Cycle News

MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 / MAY 26, 2018 GLEN HELEN RACEWAY / SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA P80 iii My Own Race: 94 KEN ROCZEN 5TH 450MX (3-8) Ken Roczen managed to lead moto one and hold Eli Tomac at bay for about half of the race before finishing third. He pitted early in moto two thinking he had a technical problem and came from nearly dead last to eighth at the fin- ish. It was a solid day for the Honda HRC rider. "The result is one thing, but there are always certain things that are out of your hands, which is what hap- pened in the second moto," Roczen said. "Still, leading for over 20 minutes in the first moto was good, especially for only our third moto back. I tried not to be like 'Oh my god, I'm leading;' I just tried to keep a steady and calm mood. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hold Eli off, then Marvin got by me, too. I tried to make a last-minute attack but got messed up by lappers, so I really just set- tled into third, which we were all happy with. The second moto, I got another good start but heard a noise and wasn't ready to just send it over any of the big jumps when there might be a problem, so I went into the pit lane. It ended up that there was a rock in my front sprocket area, but better safe than sorry. After that I just went out and wanted to use this as good practice, and I kept telling myself, 'Don't quit.' We made it all the way up to eighth place, which is pretty sweet. We've been working really hard, and it's unfortunate because I think today we could've been on the podium. We have a lot of motos to go, so it's coming. I've got to just keep building and I think we'll get there." 54 PHIL NICOLETTI 8TH 450MX (10-7) "My starts were pretty good in both motos," said Phil Nicoletti (Autotrader/ Yoshimura Suzuki) after a good performance. "Realistically, I should have been 8-7, but I swapped out going into the sand in the first moto. I hit a kicker, got slammed to the ground and had a bit of whiplash. I ended up 10th, which was a bummer. I struggled with a little bit of speed. I've never been that comfortable at Glen Helen. The goal was to not fight the track, but I found myself doing that more than I should have. We made a few changes to the RM-Z450 in order to find a better level of comfort, and we're going in the right direction." 51 JUSTIN BARCIA 4TH 450MX (6-4) "Glen Helen was a challenging track; it was very difficult," said Justin Barcia (Monster Energy/Factory Yamaha) who just missed the podium. "I made it through the day and that's a positive for sure. The goal is to be on the po- dium every weekend but I came up a little short on that this weekend. I have a few little things I can work on at home and keep building but there were positives: I was fairly quick all day and the bike was good—we made some great changes because I struggled a little in the first moto and we went in the right direction with the changes for moto two, which is always nice. I felt comfortable on the bike and the track was difficult. Glen Helen, is a gnarly one, so I'm glad I got out of here safe and healthy and didn't lose too many points." 25 MARVIN MUSQUIN 2ND 450MX (2-3) Marvin Musquin finished out the day second overall but had more in mind. "I mean, it's a good result, but I always want better, and to win. It was a decent day, but the track was really, really tough. I finally got a decent start in the second moto. I was fighting for the lead and Jason [Anderson] was riding really well. I was right there, missing a little bit of speed. After halfway I lost that momentum, that feeling. And on that track, if you're not on it, it'll bite you. I had some sketchy moments and made some mistakes; kind of rolled it off to the checkered. I couldn't do more and played it safe toward the end. A little bit disappointed with that."

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