Ken Roczen’s Biggest Comeback
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Kenny’s 2025 Daytona Supercross win was even more of a statement than we thought it was.
For over six minutes, Ken Roczen didn’t make a single pass in the 2025 Daytona Supercross. He crossed the white line in 4th and stayed in 4th for the first six minutes and twenty seconds of the race.
And he still won.
A quick scan of this chart below shows that’s not normal for Ken Roczen.
All 23 of Ken Roczen’s Supercross Wins.
This chart slides left for more info.
“What’s the big deal?” you ask?
Ken Roczen is now in his 12th season of 450SX racing and he’s won 23 main events. The Daytona win, however, was the very first time he’d ever won after finishing the first lap outside the top 3.
In fact, Roczen has only ONCE been worse than 4th at the white holeshot line and still won the race (Anaheim 1 2015, see chart above. He was in the lead by turn 3.) To even find a win where he wasn’t already in the lead at the end of the first lap, we have to go all the way back to Indianapolis #1, 2021.
Hat tip for this idea goes to Adam Cianciarulo who raised the question in a meeting earlier this week: “I think this was Kenny’s biggest ‘come from behind’ win since his (2017) injury”.
Adam was on to something. But it extends even deeper into his career. Looking at ALL of Ken’s 23 wins, the Daytona victory was his biggest position gain to win, ever.
And he had to go through Cooper Webb to get it done, the biggest thorn of his career and the very guy he’s got to get through if he wants to win this championship.
Going from 4th to first isn’t any kind of record and we’re not trying to suggest that. But, undeniably, it is new for Roczen, a personal milestone achieved, and a further indicator that he’s a championship contender.
We’re excited to see/hear how Adam takes this info and analyzes it further as we head into Indianapolis, Roczen’s best SX venue (he has 4 wins there).
When you make those passes you have to put your head down or else they’ll retaliate and come back. I was just charging the whole time, trying to get a gap. I seriously cannot believe that this finally happened… This is a dream come true.
–Ken Roczen on the 2025 Daytona SX win.
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