How Ken Roczen Put Suzuki Back On The Map, And Will He Retire

BusinessSportsMoneyHow Ken Roczen Put Suzuki Back On The Map, And Will He RetireByMaury Brown,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Maury Brown is a national MLB, motorsports, and media reporterFollow AuthorMay 22, 2026, 07:00am EDTKen Roczen became the oldest rider to win the 450cc Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship. Feld EntertainmentIn one of the most dramatic finishes in Supercross history, Ken Roczen claimed his first 450cc title. How that came about will go down as legend in the history of the sport. With the glow still fresh the week after, in an exclusive with me for Forbes, I talked to Roczen, team owner Dustin Pipes, and Chris Wheeler, Motorsports Manager at Suzuki Motor USA, about the journey to the title, putting Suzuki back on the map, and whether “Kickstart Kenny” might be retiring.It might be easy to say the stars aligned for Roczen to claim the 450cc title. Race dirt bikes long enough, and a mistake here or there can derail a season for any rider. But the path for Roczen and former racer-turned-team owner Dustin Pipes and his Pipes Motorsports Group team is a profile in dogged determination, focus, and an embrace of the underdog for more than just the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. As is often the case, building toward a championship is years in the making.To place it in perspective, betting odds at the start of the season had Roczen at over +1000 to win the 450 title. That’s like the odds for the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series. Roczen signed with PMG in 2022 and re-upped ahead of the 2026 season. At age 32, he was well above where one would expect a title winner to be. Before 2026, there had never been a 30-something champion. For years, Roczen had been in the hunt early in a season, only to fade down the stretch. A crash in 2017 broke his arm so badly that he nearly lost it. Coming back physically and mentally, Roczen worked with Dustin Pipes with support from Suzuki t...