Ken Roczen scores first career 450 Class Motocross win at Hangtown (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

After narrowly losing out on the win a week ago at Glen Helen, Ken Roczen would not give anyone the opportunity to steal it from him this time around. The Red Bull KTM rider swept both motos at Hangtown – recording his first career Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship victory in the 450 Class.

In the first moto of the day, Roczen started off in second but quickly passed his teammate Ryan Dungey for the lead on the opening lap and separated from the field, leading the rest of the way and winning by more than eight seconds.

Things got interesting in the second moto though. Roczen found himself trailing Brett Metcalfe and Justin Barcia after the first lap and had Dungey close behind him. Over the next ten minutes, the four riders were bunched together fairly tight as they battled amongst themselves. Roczen closed in on the leaders, and on Lap 5, he moved up from third to first in the span of about 30 seconds, passing Barcia and then Metcalfe to move into the lead.

Watch the three-way battle between Roczen, Barcia and Metcalfe here:

By virtue of his victory in both motos, Roczen earned the overall win at Hangtown and has surpassed Dungey in the 450MX point standings. Roczen will carry a five-point lead into next week’s round at Thunder Valley as he now begins a quest to defend the red plate signifying his points lead.

Trey Canard (3-4), James Stewart (5-3) and Justin Barcia (4-5) all recorded top-five finishes in both motos, with Canard getting the edge for the final spot on the overall podium after passing Barcia late in Moto 2. It was an improvement on last week for all three riders, but right now the Red Bull KTM duo of Roczen and Dungey has proven themselves to be at the head of the class.

Hangtown 450 Class Overall Results

1. Ken Roczen (1-1)
2. Ryan Dungey (2-2)
3. Trey Canard (3-4)
4. James Stewart (5-3)
5. Justin Barcia (4-5)
6. Weston Peick (8-6)
7. Jake Weimer (7-8)
8. Brett Metcalfe (6-9)
9. Malcolm Stewart (10-7)
10. Chad Reed (11-12)
*Moto 1 and Moto 2 results listed in parenthesis

In the 250 Class, the riders must have been sensing a case of Groundhog’s Day. For the second week in a row, the Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha duo of Jeremy Martin and Cooper Webb swept the top two spots in both motos.

Winning both of today’s motos by 19 seconds, Martin had another dominant day and remains undefeated on the season through two rounds. His teammate Webb has finished behind him in second place in all four of this year’s motos, as the rest of the 250MX field has no answer for the impressive youngsters right now.

Hangtown 250 Class Overall Results

1. Jeremy Martin (1-1)
2. Cooper Webb (2-2)
3. Christophe Pourcel (8-3)
4. Justin Hill (4-6)
5. Jessy Nelson (7-5)
6. Jason Anderson (10-4)
7. Marvin Musquin (9-7)
8. Zach Bell (5-12)
9. Matt Bisceglia (13-8)
10. Justin Bogle (3-35)
*Moto 1 and Moto 2 results listed in parenthesis

For a full recap of every moto from Hangtown, watch the highlight video below.

Three riders remain locked in a tight battle with 17 points separating the leader Cooper Webb from third-place Chase Sexton and these are only a few Supercross numbers to consider entering Seattle.

Seattle Supercross numbers — *Chase Sexton made a statement in Detroit with his second win of 2023. – Feld Motor Sports*

For the fifth time in 10 rounds. Sexton, Webb, and Eli Tomac shared the podium in Detroit. Between them, the trio has taken 23 podiums, leaving only seven for the remainder of the field. Jason Anderson, Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia have two each with Aaron Plessinger scoring the other.

Webb and Tomac won the last four championships with two apiece in alternating years, but they were not one another’s primary rival for most of those seasons. On the average, however, the past four years show an incredible similarity with average points earned of 21.0 for Webb and 21.3 for Tomac. With five wins so far this season, Tomac (23 wins) leads Webb (19) in victories but Webb (43) edges Tomac (41) in podium finishes during this span.

Tomac has won two of the last three Seattle races and those two wins in this stadium are topped only by James Stewart. Fittingly, if Tomac gets a third win this week, he will tie Stewart for second on the all-time wins’ list. Tomac tied Ricky Carmichael for third with 48 wins at Oakland and took sole possession of that spot with his Daytona win.

Sexton still has a lot to say and after winning last week in Detroit, he is speaking up. The Supercross numbers are against him entering Seattle, however, because a points’ deficit this large after Round 10 has been erased only once. In 1983 David Bailey was 47 points behind Bob Hannah, and like Sexton he was also in third place. Bailey took the points’ lead with one race remaining.

The seven points Sexton was penalized last week for jumping in a red cross flag section in Detroit could prove extremely costly.

In fact, it has been a series of mistakes that has cost Sexton the most. In the last two weeks, he lost 10 points with a 10th-place finish to go with his penalty. Erase those, and all three riders hold their fate in their hands.

Plessinger’s heartbreak in Detroit is still fresh, but the upside of his run is that was his best of the season and could turn his fortunes around. Prior to that race, he led only seven laps in three mains. He was up front for 20 laps in Detroit with five of those being the fastest on the track.

Last week’s win by Hunter Lawrence tied him with his brother Jett Lawrence for 17th on the all-time wins’ list. With the focus shifting to 250 West for the next two rounds, Jett has a great opportunity to pull back ahead. The real test will be at the first East / West Showdown in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 22.

Last Five Seattle Winners

450s
2022: Eli Tomac
2019: Marvin Musquin
2018: Eli Tomac
2017: Marvin Musquin
2014: Ryan Villopoto

250s
2022: Hunter Lawrence
2019: Dylan Ferrandis
2018: Aaron Plessinger
2017: Aaron Plessinger
2014: Cole Seely

By the Numbers

Detroit
Indianapolis
Daytona
Arlington
Oakland
Tampa
Houston
Anaheim 2
San Diego

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SMX develops “Leader Lights”
Power Rankings after Detroit
Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan
Results and points after Detroit
Chase Sexton wins in Detroit, penalized seven points

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