Vurbwes Chilidog
Photos: Octopi Media
Second place doesn’t always tell the truth. Sometimes it means you faded and sometimes it means you survived. And sometimes — like Anaheim 1 — it means you spent 20 minutes sitting right on the edge of stealing a win.
Ken Roczen started the 2026 Monster Energy SMX World Championship off perfectly, IMO, finishing only 1.470 second off of Eli Tomac, well ahead of the third place of Jorge Prado. It showed insane speed, the equal amount of stamina, and that two of the most experienced racers in the class still got what it takes to gap the field.
The Annoying Kind of Close (Literally One Second)
Roczen said it himself — and the stopwatch agrees.
“Eli and I, we were the entire Main Event… bouncing between one second,” Roczen said. “I would gain him a little bit and then he would make it back.”
Roczen averaged a 1:06.92 pace. For reference, Tomac averaged 1:06.97.
From laps 2 through 10, Roczen repeatedly matched or bettered Tomac’s lap times:
- Roczen ran multiple 1:05.3–1:05.8 laps
- Tomac answered with low-1:06s
The gap never ballooned because Roczen’s sector timing stayed extremely stable, especially:
- S2 (consistently ~5.05–5.15)
- S4 (hovering around ~6.05–6.20)
“I would gain him a little bit and then he would make it back.” Yep, checks out.
Closing Laps: Yes — This Is When He Was Closest
Roczen claimed the end of the race was his strongest moment:
“Towards the end, that was the closest that I’ve been the entire main event.”
That checks out.
From laps 15–18, Roczen locked into a narrow band from 1:07.17-1:07.37 lap times while Tomac, over those same laps, 1:07.29-1:07.47. Roczen was actually slightly more consistent, and faster late in the race. Add in Roczen’s body english, and it visually looked like he was closing the gap hard. But not quite enough.
Where the Race Was Lost
“I kind of struggled on the whoops,” Kenny stated.
That shows up clearly in the data:
- Roczen’s S6 times fluctuate more than Tomac’s
- When Roczen missed the triple out, Tomac gained tenths every lap
- When Roczen nailed it, the gap stabilized immediately
Tomac’s S6 and S7 were repeatable and Roczen’s were fast or costly — nothing in between.
That’s the race.
No Need to Panic
The most important stat isn’t lap time — it’s restraint. It’s only Anaheim 1 after all. His full-race standard deviation was only ±0.69 seconds
“You couldn’t override the track,” Roczen said. “There’s a very fine line.”
He stayed on the right side of it. Again… only A1.
Vintage Power
It’s 2026. Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen are still doing this.
“We’re ancient. Vintage,” Roczen joked.
Fine. Call it vintage. But when two “vintage” riders are averaging sub-1:07 pace for 20 minutes, with less than a second of deviation, that’s proving an exceptional amount of relevance. Let’s see if these two old dogs can keep it going.
Eli Tomac won this race with control and Ken Roczen made sure it stayed uncomfortable until the end.
