2020 Salt Lake City 5 Supercross Photo Gallery

2020 Salt Lake City 5 Supercross Recap

Ken Roczen's health struggles continue to plague him but, for one night, not even the shingles could keep him from crossing the checkers first.

Roczen had struggled with breathing issues throughout the prior four scheduled rounds of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross series at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. Often he'd lead, sometimes checking out, then a sudden fade mid-race. Last week he went public with a shingles diagnosis. He pushed that all aside on Sunday, he got around defending Champion Cooper Webb after three laps and won for the first time since Round 9 in Atlanta.

The win moved him back into second-place in the points standings, ahead of Webb, and back into contention for the title. But with two rounds remaining and a 24 point deficit to Eli Tomac he'll need more than two more wins to grab his first career 450 class Championship. Tomac, also looking for his first 450 class Supercross title, continued his season long consistency rounding out the podium in back-to-back races for his sixth straight podium. Webb has seven straight podiums and has placed first or second in the last five rounds.

In the 250 West class, a patient Austin Forkner tailed defending Champion Dylan Ferrandis for 14 laps before bumping him off the track for the lead and held on to win his second straight race and pull within seven points of the first-place Ferrandis. Rookie Jett Lawrence finished third to record his first career Supercross podium. Justin Cooper, who won the opening round at Anaheim 1 and followed with two second place results, remains a distant third in the standings but within striking distance at 17 points back from the top spot.

Gates drop for Salt Lake City 6 or Round 16 at 4 p.m. (PST) Wednesday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The 250 West class gets the week off and returns Sunday for the East/West Showdown when all gets settled for the 2020 season. The 250 East class returns for one more round before closing out the season. Tomac can wrap up the Championship tomorrow with a win. Watch it unfold live on NBC Sports Network or the Gold app.

Until then, check out all the action from Round 15 in Salt Lake City. Photos by Ryne Swanberg.