The 2025 International Best Motocross Directorship Awards were a banner night for Ken Roczen, who took home three major prizes

Ken undergoes transformation.

Ken Roczen has a history of starting seasons strong and leading in points. Given the small sample size of only four races, his strong start to the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season should be met with caution. But this isn’t just about maths, points, or outcomes. There are additional intangibles to Roczen’s game this year that give him even more hope. Glendale, while not a win, provided additional examples.

First and foremost, Ken is a strong character from beginning to end. Even when he’s not feeling well, Ken is lethal early in a race. When he has problems, they become apparent later. When he’s on, he can keep that pace until the end, and this year he’s been tenacious down the stretch. Ken has not faded at all.

Second, he is aggressive. Ken doesn’t usually bang bars, but in the second race of Glendale’s triple crown, he came into turn one hot on the inside, barreled into a bunch of riders, and snagged a tuff block. Ken laughed and warned Jett Lawrence of an impending collision, claiming it was an accident. Yes, that was an accident, but what Ken did afterward speaks volumes. He never gave up, powering through the carnage and positioning his bike in front of Lawrence to gain an advantage over his young rival. Ken was aggressive! That move put him in the lead, and he went on to win.

Ken Roczen with the red plate in Glendale

Third, he is going faster in qualifying. Despite being 14th fastest at Anaheim 1, he eventually finished on the podium. At Glendale, however, with confidence growing, Roczen was consistently on the podium and finished fourth overall. The guy’s pushing it!

Third, he is taking chances. Justin Hill was the first 450 rider to successfully complete the 84-foot triple jump during qualifying on Saturday. Roczen quickly followed suit, jumping it several more times throughout the races. Following so many injuries and surgeries, Kenny was understandably wary of aggressive racing, qualifying hot laps, and big leaps. That is all starting to fade away.

Want to see an example of all of this? Ken’s late-race battle with Justin Barcia and Justin Hill resulted in an overall podium finish.

“Both of the Justins were doing good,” he said during the post-race press conference. “Hill got me high a few times, too. My main issue was just messing up some of the rhythms. I was trying to push through it, and I needed to hit everything perfectly in order to do so, so I was pushing through it a little too much at times, and I’d clip the triple before going big over the big one over the start straight. I messed it up several times. So I was yo-yoing and putting in a lot of effort to get closer to him. I got the message that we needed Barcia. Then it was about two laps to go, and I just wanted it so badly.”

Roczen did finish on the podium, but there was a noticeable shift. Instead of being ecstatic about digging his way to the podium, he began to wonder what might have been.

“In the end, podium, it’s kind of funny that I’m bummed out on a third, you know what I mean?” he asked Steve Matthes. “I think I could have been at least second, but I’m nitpicking here, you know what I mean?”

We know. Ken now believes that finishing on the podium is sufficient, and that wins are possible. It would be a good idea to get some while you’re hot, which Ken is right now.

Ken Roczen