Despite a constant downpour of rain in Philadelphia throughout the night show, Ken Roczen won the 450 race and finally held the championship leader’s red plate in the second half of a Supercross season for the first time in his 12-year 450 class career.
Also, 250 East Coast racer Cole Davies was able to clinch the championship two races early.
Roczen now holds a four-point lead over Hunter Lawrence after Roczen rode another near-perfect race. Roczen started in third place, behind Lawrence and Cooper Webb. He passed both relatively quickly.
When Lawrence was passed by Roczen, he started to make mistakes, leading to Webb getting by him. Lawrence finished in third behind Webb and Roczen.
Roczen did experience pressure from Webb in the final minutes of the race, but he turned up the intensity, held off Webb, and was able to win his fifth race of the season.
Roczen has only had one other season where he had five wins and that year was 2016. He went on that year to finish second in the championship behind Ryan Dungey, who is arguably the best professional racer in the 2010’s.
After that 2016 season, injuries left Roczen’s career in jeopardy between 2017-2018, while he had over 10 surgeries and was ridiculed by fans who thought he should retire.
Whether Roczen can win this title or not, there is no doubt that this will not be remembered as a career resurgence for the fan-favorite veteran of the sport.
Davies rode away to his fifth win of the season, and he is now a champion in his second year of professional racing. The 18-year-old phenom is the youngest champion in 18 years, with Trey Canard winning the 250 east coast title, at 18 years old too.
Davies avoided a near wreck off of the start, when Seth Hammaker came up short on the first rhythm section, sending himself and his bike flying. After that near catastrophe, Davies rode away to the win.
However, the race was red flagged five minutes in after a racer suffered a broken femur, and the track needed to be clear in order to cart the racer off. This ultimately helped Hammaker gain time back, and he went on to recover to third behind Daxton Bennick and Davies.
In the SMX Next Supercross AMA National Championship, Deacon Denno rode to his second win of the season and was able to earn the title. He looked strong trudging through the mud throughout the whole race. The future is looking bright for the 18-year-old Triumph Factory Team racer.
Next weekend, racing goes to Denver for the second-to-last race of the season. This race will feature the 450 class, as always, and the 250 West Coast division. This means fans will be able to see Haiden Deegan race for one of the last times on a 250, before he moves up to his 450 for Motocross in May.
Qualifying starts at 1 p.m. Eastern and the racing action kicks off at 7 p.m. With the 450 championship ultimately coming down to the final races, the action is sure to be intense this weekend.
