Photography by Kit Palmer
Ken Roczen can check off one more mark on his already impressive list of accomplishments. Today at Hangtown, the Red Bull KTM rider notched his first overall victory in an AMA Pro Motocross event. The 2011 MX2 World Champion earned his first U.S. motocross victory in impressive fashion, going 1-1 and winning by over 12 seconds in the grueling second moto over defending series champ Blake Baggett, who finished second overall with a 3-2 on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Eli Tomac (2-3) took third overall on his GEICO Honda.
Zach Bell nailed the holeshot in the second 250 moto, but it was Baggett emerging as the early leader followed by Roczen, Bell, Darryn Durham and Blake Wharton. Before the first lap end Roczen officially held the lead, but the two leaders would trade the point a couple of times before Roczen (who officially led every lap) got a little breathing room.
Zach Osborne moved up to run third, but then he and Marvin Musquin tangled and crashed at the finish line and both lost a lot of places dropping to just inside the top 10. Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Jason Anderson then moved up to third.
Durham went down hard while running well inside the top 10 and he had to be helped off the track and was out of the race.
Tomac moved up to challenge and then pass Anderson for third, but by then he was 10 seconds behind second place Baggett. By the halfway mark the first three were set.
In the second half of the moto Baggett moved ever closer to Roczen and just when it looked like he might challenge for the lead Baggett made an error and immediately fell to over seven seconds behind Roczen. That was it up front Baggett was not able to mount a challenge after that.
At the checkered flag it was Roczen by 12.258 second over Baggett to secure the overall. Baggett came home second in spite of a right hand that is far from 100 percent. Tomac was a lonely third.
The big movers as the moto wound down were the crashers Musquin and Osborne. Both riders picked their way back into contention and by the end it was Musquin moving all the way up to fourth and Osborne to fifth. That’s were they would finish in the overall as well.
Anderson finished sixth, just a couple of second behind Osborne. Kyle Cunningham was seventh with Justin Bogle, Justin Hill and Blake Wharton rounding out the top 10 in Moto 2.
It was a big disappointment for Cooper Webb, who was challenging inside the top ten before his bike stalled on the final lap. He finished 17th in the second moto, 11th overall.
The series moves to Lakewood, Colorado, on May 25.
250 Moto 2 Results
1. Ken Roczen
2. Blake Baggett
3. Eli Tomac
4. Marvin Musquin
5. Zach Osborne
6. Jason Anderson
7. Kyle Cunningham
8. Justin Bogle
9. Justin Hill
10. Blake Wharton
11. Joey Savatgy
12. Martin Davalos
13. Jeremy Martin
14. Cole Seely
15. Alex Martin
16. Nico Izzi
17. Jake Canada
18. Cooper Webb
19. Brady Kiesel
20. Kellian Rusk
Overall Results
1. Ken Roczen (1-1)
2. Blake Baggett (3-2)
3. Eli Tomac (2-3)
4. Marvin Musquin (4-4)
5. Zach Osborne (9-5)
6. Kyle Cunningham (8-7)
7. Jason Anderson (12-6)
8. Jeremy Martin (7-13)
9. Joey Savatgy (10-11)
10. Justin Hill (13-9)
11. Cooper Webb (5-18)
12. Justin Bogle (19-8)
13. Blake Wharton (17-10)
14. Darryn Durham (6-36)
15. Cole Seely (14-14)
16. Dillan Epstein (11-23)
17. Martin Davalos (38-12)
18. Jake Canada (16-17)
19. Alex Martin (20-15)
20. Zach Bell (15-35)
