Both Honda Riders On The Box On Night One In Paris, France
Competing in Paris with a formidable duo, Red Bull Honda and Honda Genuine Honda just completed the first night inside of the La Défense Arena. Ken Roczen, racing with SKDA graphics that mirror the Honda-supported squad in Formula 1, was riding as well as ever and is poised to battle for the overall victory tomorrow.
For Roczen, the event started in a superb fashion as he dominated the ‘Super Pole’ session at the beginning of the program. ’94’ came alive in the second sprint, after taking third in the first moto, as he ran down the race leader and sprinted away with the win aboard his CRF450R. It was an incredible showing and he carried that speed into the main event – he progressed from fifth on lap one to second at the finish line. With 2-1-2 scores on night one, Roczen currently sits in second overall and just two points down on the leader.
Justin Brayton was deserving of so much more on night one in Paris, as he too was operating at a very high level aboard his ‘red’ machine. Brayton was second in the first sprint and shooting for a similar result in the second moto, but a crash in turn one derailed his momentum. ’10’ clawed his way back to seventh place in that and then secured fourth in the main event, after progressing from sixth on lap one. Brayton is currently third in the overall classification.
The results from this evening will be combined with Sunday’s scores to determine an overall winner. Thanks to an impressive string of results on night one, Ken Roczen is one of the favourites to take the ‘King of Paris’ crown.
Ken Roczen: “There was some great racing tonight! I am really happy with the steps forward that I have made recently. I was struggling with the starts tonight – I don’t know what I was doing – but I tried to reel Eli [Tomac] in and I got close in that main event. The racing was awesome!”
Justin Brayton: “The second sprint was tough for me, after that crash in turn one, but it was nice to salvage something. It is great to be here and racing with these guys at my age – I am excited to jump back on my CRF450R tomorrow!”
