Ken Roczen Caps Series with Two Top-Five Moto Results at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The series Final of the 2025 SMX World Championship took over The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. The hybrid SX/MX track delivered tight Supercross-style sections that snaked over and around the dragstrip, as well as wide-open, high-speed sections of huge jumps and sweeping corners. The event, raced with the two-moto format of post-season racing, wrapped up the 31-round series with exciting action in Las Vegas.
Race Highlights:
Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki
450 Class
Ken Roczen moved up three positions to earn fourth place in the final SMX World Championship standings.
Twisted Tea Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance
450 Class
Kyle Chisholm showed great speed on the hardpack, hybrid track.
Ken Roczen (94) entered the post-season seeded in 11th position after sitting out most of the summer motocross season. Roczen had climbed to seventh in the standings heading into the Final, yet had to alter his race strategy in both Vegas motos. Legendary for his early-lap passes, Ken Roczen found himself running just outside the top five for most of the first moto. Roczen made his move late, advancing his Suzuki RM-Z450 into the top five with less than two minutes left on the race clock. In the second moto, Roczen crossed the holeshot stripe outside of the top ten. His early-race aggression only gained him a few positions. From there, Roczen put in a masterful ride to stay within striking distance of a top-five result. Roczen again made his push late in the final laps, crossing the season’s last checkered flag in fourth place. Roczen was strong, steady, and strategic throughout the post-season rounds, and stood in fourth place in the championship standings when the dust cleared on 2025.
“We had a pretty awesome day,” said Roczen. “We [earned] five and four [moto finishes] for fourth overall [tonight] and fourth in the championship as well; that was pretty much the best-case scenario we could have come out of here with, and that’s what we did. So, I’m pretty pumped. You know, you’ve got to put in some consistent rides before thinking about the next step, and I’m really happy and I think the team is happy. We’ve been tinkering with the bike all weekend just trying to improve [the settings] in little areas, and I’m really happy to finish [the season] off in fourth.”
Kyle Chisholm (11) wrapped up his full-time racing career with a small mistake that leaves some unfinished business for the fan-favorite rider.
Kyle Chisholm (11) posted fast lap times in qualifying that had him looking strong as he lined up for the daytime Wildcard Race. Without motocross season points, Chisholm was ranked into the unseeded rider group and thus needed to qualify at each post-season round. When the gate dropped, Chisholm got closed off by the pack funneling into the first corner. Chisholm was moving up rapidly but came into contact with another rider and crashed on the opening lap. Chisholm was not able to finish the race.
“The bike felt awesome, I felt good about it, and just needed to get into the main event,” stated Chisholm. “Unfortunately, another rider, just a racing incident, nothing on purpose, moved over a little bit in a rhythm… We came together. I didn’t have a bad crash, but I landed right on top of his bike and hurt my shoulder and my arm pretty good. The good news is that nothing’s broken, just bruised and beat up a little bit. I’ll be okay, it’s just a bummer to end the season that way and not be out there in the mains where I want to be… We’ll move on and try to get ready for World Supercross.”
“We had a really good day, a good weekend,” said Larry Brooks, Twisted Tea/H.E.P. Motorsports/Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance Team Manager. “The only downfall was the Kyle Chisholm crash in the Wildcard race… But Ken Roczen was a stud today. He rode really good. He pushed all the way through both motos, finishing fourth overall for the night and fourth overall in the championship. The whole team has worked our butts off this season, and actually pretty hard this weekend, and from the top to the bottom everyone did their job. So, we’re really excited; we’re going to work on a few things in the off-season, we know the direction we need to go to improve, and we’re going to come out guns ‘a blazin’ next year in the Supercross Championship.”
The Suzuki riders and team members wrap up a successful season that saw many highlights throughout the 2025 US racing series. From a second-place result at the Anaheim 1 Supercross to kick-off the year, to Ken Roczen’s first Daytona Supercross win, everyone on the team can reflect on a job well done. The Suzuki teams now look optimistically ahead toward the World Supercross Championship where Ken Roczen is a two-time champion.
Please visit SuzukiCycles.com/Racing/Motocross and HEPMotorsports.com for more team news.
