WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 24, 2017 P55
it. Roczen's teammate Cole
Seely moved into second a few
laps in, and Roczen was making
quick work of every rider on the
track before finally finding his
way past Webb for third after five
laps. But then Roczen got be-
hind his teammate, and although
he caught Seely within only a lap
or two, he seemed unable to get
by. Was he trying to be nice to
his teammate? That's logical. But
Seely is a gamer, and it usually
takes top guys longer to pass
people the closer they get to the
front.
Then, at the halfway point of
the race, it happened: Roczen
very slightly over-jumped part
of a rhythm section, and then
when he launched off of the next
rhythm-triple, his Honda kicked
him off.
Roczen fell a good 20 feet
out of the sky, landing on a rut-
ted face of a rhythm jump head
and upper-body first. He hit the
first time he was able to follow
up his opening win with another
one at round two. At Anaheim II,
things still seemed well under
control. Roczen qualified well,
won the opening heat race of
the night (despite a so-so start
and nearly sliding out in the first
turn), and then lined up for the
main event. That's where things
changed.
For the first time this year,
Roczen got a bad start in the
main event, coming around the
first turn in the middle of the
pack. He had to fight to move
forward, while the defending
champ, Ryan Dungey, quickly
snatched the lead away from
Monster Energy Yamalube
Chaparral Yamaha's Cooper
Webb and tried to run away with
with Justin Hill getting out front
early and staying there for the
win. And he did so without hav-
ing to put up much of a fight.
450SX
Roczen has won the Anaheim I
season opener three of the last
four years, but 2017 marked the
450SX Highlights
With Roczen now out of the
championship hunt, Marvin
Musquin is chasing new points
leader Dungey for the 2017 title.
