Team Honda Plays In The Mud
Team Honda’s motocross whiz kid and MX2-class Motocross World Champion Ken Roczen, sponsored by a subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company, recently turned in a messy but decent finish at the Unadilla Motocross track in New Berlin, New York.
Rough Conditions
For this leg of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship season, Roczen participated in two 450cc MX class races, finishing seventh overall. Despite dry conditions during the qualifying rounds, rain made simply finishing the race a difficult prospect for multiple riders. For the series, Roczen remains in fourth place, with 358 points. That’s just five points behind his nearest rival, Justin Barcia.
Although Roczen likes racing in mud, he says, “It was definitely on the more challenging side when it comes to conditions.” His races were plagued by muddy goggles and a couple of unfortunate falls. Team manager Erik Kehoe put a positive spin on the event: “We got through it unscathed and, in the end, we learned a lot. The important part is that Kenny got out of here healthy and the team made good progress.” Team Honda’s mechanic Oscar Wirdeman blamed a couple of bad starts, but was upbeat about Roczen’s performance at the end of the day. “[Ken] should’ve probably been fifth, but he had a tip-over in the mud and then his gloves and grips were all muddy. In the end it was an uphill battle but we’re leaving in one piece.”
The 450cc bikes weren’t the only ones that got dirty. In the 250cc MX class, Chase Sexton of Team GEICO Honda had a decent showing as well, finishing fifth overall.
The Next Round
The eleventh stage of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship will take place at the Budds Creek National, on August 18, in Mechanicsville, Maryland. You can rest assured that Team Honda will be ready.
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Source: Honda