Roczen and Hampshire taste Daytona Supercross victory
Suzuki’s Ken Roczen became the sixth different Monster Energy AMA Supercross winner of the season in just the first eight rounds of racing. Roczen put in a strong charge just before the race’s midpoint to push from fourth place into the lead and earn his career-first Daytona Supercross victory in his 11th attempt. The win also marked Suzuki’s first since 2009 at the iconic speedway.
Daytona International Speedway delivered a thrilling and dramatic night of racing at its 52nd running of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross. The legendary speedway has held a Supercross round during every championship season since the sports’ inception.
“I honestly still can’t believe it… I had some really good lines,” says Roczen. “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. Coming out of these turns it was really rutty, and very easy to make a mistake, but I just kept my head down and charged the whole way. I seriously cannot believe that this finally happened… This is a dream come true.”
In 250SX Class racing, RJ Hampshire fought hard to capture an emotional first win at Daytona. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle captured the holeshot and set the pace for the early laps. He relinquished the lead to Hampshire shortly before a red flag re-start tightened up the pack with under eight minutes left on the race clock. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker rounded out the 250SX Class podium after a pass late in the race with less than two laps remaining.
“It’s special. I lost my dad a few months ago, and this was his race. Growing up as a kid, this is where I came with him. It was the only Supercross I came to. And he was with us today,” says Hampshire. “Some guy came up to me in the pits and had his old jersey that he raced with back in the day, which I never had. He gifted me that, and – it just felt different today, man, like my dad was here… Finally got to burn one [a victory burnout on the banked track] down here in Daytona; that was for my dad, for sure.”
The Daytona Supercross pays points toward both the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross season as well as toward the SMX World Championship post-season, which seeds racers from Supercross and the AMA Pro Motocross championships into two Playoffs and the SMX World Championship.
The series returns to a domed stadium on Saturday, March 8, inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
