Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/560837
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 /AUGUST 22, 2015 IRONMAN MX / CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA P48 TEAM TURMOIL Major controversy arose just before the Ironman National when German magazine Cross Magazine published an interview with Ken Roczen's father Heiko Klepka, which was reportedly highly critical of the organization of the RCH Suzuki squad. The magazine, which according to the publication's website hasn't even yet hit news- stands, was being roughly translated by a member of the VitalMX message board with the handle GER_shortymx. If accurate, the gist of the article provides an inside glimpse of some of the frustrations last year's 450 MX champ is feeling with his new team. His father said he is not pleased with some of the personnel in the team, specifically citing Mark Johnson, who Roczen's father claims is arrogant and has no clue about suspension. He even claims the RCH Suzuki team is not truly a team, but a ran- domly mixed bunch of self-promoters, who are all just working for their own interests. He even goes as far to say that he's sure his son would leave the RCH were it not for a two million dol- lar penalty he would incur should he break the contract. Roczen's father claims they went out and bought a stock Suzuki RM- Z450 and tested it against the RCH factory bike and that Roczen was three-seconds per lap faster on the stock machine. If you read between the lines of what Roczen's father says, it ap- pears that Roczen would like to bring on some personnel from Germany, who he trusts, but that proposal was rejected by the team. He even says the team turned down an offer from American Suzuki to help dial in Roc- zen's race bike. The interview of his father is in sharp contrast to Roczen himself, who is a very professional rider who always puts on the best face, empha- sizes the positive and is rarely if ever publically critical of his team. He has conveyed some frustration at finding suspension settings that make the bike comfortable to him, but he never let on that problems inside the team go any deeper than finding suspen- sion settings. At the Ironman Roczen was being mostly kept away from the media in terms of one-on-one interviews. His minders were watching him like a hawk. At one point when I saw Roc- zen sitting alone in the press tent I ap- proached him to ask him some ques- tions and his PR person swooped in and her expression made it clear she was less than enthused with the im- promptu interview taking place. When asked to comment on his father's magazine interview Roczen declined, saying he'd already made a statement to Racer X magazine, and he didn't want to talk anymore about it. In his interview with Racer X, Roc- zen expressed shock over his father's statements and says he speaks for himself. "The only person who can make a statement like this is me," Roczen told Racer X. "I'm old enough to choose my words and make my own decisions and say what I want to say." RCH Suzuki felt the situation seri- ous enough that on Friday before the Ironman National, team co-owner Ricky Carmichael responded to the controversy. "I don't want to comment on remarks made by someone outside of RCH," Carmichael said. "In respect to Ken and his relationship with his father, whatever happens between them is between them. So I will not comment on speculation and rumors. "This is our third season as a race team with Carey (Hart) and I. Obvi- Marvin Musquin's bid for the 250 title ended early in the first moto. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB KOY