MOTOPINION: THE SUDDEN LOVE FOR ROZCEN AND DAVIES

Where Were You in May?

Turn on the radio in New Zealand this month and you’d think Ken Roczen and Cole Davies were old mates of the breakfast crew. Big intros, big laughs, big “how good is this for New Zealand” energy. Supercross is coming to Auckland, and suddenly every outlet in the country has a motorcycle expert on speed dial.

Here’s the thing. Roczen won the 2026 AMA Supercross 450SX title, capping a comeback from a career-threatening arm injury in 2017 that was totally insane. That’s nearly a decade of surgeries, setbacks and being written off. And Cole Davies, a Kiwi kid who is only 18, took the 250SX East championship and followed that up with the Outdoors title. A Kiwi winning the major AMA Supercross and motocross titles is a massive achievement.

And as you might have thought, I didn’t see anything from the radio shows, the websites or the news bulletins. It barely registered. Now that there are tickets to sell, these two are the headline act.

I’d bet most of the people interviewing them this week couldn’t tell you what a whoop section is, or what getting the holwshot is, let alone what it takes to win an AMA title. The questions give it away, in my opinion. They’re reading from the press release, hunting for a soundbite and a clip for socials. That’s not interest in the sport, that’s using two athletes as content because the event needs promotion and the algorithm is paying out.

And it’s not just these two. This country has produced riders like Hamish Macdonald, who racked up multiple Enduro World Championship titles. Rachael Archer is a US GNCC Champion. Courtney Duncan clinched consecutive FIM Women’s Motocross World Championships, and she got a smidgen of press - at least more than the others. Where were their morning radio slots? Where were the breakfast crews when they were doing the work? They did it without a stadium show or a ticketing partner to sell, so nobody called.

But annoyingly, here’s where I’m torn. Our sport needs this. Supercross is returning to New Zealand for the first time in a long time, and if packed stands and mainstream airtime bring in new fans, new sponsors and new kids on bikes, shit I’ll take it. I don’t want to be the guy who sneers at a rising tide. I just wish it wasn’t such a shallow one to begin with.

So here’s my challenge to the outlets. If you care about these riders, prove it past October 31. Cover the nationals. Cover the Kiwis racing overseas. Learn the names before the next big event, not after the press release. Make the first time you speak to a rider something other than the week it suits you.

And to everyone reading: go to Albany, make some noise, and support the riders who are racing. They earned it. They keep turning up for the sport, even when the cameras have gone back to dudes who need artificial balls to play their game.

End Rant.

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