Kit Palmer | September 21, 2016
It’s official: Ken Roczen joins Honda HRC Factory Team. It’s been widely known for quite some time now that Ken Roczen had signed on with the Honda HRC factory supercross/motocross team earlier this year, but now it’s official. Honda made the announcement this morning via a release, which states that the 2016 45oMX Champion has signed a three-year contract with the red team. The release does not mention when he’ll make his racing debut on the Honda. He has spent the last couple of years as a member of the Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/RCH Suzuki Team.
Ken Roczen Joins Honda HRC Factory Team
Ken Roczen on his new Honda ride.
The release is as follows:
TORRANCE, Calif. (Sep. 21, 2016) – American Honda Motor. Co. is proud to announce the highly anticipated signing of two-time AMA Pro Motocross Champion Ken Roczen to a three-year agreement with Team Honda HRC. The young German rider will pilot the all-new 2017 CRF450R alongside new teammate Cole Seely in the AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross series. Honda has released a special video to celebrate the announcement.
Roczen already has a long list of accomplishments to his name, including the 2014 and 2016 AMA Pro Motocross 450MX Championships and nine premier-class AMA Supercross victories. Aboard 250cc equipment, he earned the 2013 250SX West title, and prior to coming to the U.S. to race full-time, he won the 2011 MX2 World Championship. Roczen is confident in his ability to build on that success, and he has Honda’s full support and commitment.
Ken Roczen will ride red for the next three years.
“I’m really excited to be a part of Team Honda HRC,” Roczen said. “I’m always looking to improve myself, as well as my surroundings, team and equipment, which is why I decided to make a switch. I want to have the upper hand on every other rider out there, and I think I have that with Honda. Things are still new, but I’m feeling amazing and blown away by the bike and the atmosphere of the team. I think that when any rider makes a switch to a new team, he doesn’t fully know what to expect, so having such a smooth transition so far has been great. Big changes like this are great opportunities to make a statement, and I think doing an awesome video to announce something so special and big is really unique, especially to our industry. I’m excited that Honda was on board with the idea. Other sports do things like this, but it’s kind of a first for someone in the motocross industry. Most of the inspiration came from my buddy Ken Block, who always puts out killer videos. I talked to Honda about it and they were super stoked. Everyone worked hard to get it done, and the finished product is great.”
Team Manager Dan Betley said he is pleased to welcome Roczen to Team Honda HRC. “I’m extremely happy to have a rider of Ken’s abilities and accomplishments become a part of our program, and I’m glad we can finally officially share this announcement with our fans. Ken has proven time and again that he has what it takes to consistently win races and run up front, and I’m confident in his ability to continue doing that aboard the new CRF450R. Together with his teammate Cole Seely, we have what I consider to be one of the strongest two-rider teams heading into 2017.”
