all going to get better and continue to
progress throughout the off-season. I feel like RCH is headed down
the right path as we prepare for the 2016 Monster Energy Cup
season. Broc showed a lot of speed, especially during the last
practice. The races didn't pan out for him like we wanted them to
but his speed is good and his confidence is right where it needs to
be. He's going to be good."
"It was a great night," added Hart. "We won the opener of the
season and the closer of the season. We have a lot to work on to
get ready for next year but we made some big gains in 2015 and we
ended the year on a good note. Now it's time to focus on getting
Ken and Broc ready for A1 (Anaheim) in January. It's important for
us to keep our heads down and move forward."
Monster Energy Cup Class Overall Results:
- Ken Roczen, RCH Suzuki (1-4-1)
- Ryan Dungey, KTM (2-5-2)
- Jason Anderson, Husqvarna (6-1-3)
- Justin Barcia, Yamaha (5-3-4)
- Davi Millsaps, KTM (3-6-6)
- Trey Canard, Honda (10-2-14)
- Justin Brayton, KTM (11-7-12)
- Blake Baggett, Yoshimura Suzuki (4-9-18)
- Christian Craig, Honda (14-14-5)
- Chad Reed, Yamaha (9-16-8)
- Broc Tickle, RCH Suzuki
Source: Suzuki Factory Racing
