Roczen Pulls Out
I
t's been obvious that something
hasn't been quite right with Ken
Roczen since he won the open-
ing round of the 2022 Monster
Energy Supercross Series at
Anaheim 1, January 8. The Hon-
da HRC rider has finished inside
the top five just once (and that
was a fifth) and outside the top
10 four times since then. As of
the Daytona Supercross, Roczen
was placed ninth in the cham-
pionship. The following week,
Roczen's team confirmed that he
is indeed dealing with health is-
sues that will sideline him for the
rest of the Supercross series and
perhaps even longer.
The Honda team releases the
following:
Along with his team and family,
Team Honda HRC rider Ken Roc-
zen has decided to take a break
from the 2022 AMA Supercross
series. Roczen won the January
8 Anaheim 1 season opener in
convincing fashion, but his results
since then have suffered as he
struggles with health issues. With
the strains of the hectic racing
schedule complicating progress,
Roczen will withdraw from the
series indefinitely, beginning with
this weekend's Detroit round.
Roczen has dealt with the ef-
fects of the Epstein-Barr virus
since recovering from serious
injuries in 2017 and '18, al-
though he has made progress at
different times, including after
sitting out the entire 2020 AMA
Pro Motocross series. He was
stricken by an unrelated illness
at the end of calendar-year 2021
but was nonetheless able to take
a surprise win at the first event.
Unfortunately, he hasn't felt like
himself since then, a situation
that was compounded by a bout
with Covid-19 just after the Janu-
ary 22 San Diego round. Roczen
IN
THE
WIND
P28
Ken Roczen cited health
reasons for pulling out
of Supercross.
