Let’s hear your Thoughts on Kenny & the RMZ.

A 300 pound Yellow Swine can be a handful in the last 5 minutes of a main.

Seriously though, I think maybe arm fatique or something towards the end. He wasn't far off and his lap times are good and the bike is good enough.

Well.....this puts the Suzuki is inadequate....blah blah blah to rest.

Imagine with a title contending rider aboard....

Not a rider in his sunset.

His placing would have been about the same on any brand...probably.

Now you know why he parted ways with Honda.

He is Chad Reed, Bob Hannah or any other rider late in his career. IMHO.

He needs John. Tomac or Alton Baker period....maybe Reno but were the heck is that guy? Sexton is in the same boat with slightly more talent. Long story short cyclocross is probably the most aerobically challenging sport in the world...Tomac was a master and Alton trained the masters. If you look at all of the current road racing power houses Matthieu Van Der Peel, Wout VanAert and Tom Pidcock are embarrassing the world champs single race efforts.

I think he just looked a bit sloppy. He was clipping a lot of landings and didn't look fully comfortable. With that being said his speed was still great.

He’s just gotta work harder on the Zook while the other bikes are a little easier to go fast on.

Say what you want but it was not Bercy Ken we saw out there. 
 

Was it the bike or was it Ken doing what Ken does in AMA SX? Who knows, but of the three different bikes he have raced within the last year, this was not his best performance.

Bercy is not AMA SX

The races at Bercy were much shorter. The track was much smoother. Completely different type of race. 

I hate bashing a brand or team, but I feel the difference at least during the chase was mostly the YZ had a significant power/setup advantage over the RM then fitness that was observable on the live broadcast to me. But I'm still optimistic and looked more like bike setup then the rider. Looking forward to the next race, that track was pretty crazy last night with a few gotcha ruts and hidden goblins. I've never seen so many start straightway endos.   

No shit, could it be why i said that ken did what he does in AMA sx?… 

STILL he have not looked so good since after the crash that he did in France, and he could track Eli down and pass him there.

short motos in france or not, 5 laps in here and he were done. 

That bike looks big, is that just me?

Turn left----->

I think it’s not just him being a little slower, I think it would be the same on a Honda. 
Guys ahead we’re just faster. 
Malcolm and Eli were muscling their bikes around the track, it was gnarly. At his best Ken isn’t that kind of rider. 
Eli’s on the second year with this team and looks more dialed than ever. Especially in the whoop section after the table, he just flowed through. 
Chase made was ahead of Roczen all year in MX and SX, not unexpected. 
Webb is in the second year of the bike generation and as a past champion the gains are not unexpected. 
 

Hate to say it, but I think the bike looked like a slow heavy tank

Judging by how much success McElrath and Chisolm had on the Suzuki, I think Kenny did pretty good.

He’ll be fine…

New bike. New setup. New team. Nerves. Arm pump. And the fact that the other top riders have had a LOT more time on their bikes than Kenny has had on the Suzuki.

I look for him to be “himself” by next weekend. 
 

Agree with you. He didn't show the comfort and ease he had on the bike at bercy.

Clearly struggle to turn and put the suz where he wanted. 

Maybe he would have finished 5th with another bike, but yesterday there was no fight in him, just fought the bike. That was visible. 

McElrath’s first turn crash and Chiz’s illness were definitely the bikes fault. 

The only thing I noticed was when he did make a mistake in a section where his timing got off he couldn’t recover quite as quick as the other guys.  

Tough to tell on that track, but the bike seemed twitchy. It could turn on a dime, but Ken didn’t seem as stable as normal. Even on nasty tracks, Ken is notoriously smooth.

I think he looked fine and theoretically could build from there and the track was nasty in the main for sure.  That said, I guarantee in his mind he is blaming the bike and the countdown to a rare illness is coming soon along with a list of reasons either bike/immune system is the reason he is not winning......it cannot just be he isn't good enough at the moment.  

Comparing this to Bercy is a joke.  That was an exhibition race on a track that may as well have been pavement it was so smooth.

It seemed like the setup was off just a little, might have been the track too.  I think I need to see a couple more to know if it can work or not...

He looked good for being about a month on the bike. They'll make adjustments and improve. I'd also think a rutted up Anaheim doesn't give Ken great vibes.

His speed was there. He lacked a good off-season on that bike. Plus you had a hell of a track to contend with and some stiff hyped up competition. He did fine I thought for the situation. 

It's all fitness. The other guys are insetter shape. He shows he has the speed but he fades, and he fades bad.

Agreed

These are all words I can understand, but put together they make no sense.

Jesus christ some of you guys just go crazy with theories. Lol Just plain over thinking it. He needs tomac or aldon. His fitness and health. The bike isn't as good as the others ect ect. I swear our sport has the shortest memory and attention spans. A1 last year was a much better track and Roczen won and Eli finished 6th 20+seconds back. Tomacs done for. We know how that turned out. 

I must have watched a different race. I saw a guy with a pretty stable bike that he was able to on a very shitty track, make inside outside moves. Cut over ruts, trying to make unique lines work like sliding into the rut going up the face of the over under until it almost bit him. I saw a guy feeling out a bike he hasn't raced in years against guys on their 2nd 3rd year on a bike. I saw him race tomac hard and mix it up with him but then had a few OJ and cases that definitely took some out of him. Hell it took some out of me watching it. He stayed consistent kept a good pace and I don't think was ever more then 10 seconds back. I think Ferandis was coming back to him at the end to. 

I saw the kick lever keep flopping out and distracting him . That's 100% the reason he didn't win ......it's a kick start bike 

It was successful. He didn't lose the championship in the first race, again.