Is there a reason why KR94 couldn't stay with Genuine Honda Racing/Fire Power Honda Racing?

Just comes down to $$$

All things were pointing to him staying with the Firepower team until he humored the HEP team with one test ride and whatever he saw there he liked enough to go with them instead. Even knowing they would need to put in a lot of effort to get additional funding from Suzuki. 

I’m not so sure he would’ve been able to stay in Fox at Firepower and that is a sizable paycheck in itself. Perhaps it ultimately made him the most money, maybe he was tired of the Honda and actually did feel at home on the Suzuki. The “kid” is at the tail end of his career. If he can run up front on the bike and collect the fattest paycheck at HEP then that would seem to be the smartest career choice. 

Yes, because he signed a different contract. He liked the Suzuki good enough to go after some money. Nothing else.

Did he get more $ with Suzuki? I find it hard to believe. 

I think I heard on pulp (possibly) that Fox didn’t consider firepower as a factory team, so his contract with fox would have changed as well. They also couldn’t secure the bonus program and Suzuki was able to do that & fox considered them a factory team. 

Kenny wanted a kickstarter.   Real men use kickstarters.

Kenny found a team that was willing to disregard their title sponsor so he can keep his Red Bull deal, disregard their gear sponsor so he can keep his Fox deal, disregard their hard parts sponsor so he can use his preferred bars, disregard their suspension partner so he can use Factory Connection (same as his Fire Power Honda), and got a huge insurance company to foot the bill. He also brought Pro Circuit along with him.  Kinda hard to turn that deal down.

he bitched about the CRF, so he couldn't stay with a Honda bike.

I think the main reason he couldn't stay with them is because he chose to go to a new team.

Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh this morning. Almost spit my coffee out. 

It's a good question to ponder. He has had good but not great results on the Suzuki. If it is all about $, then that's enough of an answer. The triple crown shorter format races was where I was expecting at least 1 win from Kenny. Perhaps that is still ahead but he has been on the podium at A2 so that's a start. 

Why? 
 

“Don’t give two cents about his legacy”

kinda awkward, given his results are better on the Suzuki than he got on the factory Honda last year..

Maybe not great results by his standards but the 5-4-3-8-4 is a lot better than the 1-13-7-13-5 he got in the first 5 years last year.

The whoops in bercy are built completely differently than the ama . Is it really a fair comparison. I ve seen him crush whoops on the hep bike too . Imo his biggest problem( no matter what brand of bike )  is he likes softer suspension. Softer suspension doesn't work on whoops. I would bet my house if he raced his A1 hep bike he would of killed the whoops last round. The bike looked stiff at A1. But then he might not be as good everywhere else. His times were really good on half the track. He is obviously looking for a Inbetween .  Plus everyone keeps saying this is the most stacked season ever. Then roczen goes and gets 5th 2 x4th s a 3rd one bad race and  loads are saying it s not good . It's solid imo . 

Racing programs, market share between the brands; would be why I think Honda would've paid more. A prior post made most sense as to why he's able to choose whatever bike/program he's comfortable with. He could bring other sponsors with him. I'm pulling for the zuk personally to win a race this year. 

Wow, sounds wild when you consider all that. 

I think Kenny just wanted a clean and complete break from Honda.

So he beat Savatgy, Friese, and Brayton in WSX.  And he won against Eli in Paris.  Do you believe Eli was going all out at either of the races he did in the off season.  I doubt it.  He was there to get money and win if possible without getting hurt.  It wasn’t Eli going for a SX title effort.  Why do people always think they know better than the rider who is trying the bikes?  Ken’s results would not be any better on either of the Hondas.  Ken was podiuming at best no matter what he ride this year, unless there’s that one race where he holeshots and all the other top 5 guys are buried in the way back.  

pretty much thats the crux of it, but people want to see it as a anti-brand thing rather than real world facts...well said

Dead on.....and now blaming the bike that he got to choose everything on.  He is not using it as an excuse, but the interviews are all based around the bike.  The good news he does sound more positive than prior years.  I guess when you thank yourself on the podium you cannot really blame anything else.

Don’t forget he also wanted an outdoor contract. I don’t think Fire Power Team is running outdoors. 

Outdoor and SMX.  HEP basically can give him both.  It's an amazing deal IF he can win/podium consistently.

Use google translate to get the English version

https://www.speedweek.com/sxwm/news/204160/Warum-sich-Ken-Roczen-fuer-HEP-Suzuki-entschied.html

Outdoor and SMX are the same series.   If you meant WSX, Red Bud conflicts with a WSX round.

My bad, I meant WSX. He has the the option with HEP to do those as well.

His manager wanted a big $ contract and HRC offered him a performance based contract. HRC ended up paying Kenny 21 million for 20 main event wins over his 6 years. Not the ROI  that 21 million  Kenny or his manager must have not liked the offer.