Ken Roczen began his World Supercross (WSX) title defense with the overall victory in the British GP at Villa Park in Birmingham, England with a pair of wins and a sweep of the podium. Roczen scored a 1-2-1 in the three mains to stand on the top of the box above second-place Joey Savatgy and Vince Friese.
“The track wasn’t super technical, but it was hard tonight,” Roczen said after the race. “And my starts weren’t where they needed to be, so I gave myself some work and had to make some passes. With the races being so short you had to make a plan on the fly and pass when you could and it got a bit close. But I was strong in the whoops and tried to stay low over the jumps. I had to push hard tonight, and we’ve got some areas where we want to get better.”
Roczen failed to dominate the event, but he was easily the class of the field. He was fastest in the warm-up, set the fastest lap in qualification and won his heat race before being beaten for the Superpole by Justin Hill.
In the first main, Roczen got a poor start and was forced to chase Vince Friese for the win. Roczen once again chased Friese in the second main but was unable to secure the top spot of the podium. Friese crashed in the third main and was not in contention for the overall victory, finishing third instead.
“I’m happy with where I was tonight,” Friese said. “The injury I’ve had is like a year injury and I’m seven months in. The goal was always to come back better and continue to improve.
“I had an issue with the foot pegs but, I believe I’ve got the best bike on the grid. I’ll continue to heal and get closer to Ken. I’ve got to make it hard for him but beat him tonight, I’ve shown he’s beatable and I’ll only get better.”
Joey Savatgy finished second in the 2023 WSX season opener and was happy to be on the box.
“I’m second tonight but honestly, I wasn’t the second-best guy today,” Savatgy said. “But I’m on the podium, that’s the goal, I want to be here every round. We’ve got some things to work on and improve going forward but, I was second overall last year, and I want to make sure I’m in that top three every round.”
Justin Hill in fourth and Scotland’s Dean Wilson rounded out the top five.
In the SX2 class (250s), Shane McElrath also scored wins in the first and third mains with an accompanying second-place finish in the second race.
“It’s good to start with a win,” McElrath said. “Rick [Ware, team owner] said he wants to win a championship and he wants me to do that for him. I said this is what I need and he’s made it happen. The Yamaha feels like my bike. I’ve ridden lots of bikes but the Yamaha suits me, it feels good, and it’s good of Rick to trust us as riders to deliver. I’m happy with tonight and it’s a good start to the season.”
Anstie thrilled the local crowd with his win the in second main and kept them on the edge of their seats with second-place finishes in the other two races.
“It was tough tonight,” Anstie said. “I’ve raced at home before and I know the vibe, but as well as the racing we’ve been pulled into different directions and lots of obligations, but it’s one of those, it comes with the territory and it’s a positive because it’s good for the sport; it’ll be the same for Kenny in Germany and it’s good for the fans to be able to support their guy. Hopefully, we put on a show.”
Enzo Lopes overcame a dislocated shoulder suffered in warm and stood on the final step of the podium with Mitchell Oldenburg in fourth and Kyle Peters rounding out the top five.
