USA Insider No.150: What’s Wrong, Kenny?

Welcome to our weekly web-exclusive column, Transmoto’s USA Insider presented by Ipone. Penned each week by our man on the ground, Transmoto’s US Correspondent, Jason Weigandt, the USA Insider presents the story-behind-the-stories of the AMA supercross and motocross scene.

This Ken Roczen late-season swoon is certainly strange, but it’s made worse by the sudden impact of the Honda duo of Eli Tomac and Trey Canard. Seriously, at this point, Kenny probably hates Eli’s presence more than he did while battling him for a title last year. At Washougal, where Ryan Dungey and Tomac pushed him back to third place for the day, Kenny said he wondered how Eli would be doing if he had raced all season long. Clearly, Kenny knows Eli is feeling fresh, rested and ready, while he’s feeling anything but.

I didn’t expect this to happen. Yes, Kenny’s had a strange penchant for second-half fades, as his last three National series over here, the 2012 and 2013 250MX tours, and this year’s 450SX campaign started better than they ended. But armed with Aldon Baker outdoors, I figured the problem would be solved. Apparently not. Since the first moto at Budds Creek, where Ryan Dungey started running him down, he hasn’t been the same. First Dungey started to take the measure of him, then Tomac found his stride. Worse yet, Trey Canard finally hit on a magic combination in the second moto at Unadilla, pushing Kenny back to fourth in the final moto.

Trey’s been digging to catch the KTM guys all summer, but this week’s switch from Showa to KYB suspension seemed to work wonders. Does it portend to a stronger Trey from here on out? It’s too early to say, because Unadilla is a unique track, and there’s a chance Trey was just feeling it. But I have to believe he has the stuff to beat Kenny again, because Kenny just isn’t the Kenny we saw two months ago.

I pull it back to his post-race press conference at Washougal. Credit to Kenny for taking it on the chin and admitting he wasn’t the same rider he was at the beginning of the year. He said he’d bring Baker out to the rest of the races to try to find his edge again, and that he’d been all over the place, playing golf, jumping in the pool, all kinds of stuff, when he should have been resting and recovering. I’m impressed Kenny was that honest and forthcoming, but Ryan Dungey was sitting in the press tent as he said this, and certainly he saw the writing on the wall. Something is wrong with Kenny right now, and if he doesn’t fix it quickly, Dungey’s going to take this title.