Anyone else I'd call scared and be knocking them....

He was riding mega when he made the pass on Barcia, but two corners later and he'd left the inside a little open, you could see he knew very well that Barcia was going to pounce up the inside and so he went in to the top of the berm and stood it up with apprehension because it was Barcia behind him. Anyone else and he wouldn't have had as much to worry about.

After that, it took him a couple of laps to regather his thoughts and after the might have been a little winded, because he didnt seem to have the same intensity.

I believe if that was any other rider than Barcia, then Kenny would've made that pass stick and would now be stood on the podium. 

But nevermind, going 5-4 so far for Kenny on a Suzuki is a great result.

It's not the first time Kenny has been scared of Barcia.

Guys. A Suzuki has been in the top 5 of a 450 supercross in 2023 both rounds. That’s awesome 

What Roczens been through in his SX/MX career I would be cautious of someone like Barcia around me aswell.

Could be a livelihood ending move.

“Keep-it-Outside-line-Kenny”

I’d say Kenny was more scared of the whoops

Or Webb. Bad results from mysterious illness looming ahead.... I do wish him well though.

For those baggin on Kenny...if there had been a poll taken prior to A1, how many of you would have voted that he'd put the the bike in the top 5 in the first two races of the year after very little time on the bike?

....and put up the 2nd fastest lap time @ A1.   Haven't seen the lap time stats yet for San Diego.

So much for the zook being an outdated POS. 

Gee, I thought Suzukis were cutting edge technology.

So far so good for team flo

I can understand how people “go there”; but, this year…? Uh. No. Not so much. 

He appears to be a bit stronger and carrying just a little more weight…in a good way. Also, I get the impression that he’s finally found a good solution and has started reversing the effects of the “Epstein Barr-ish” crap that’s been screwing with him…

Another thing that you can see at the races and from recent media coverage…like the interview with Brooks in the “stock triple clamp” thread…Kenny and the people around him are stoked and really enjoying what they’re doing. In the pits at the Progressive truck, they were scrambling like was “A Race Day crossed with a Test Day” and they looked like they were LOVING IT. That’s a REALLY good thing to see. 

Someone made comments about Kenny “being scared of the Whoops”…? Bwaaahaaaaahaaaaaa. Hey, Dude, do you EVEN watch the races? KR is virtually ALWAYS the 1st guy in the 1st 450A practice EVERY SATURDAY to ATTACK the whoops like a boss. Always. I mean, dude, that’s a “KR Thing”. 

Here’s my absolute FAVORITE thing about all of this: it was just a few short years ago that Dustin and couple of his friends got the INSANE idea to start a team and go race Supercross. Yup, he gathered up a few of his Central Valley friends and they went racing. For what they had and what they were up against, they did a damn good job and had a pretty damn good presence in the pits and on the track. 

Now, just a few short years later: 2 rigs, TWO TITLE SPONSORS, Kenny back on an RMZ, 3 bikes in the 450 main, one bike in the 250 main…and they’re “just getting started” at this new & considerably “higher and much more challenging level” of running a race team. 

I am stoked for these guys. 

He doesn’t mean this thread exactly, he means that Vital posters in general think that the Suzuki is a dinosaur and if it had “updates” it would perform for Kenny much better than it does, which in fact is asinine

At 10 minutes remaining, Kenny had the inside after the whoops before the start, but hung tight and didn't close Barcia off, Barcia repassed or held the position. 

At 9 min, Barcia had the inside line and rode Ken all the way to the edge of the track to close Ken off and pass him. 

Today I learned : Ride more like Barcia if you want a podium. 

Kenny on a Honda would have already had an FFL this year. 

One of the biggest positives I see out of Kenny’s ride is his last lap was one of his fastest. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen him push for the entirety of an SX race. 

It seems almost everyone is a bit nervous around Barcia, except maybe Tomac, who's still a bit cautious, and Anderson, who's almost as dirty.

This works in Barcia's favor.  That fear got him a podium.  Roczen was the faster rider last night.

I think Barcia knows that he'll lose if he tries something dirty on Tomac.

They are probably running the most OEM parts of any factory team too which is a bit ironic. 

Just my opinion but it appears Kenny is fit and feeling good but the bike is nowhere near what he needs to really push.  Hopefully, they get it dialed for him...soon.

After 3 weeks of watching Kenny…3 weeks of watching the HEP Suzuki pits…3 weeks of the team personnel operating on race day like an “R&D Team” that’s trying to make the bike better and put it on the box…? And they’ve only been at it for what…? Almost TWO short months..

To me? It’s northing short of amazing & has certainly been successful.

As for “scared”? I’m still LOLing at that. 

I thought Roczen would well on the Suzuki but did not think he’d be holding off Tomac like he did last night.  He’s already exceeded what I thought he could do.  He’s going to keep improving i think.  No Barcia fear last night, that was for whoever was unfortunate to be back near him in 10th.

Far exceeded everyone's expectations.

Not mine.  Before the season I expected him to get a win on the Zook. I still do. He bike still does not look "plush" enough to my untrained eye but does seem better than the first two rounds. So progress. 

KR isn’t the only one that I’ve seen ride tentatively around Barcia. The fact that this is occurring at this level tells me two things:

-How utterly worthless the sanctioning/governing bodies are (otherwise they’d have slapped Barcia hard enough that he knocked this crap off or went away).

and

-How much I miss the likes of Stanton and Bradshaw, who would have put a guy like Barcia into row 5 for his continued moronic behavior.

We’ve seen many riders be careful around Barcia, including top dog Tomac. Where’s the threads and comments about them being scared? 

Saying Roczen, or anyone else for that matter, is scared is just pathetic macho bullshit. These guys are trying to compete in a championship and wisely choose to be careful around someone they know won’t race them clean. They’re in it for the long run.

As for someone completely cleaning Barcia out, I doubt one of the top guys take that risk (maybe Anderson), it’s more likely to be someone with nothing to lose, like Bogle last year.