Ken Rockzen had a real shot at winning points in the AMA Supercross 450SX championship and getting close to Cooper Webb, but the final few minutes of Race 15 in Atlanta seem to have decided the outcome of the 2021 championship …
Aaron Plessinger won the start and took control of the situation on the first lap, but soon Ken Roczen passed the opponent and tried to break away. He did it well for 8 laps. But on the whoops, Ken lost his rhythm, his bike sausage twice, and the third time he fell. The fall happened at a low speed, so Roczen immediately got up and went forward, but …
Cooper Webb hesitated a bit in turn 1 and finished 5th on the first lap, but Jason Anderson’s awkward fall, in which he took Dylan Ferrandis with him, opened the way for the KTM driver.
Webb soon took out Plessinger, on the 4th lap he was in 2nd position and rushed to catch up with Roczen. At that moment, Ken Roczen’s lead was more than 2 seconds. But the fall leveled the gap, because Webb just picked up speed – and slipped Honda! This happened 2 laps before the finish. At the last minute of the race, Ken again managed to get closer to the new leader, but 0.9 seconds was not enough to get the opponent.
The podium was closed by Eli Tomak, who passed Plessinger behind Webb in lap 10. Plessinger finished 4th and Justin Barsha finished TOP-5.
Another victory of Cooper Webb once again threw Roczen back in the general classification. If before the start of the race his lag was 13 points, now it has increased slightly again. Eli Tomak, however, finally said goodbye to the chances of defending the title in 2021: he is now 40 points behind Webb with 46 points remaining in the draw.
Now all the attention will be on the Webb-Roczen duel in two finals – at the Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on April 24 and May 1.