Ken Roczen, whose Supercross career was believed to be over after a devastating crash in 2017, was crowned the 450SX champion for the 2026 Supercross season in Salt Lake City.
Roczen’s victory on Saturday came after defeating second place overall points finisher Hunter Lawrence. The two were separated by only one point at the start of Round 17.
This marks the German’s first ever Supercross championship victory, highlighting his remarkable comeback from injury and silencing doubters who said he couldn’t finish the second half the season strong.
Initially, Lawrence and Cortez’s Eli Tomac were the dominant names at the top of the leader board, but over the course of the season, Roczen narrowed their lead.
Following his win, Roczen spoke of the importance of believing in a dream and never feeling like a dream couldn’t be accomplished due to age or circumstance.
In 2017, at the Round 3 race in Anaheim, Roczen suffered a devastating crash that included a compound fracture to his radius that required surgery, a dislocated wrist and dislocated elbow. At that time, many wondered if it would be a career-ending crash.
Despite the struggle, Roczen fought his way back to this championship victory.
At the start final round’s Main Event on Saturday, Lawrence took the hole shot, but Roczen moved to the inside and passed around the first turn. Lawrence stayed close behind in second, while Jorge Prado rode in third.
Commentators noted the race would be “the ride of his life” for both riders, as Roczen is known for being stronger in the first half of the race, while Lawrence is stronger in the second half.
While Lawrence worked to stay close to Roczen, Prado began drastically narrowing Lawrence’s lead. Lawrence briefly rode off the track, allowing Roczen to gain more of a lead and to put Prado within striking distance.
Lawrence soon crashed around a corner and dropped his bike as he tried to get going again, pushing him to seventh place.
“It’s over,” commentators said.
Toward the end of the race, Chase Sexton passed Prado for second, setting his sights on Roczen. He soon passed Roczen for the lead, followed by Justin Cooper, Prado and Cooper Webb.
Despite being passed by the four riders and placing fifth in the race, all Roczen had to do to clinch the championship title was finish ahead of Lawrence. Lawrence finished in seventh behind Justin Hill.
“He’s looking at the big picture,” commentators said of Roczen, who rode safely across the finish line to be named the 2026 overall champion.
As he finished, Roczen began to cry as his fellow racers crowded around to congratulate him.
“The dream became a reality,” commentators said as the crowd cheered for Roczen.
Prior to the Main Event in Heat 1, Sexton placed first, followed by Prado and Cooper. Heat 2 saw a crash from Tomac after he clocked the fastest lap in the qualifying round. He was unable to finish the race, with his team noting that forfeiting the race was a precautionary measure after the “heavy blow” to his hip and stomach in the crash.
“Shaking my head on yesterday’s crash, but what do you do, it’s Supercross and stuff happens … totally hammered my hip on my bike and footpeg,” Tomac said in an Instagram post. “Nothing broke, just muscle beat up and locked up again. Almost identical injury to Cleveland, but the opposite side. Quite the up and down season, but the highs were higher than the lows.”
Tomac placed fourth overall for the Supercross season and will return for outdoor Motocross this summer.
In that heat, Lawrence placed first, Justin Barcia second and Malcolm Stewart third.
The 2026 Motocross season will kick off on Saturday, May 30, at Fox Raceway in Pala, California.
| Rider | Team | Points |
| 1. Ken Roczen | Suzuki | 349 |
| 2. Hunter Lawrence | Honda | 346 |
| 3. Cooper Webb | Yamaha | 315 |
| 4. Eli Tomac | KTM | 275 |
| 5. Justin Cooper | Yamaha | 273 |
| 6. Chase Sexton | Kawasaki | 237 |
| 7. Malcolm Stewart | Husqvarna | 203 |
| 8. Joey Savatgy | Honda | 194 |
| 9. Jorge Prado | KTM | 189 |
| 10. Justin Hill | Team Tedder | 188 |
bduran@the-journal.com
