IN
THE
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ROCZEN JOINS TEAM HONDA HRC
I
t's official: Ken Roczen is now
a member of the Honda HRC
motocross/supercross team.
It's been widely known for quite
some time now that Roczen had
signed on with the Honda HRC
factory supercross/motocross
team earlier this year, but now
it's official. Honda made the
announcement last week via a
press release and a video, stat-
ing that the 2016 AMA 450MX
Champion has signed a three-
year contract with the red team.
He joins teammate Cole Seely.
The release does not mention
when he'll make his racing debut
on the Honda. He has spent the
last couple of years as a mem-
ber of the Soaring Eagle/Jimmy
John's/RCH Suzuki Team.
"I'm really excited to be a part
of Team Honda HRC," Roczen
said in the Honda release. "I'm
always looking to improve my-
self, as well as my surroundings,
team and equipment, which is
why I decided to make a
switch. I want to have the
upper hand on every other
rider out there, and I think
I have that with Honda.
Things are still new, but I'm
feeling amazing and blown
away by the bike and the
atmosphere of the team.
I think that when any rider
makes a switch to a new
team, he doesn't fully know
what to expect, so having
such a smooth transition
so far has been great. Big
changes like this are great
opportunities to make a
statement, and I think doing an
awesome video to announce
something so special and big is
really unique, especially to our
industry. I'm excited that Honda
was on board with the idea. Oth-
er sports do things like this, but
it's kind of a first for someone
in the motocross industry. Most
of the inspiration came from my
buddy Ken Block, who always
puts out killer videos. I talked to
Honda about it and they were
super stoked. Everyone worked
hard to get it done, and the
finished product is great."
Later that same day of the
Honda announcement, Suzuki
issued a statement of its own:
Suzuki Motor of America, Inc.
congratulates Ken Roczen on his
success with Suzuki over the past
two years. Roczen's domination
of the 2016 AMA 450 Motocross
Championship on the RCH Fac-
tory Suzuki demonstrates the
superiority of the RM-Z450. A
product of Suzuki's Amateur Rac-
ing Program, Ken rejoined the Su-
zuki family in 2015 with one goal
in mind, winning. Mission accom-
plished. Thank you Ken and good
luck in your future endeavors. CN
Roczen is
officially
a member
of Team
Honda HRC.
