Ryan Nitzen | September 16, 2022
In James Stewart’s Bubba’s World Podcast, Ken Roczen made headlines with news regarding his status going into the 2023 season. Earlier this year, Roczen announced he’d be racing the inaugural season of the newly formed World Supercross Championship, which seems to be at the root of the issue. Roczen claims that “Honda decided to shockingly just pull the offer” while Honda’s statement reads, “…we recently made him an offer of a contract extension. That offer has never been rescinded, but it was declined by Ken and his team” Read below for more.
Roczen stated in an interview, “Basically I’m a free agent”. Photo: Brown Dog Wilson
“My future has been set in stone for months, if not a year now,” Roczen said on the podcast. “Basically I’m a free agent at this point which is crazy because I’ve never been in that position before. It was ultimately these races that I committed to, these offseason races, and its not three anymore its two.”
Roczen goes on to say that he wants to give back to his fans overseas who haven’t seen him race in person since he came over to the United States.
“Which was a shocker, Honda decided to pull the offer they gave me … I have committed to these races and I didn’t feel comfortable at all to leave these fans hanging. I decided to stick with it (World Supercross) and Honda decided to shockingly just pull the offer.”
After the interview Honda’s Manager of Sports & Experiential, Brandon Wilson, issued a statement regarding the situation –
“We genuinely enjoy working with Ken and have loved having him on our team for the past six years. We have a ton of respect for the speed and talent he regularly demonstrates on the track, and even more so for the heart and dedication he has shown in returning from severe setbacks. In light of recent comments, we felt the need to clarify a couple of points. We were looking forward to continuing with Ken in 2023, and we recently made him an offer of a contract extension. That offer has never been rescinded, but it was declined by Ken and his team. It’s true that the offer included a stipulation that Ken not compete in a series that has positioned itself as a direct competitor to our supercross and motocross racing partners. We feel it’s important to support our racing partners and to treat all of our riders the same. That said, our esteem and appreciation for Ken are as strong as ever, and they won’t be altered by the fact that our priorities don’t happen to align on this issue.”
Roczen won the opener of the 2022 Supercross season. Photo: Brown Dog Wilson
Roczen posted some interesting photos on his Instagram this week, one of a broken chain guide, and another of him testing with the FirePower Honda Team (Honda Genuine Racing, the Australian Factory Honda Team) at the Millsaps Training Facility in Georgia. He is still committed to the Red Bull Straight Rhythm race where he will likely ride a Honda CR250.
We’re sure this isn’t the last of the story and we will continue to bring you more news as it breaks.
