Briefly...
GEICO Honda team manager Mike
LaRocco has been around and
seen a lot since he turned pro over
25 years ago. The GEICO team
was out in the highest numbers of
any team at the Red Bull Straight
Rhythm, with racers Malcolm Stew-
art, RJ Hampshire, Jordon Smith
and Matt Bisceglia. "I think it's neat,
especially with the Mad Skills [video
game] to have a real, live version of
it," LaRocco said. "Seems pretty
cool. My guys like doing it and that's
kind of why we're here supporting it.
It's not something the team asked
[them to do]. We have no interest in it
other than the fact that there's a race
going on and our guys want to do it.
But I think it's cool. I think it gives you
the ability to see what speed can be
made just in a rhythm section, so I
like the guys to learn off of it." But the
goal, according to LaRocco, was re-
ally simple: "To have them walk away
from here healthy," LaRocco said.
Unfortunately, the GEICO team suf-
fered the only casualty of race day
when RJ Hampshire went down re-
ally big in the whoops, was knocked
out, and had to be transported to the
hospital. Early reports are that he
checked out okay. The event's only
other injury came on Friday when
Ivan Tedesco, on an RCH Suzuki,
went down in a qualifying run, report-
edly suffering a broken heel.
RCH Suzuki's Ken Roczen has
been suffering from back problems
since just prior to the start of the
2015 Lucas Oil AMA 450cc National
Motocross Championship. First on
his to-do list after the conclusion of
that championship was to go back
to Germany and have surgery to fix
his back, but he didn't actually get
VOL. 52 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 13, 2015 P69
continued on next page
James Stewart
(7) and Ken
Roczen (94) met
in the 450-class
final.
After being forced out
of racing for a year,
James Stewart
comes out swinging
in Pomona at the
second-annual Red Bull
Straight Rhythm
