ONE PHOTO & ONE STORY: A SLIVER OF LIGHT

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OPOS 11.19.15By John Basher

It was a year that started out well for Ken Roczen. The new RCH Suzuki recruit stormed into Anaheim 1 and won the main event by four seconds. The German silenced those who harped on Kenny for leaving KTM for Suzuki. He followed up the win with another victory two rounds later. Roczen was leading the point standings and appeared to be in the driver’s seat for the 2015 AMA 450 Supercross Championship. Then Oakland happened. Ken cut inside a charging Chad Reed before a triple and didn’t have enough forward momentum, but he launched the jump anyway. He came up short and nearly knocked himself into oblivion. Down, but not out, Roczen came back to finish fourth at Anaheim 3. By that time Ryan Dungey was leading the points, but the series was still young.

By Arlington, Roczen was nine points adrift of the lead. Ryan Dungey had yet to assert his dominance. Opportunity was knocking. The idea of Kenny winning the title wasn’t out of the question, but he needed to catch fire and replicate his results from the opening rounds. However, Texas proved to be a turning point. Dungey grabbed the lead and never looked back in the main event. Roczen fought valiantly, closing the gap to three seconds at the checkered flag, but he slipped farther back in the points.

“THE SUN CREATED A BEAM OF LIGHT MIDWAY THROUGH THE WHOOPS. A SLIVER OF LIGHT ILLUMINATED THEIR RIDING GEAR AS THEY STREAKED THROUGH THE WALL OF BRIGHTNESS. ONCE PAST, THEY WOULD SEEMINGLY FADE INTO A BLACK ABYSS. FOR THAT REASON, THE PHOTO OF KEN ROCZEN ABOVE IS SYMBOLIC.”

AT&T Stadium, known as “The House that Jerry Built,” after Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones, is an engineering marvel. It’s easily one of the nicest stadiums in the country, if not the world. The central points of interest are the massive viewing screens mounted high above the stadium floor, which measure 160 feet wide by 72 feet tall. Everything about AT&T Stadium is first rate, including the huge windows at each end of the stadium. There’s also a retractable roof, although Feld Motor Sports decided to keep it closed for the race. That was too bad, because the winter sun in Texas would have cast warm light over the racers during afternoon practice. Fortunately, the 450 class took final practice as the sun dipped low enough to send rays through the stadium windows. The light moved quickly across the track while photographers scampered to shoot racers streaking through the yellowish glow.

Truth be told, I was shooting from a restricted location on the stadium floor. Tucked behind a pillar and hidden by an overhang, I snapped away as riders blitzed the whoops. The sun created a beam of light midway through the whoops. A sliver of light illuminated the racers’ gear as they streaked through the wall of brightness. Once past, they would seemingly fade into a black abyss. For that reason, the photo of Ken Roczen above is symbolic. That afternoon practice session was the last bright spot for Kenny in Supercross. He logged the fastest lap in timed practice that day, but he came up short that evening. The following weekend he crashed into a barricade during qualifying practice in Atlanta and didn’t recover for the rest of the Supercross series. Here’s hoping the sun shines longer on Ken Roczen in 2016.

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