Tickle, RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing Ninth in St. Louis - Speedway Digest

For the most part, peaks and valleys or highs and lows are a way of life when your office is a Monster Energy Supercross race and your counterparts are the best riders and support personnel in the world.

At its peak, the 2015 season represented victory and consistency for RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing. Ken Roczen, rider of the team’s No. 94 Suzuki RM-Z450, opened the year with a win, a runner-up finish and another win. Roczen’s RCH teammate Broc Tickle kick- started 2015 with an eighth and a 12th at Anaheim and Phoenix but turned the corner back in Anaheim with a top five in Round 3.

Unfortunately, the valley began at Round 4 and spanned the next nine races. Tickle came up short on the business end of a triple in Oakland that sidelined him for the next race in Anaheim.

Roczen had his own trouble in Oakland but would ultimately need to take some time off, starting with Daytona, to recover from the ankle injury he originally sustained at the series’ first stop in Atlanta.

Since then, podiums have been in short supply and victories even more elusive. While Tickle has put together an impressive string of eight consecutive top-10 finishes, including a ninth-place effort Saturday night in St. Louis, the Holly, Mich., rider knows expectations are much higher.

“I’m frustrated,” explained Tickle who moved up to ninth in points after Round 13. “I feel like I’m trying so hard to be better and get better but we’re still struggling. The weekend off will be good. I’m not happy about the main event in St. Louis at all. I had a good start but I still finished ninth. I just didn’t have it in me, I guess. Maybe we’ll change it up a little bit over the next couple weeks and go ride outdoors for a couple of days. Just do something different and then come back to Houston. We’ve only got four more races so the Supercross season is coming to an end really quickly. I’m still thriving off trying to podium this season. Even though I’m frustrated, I’m not giving up on it. I’m looking forward to taking a couple of days off for myself and spending some time with my wife. After that, I’ll get back after it and be ready for Houston.”

Despite the collective disappointment, RCH Director of Competition Mark Johnson knows the team’s potential and is eager to utilize the break in the schedule to get the organization pointed back in the right direction.

“I know our team is better than what we’re producing right now and we’ve got some work to do,” commented Johnson following the St. Louis Supercross. “I hope by the time Houston rolls around, we’ve found our way again.”

Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, will take a one-week hiatus before returning to action at NRG Stadium in Houston. Round 14 of the 2015 Supercross Championship will be televised live on Fox Sports 2 Saturday, April 11 beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 5 p.m. Pacific.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.