INTERVIEW
P136
the skid plates. Then, Kevin went back out, and
then came back almost immediately and said, "I
don't get it. Now this one's doing it!"
Yeah, that's crazy, because you'd think a skid
plate would make no difference in the bike at all,
unless you case a jump or whatever, but on the
other hand, it's different material, and
it probably vibrates different, or flexes
different, and there are all kinds of
little things like that that we can feel
and probably nobody else could.
This past outdoor season was
the most dominant in a long time.
The only people who have had
more dominant seasons are prob-
ably Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart. At
what point during the series were you lining up
not just believing you had everybody covered,
but really knowing you were going to win?
Always. I'm not kidding. I've said it before, and I
think people think I'm messing around or whatever,
but when I have a bike that works the way I want it to
work, I mean, obviously you always
need a little bit of luck, and some-
times there's things with injuries and
stuff, so there's always a little bit of
luck with it, but there was no doubt
in my mind one time that I wasn't go-
ing to win. Yeah, I lost a moto here
and there—and one wasn't my fault—
but even lining up in those races,
not one time did I doubt myself and
say 'I'm going to finish second.'
So you're saying if you get the
bike working the way you want it
to work, you can beat anybody.
Exactly.
You switched to RCH Suzuki
after your 2014 450MX title, and
"I think everybody agrees that I took a chance going to RCH,
but I was ready for that. That's what I wanted to do."
Knowing he was
going to make a
team change at the
end of the season,
Roczen gave the
RCH Suzuki squad
a championship
before he left.
Once Roczen
found his
confidence—
that was it. He
rose to a new
and nearly
unbeatable
level.
2016 AMA 450MX NATIONAL CHAMPION KEN ROCZEN
