USA INSIDER #177: HEIKO’S FURRY

Transmoto’s weekly web-exclusive column, the USA Insider, penned by Jason Weigandt, presented by Ipone.

Last week, a German magazine published an interview where Ken Roczen’s dad, Heiko, unloaded fury on Ken’s Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s RCH Suzuki team. There has definitely been drama brewing this year with Kenny and the squad, as the bike, rider and results weren’t producing as hoped. All Ken’s dad did was take the heat behind the scenes and move it to the front for all to see.

What did Kenny make of this explosion? Not much at all. He called me on Wednesday night before the race and explained that his dad doesn’t speak for him. Then he headed to the race. When I saw him again on Friday afternoon, it was as if nothing had happened. Kenny had moved on, and there was no sign of tension in the RCH pits.

In fact, when I saw Kenny at first, we started chatting about the standard small-talk stuff, no mention of the interview. I then asked, jokingly, if he’d been fired yet, and he said everything was fine between he and the team, and some of them had a laugh about it. I believe him, because Ken’s been pretty good at staying out of the drama. He managed to move from KTM to Suzuki last year without anyone hating on him, he puts himself out there on social media and rarely gets friction for it. He’s somehow even managed to neutralize any trouble that could come with being a German and winning in America. No one really sees Roczen here as a European or a foreigner, they just see him as Ken Roczen.

On the starting line before the first moto, TV pit reporter Georgia Lindsay asked him about the week with all the media drama. He said “I usually don’t let that stuff bother me.” Proving it, Kenny rode his best moto in months to win Indiana’s second 450 moto. It’s pretty remarkable how well this stuff bounces off of Ken Roczen. Kenny didn’t ride as well this year outdoors as he did last year, but we never saw fans go after him for switching brands or having trouble late in the motos. If James Stewart, Chad Reed or even Ryan Dungey were in a similar situation, there would be headlines in every direction. In fact, Reed had that exact same thing happen in 2010 (won the 450 National Motocross title on Suzuki, big struggle the next year with Kawasaki) and many just decided his career was over.

Kenny never gets bogged down in what people say or what people think, and people usually don’t get too bogged down on him, either. That served him well this year.