MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
SUPERCROSS
R
CH Suzuki's Ken Roczen's
dominant win at the AMA Su-
percross season opener in Ana-
heim, California, made a statement in
spite of the season's uncertainty: new
team, new bike, same Roczen.
It's a known fact that there's al-
ways a lot of hype surrounding Ana-
heim I, but there was arguably more
so leading up to the start of 2015.
With all the changes—new faces and
absent ones—it was billed in social
media as #whosnext, after all, the
more apt: #ryanvillopotosleftthebuild-
ing would've been way too long, and
didn't have quite the same ring to it.
Yes, the reigning four-time AMA
Supercross Champion, Villopoto, has
moved on to Europe to compete in
the World Championship MXGP se-
ries, meaning that for the first time in
five years a new Supercross Cham-
pion will be crowned.
And it wasn't just that the sport's
dominant champion left the series, or
that one of its other big names—Yo-
shimura Suzuki's James Stewart—was
sidelined for a season-long suspen-
sion. There's a lot of new guys out
there that could make 2015 a chang-
ing of the guard moment.
Even if a new guy doesn't step up,
there's still a few former champions
around: Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dung-
ey—the last guy not named Villopoto
to be crowned champ—and two-time
winner Chad Reed. There's also
some series regulars chomping at
ROUND 1/JANUARY 3, 2015
ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM/ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
P38
Roczen repeats last year's
Anaheim I triumph and gives
his new team its first victory
BY ANDREA WILSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAN MOORE AND KIT PALMER
NEW YEAR,
SAME ROCZEN
