Two-time Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross champion Ken Roczen took to James Stewart’s Bubba’s World podcast on Thursday with some interesting news. The 28-year-old German was in a contract year with Honda HRC and had yet to sign anything with them for 2023. According to Roczen himself, he is now a free agent moving forward, as the offer he had on the table from Honda was pulled.
Roczen has been with Honda HRC since late 2016 when he made his debut with the team at the Monster Energy Cup. Over the past six years of racing with Honda, he has won several supercross and motocross races while finishing runner up in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross twice. Though he hasn’t quite been able to capture his former championship glory, Roczen has arguably been the face of American Honda for the six years he’s been with the team.
“So, I’m in a position right now… my future has always been kind of set in stone for a long time; months if not years in advance,” said Roczen on Episode 0.8 of Bubba’s World. “This last week, it’s a funky feeling but basically, I am a free agent at this point which is kind of crazy. I’ve never been in that position. But it was ultimately these races that I committed to, these overseas races, and it’s not three anymore, it’s two. I haven’t raced over in Europe in a long time, I’ve never been to Australia. For me, the decision to race those races was fairly easy. Especially this late in my career, it was the right time. It’s just been way too long and since this isn’t a full series yet, I had the opportunity to make that deal. Which was a shocker to me, Honda decided to pull the offer that they gave me a week or a couple of weeks ago, which by the way, was a great offer. I mean, if I wanted to go after the money, then that would have been the smart thing to do. But I have committed to these races, and I just didn’t feel comfortable at all to leave fans hanging.”
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