Ken Roczen coasts to victory as Supercross returns to Anaheim – Orange County Register

Huynh NguyenJanuary 9, 2022

ANAHEIM — Ken Roczen coasted to his fifth career win in Anaheim to kick off the 2022 Supercross season on Saturday.

A sold-out crowd of 45,500 packed Angel Stadium for the first Supercross event in Southern California in nearly two years after the pandemic forced the series to skip Anaheim on last year’s schedule for the first time since 1998.

Angel Stadium hosted its 31st series opener Saturday, by far the most of any city.

“I love how full the stadium is,” Roczen said. “The sense of normalcy is awesome.”

Roczen, 27, pulled out of the gate in first and was threatened only at the start of the race by Honda teammate Chase Sexton, who spent the first couple minutes unsuccessfully trying to maneuver around Roczen.

But the 22-year-old Sexton, seen as a rising star in Supercross, crashed twice — first while rounding a corner and then on the ensuing whoops.

Roczen cleared the field by more than seven seconds for his 20th career win. He said that he had a “horrendous” December, dealing with a non-COVID illness and didn’t expect to win at all.

“At the same time, once racing starts, I’m always more of a racer,” Roczen said. “We’re really focused on our starts. Everything just went right, and I’m very thankful for that.”

Roczen said he eased off, knowing that he had a big lead and that the track conditions had deteriorated.

“The track was brutal out there,” Roczen said. Towards the end I was really just trying to keep it on two wheels. It’s kind of a weird position when you have that much of a gap and so many laps to go.”

Roczen also snapped Justin Barcia’s season-opening win streak. Barcia had won the previous three season openers, one shy of setting the record for most consecutive season-opening victories.

Defending champion Cooper Webb finished second and Barcia was third.

All three podium finishers agreed that the track was rough and uncharacteristic of a typical Anaheim 1 race.

“The track was tough,” Webb said. “I think you had to find that fine line of being aggressive, but also being smooth and fluent.”

Barcia called the track “one of the more wicked ones” — the whoops were steep and there were many tight spots, he said.

“They threw it on us for sure,” Barcia added.

History has not exactly treated the winner of the 450SX season opener well, with only 17 of 48 first-race winners ending the season on top. The winner of Anaheim openers has only won the series 30 percent of the time — the last to do it was Ryan Villopoto in 2012.

Malcolm Stewart finished with the top 450SX qualifying time, followed by Eli Tomac. Roczen’s win continued the streak of dominance by the sport’s “Big Three” of Roczen, Webb and Tomac. The trio had entered the night winning 84 percent of races over the last three seasons.

Temecula native Christian Craig, who began attending Supercross races in Anaheim when he was 3 years old, claimed the win in the 250SX main event.

Craig passed Vince Friese early in the race and led the rest of the way. The 30-year-old dominated the 250SX field Saturday, sweeping all three of his races — the qualifying race, his heat and the main event.

Standing at the podium after the race, Craig pointed up at the outfield stands at Angel Stadium where his 7-year-old son, Jagger, was sitting and called the win a “dream come true,” and a “bucket list” event.

“I grew up in those stands right there,” Craig said. “I remember vividly watching all the main events growing up right there as a kid — his age. And now I’m here on the stage. I think that goes to show: All you guys can do it.”

Supercross heads to Oakland next weekend and then San Diego before returning to Anaheim for Rounds 4 and 6 on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/01/08/ken-roczen-coasts-to-victory-as-supercross-returns-to-anaheim/ Ken Roczen coasts to victory as Supercross returns to Anaheim – Orange County Register

Huynh NguyenJanuary 9, 2022

Huynh Nguyen

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