Broc Tickle Extends Contract with RCH Factory Racing
Broc Tickle – recently recovered from multiple injuries – has extended his contract with the RCH Factory Racing team. He will now pilot a Suzuki RM-Z450 alongside newly-signed teammate Ken Roczen, the 2014 AMA Motocross Champion.
Both Tickle and Roczen – a former Red Bull KTM pilot – will contest the 2015 AMA Monster Energy Supercross and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championships.
Tickle was strong in 2014 until he was sidelined due to a heavy crash at Toronto Supercross. During the wreck, the rider of Michigan broke his T-6 and T-7 vertebrae, along with factoring two rips and sustaining a collapsed lung.
RCH Factory Racing – owned by Carey Hart and Ricky Carmichael – says Tickle has fully recovered from his injuries, and the decision was easy to re-sign him.
“I’m really excited to be back with RCH for 2015. We’ve had an awesome two years together and for Carey and Ricky to bring me back after my injury really shows what kind of guys those two are. They stuck with me and kept a spot for me,” Tickle says.
“We were heading in the right direction until I got hurt in Toronto. I’m glad all that’s behind us and I feel great. I’ve been riding and getting ready for the Supercross season for the last month and I’m really pumped with the progress we’re making. All of the work the team has done building and testing with Ivan Tedesco over the summer has definitely paid off. The bike is amazing.
“I’m also really excited that Thor, Bell, X Brand and Sidi will be my personal sponsors for 2015,” continued Tickle. “Some of these are brands I’ve worked with in the past with great success and some are new to me. I’m looking forward to building strong relationships with all of them and having a breakout year with RCH Factory Racing.”
After winning the 2011 Supercross Lites West title for Monster Energy Pro Circuit, Tickle made the jump from the 250 to the team’s big bike the following season. A fifth-place finish in the final 2012 Supercross point standings and a ninth-place in the Outdoor-series netted-him a new opportunity for 2013 with RCH: The new combination proved to be a consistent mix for Tickle and RCH, with a solid first season paying-off in-the-form of eighth-place finishes in both Supercross and Motocross seasons, RCH Factory Racing says.
Last season, Tickle kick-started the 2014 campaign with back-to-back eighth-place finishes at Anaheim One and Phoenix before a pair of incidents in heat races at A2 and Oakland kept him from competing in each race’s 450 SX Main Events. From there, Tickle only finished outside the top-eight once over the next six stops, including a career-best fourth-place-showing at Daytona International Speedway before the injury in Toronto, RCH Factory Racing reports.
“I’m very excited to be bringing Broc back for a third year with the team,” explained Hart. “He was showing major gains each week last year leading up to the Toronto Supercross. We’re all looking forward to picking-up where we left off – and having a very successful year of Supercross and Motocross.”
RCH Factory Racing has seen steady progress since Hart and Carmichael formed a joint venture in 2013 and achieved the pairing’s first podium-finish in April of this year at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Always trendsetters in the paddock, RCH continues to show the way with unique marketing initiatives and partnership activations, consistently influencing the feel and dynamic of the pit area. Tickle’s No. 20 RM-Z450 will showcase sponsorship from Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort, Jimmy Johns, Dodge, Sycuan Casino, Bel Ray, Suzuki and Rockford Fosgate, RCH Factory Racing says.
“We’re glad to have Broc back with RCH for 2015,” said Carmichael. “We were really happy with the progress he was making last year. You could see his confidence building as he got better every week. We all know he got hurt in Toronto but, up until then, he put together some solid races and had the finishes to show for it. We’re looking forward to having him around this year so he can finish what he started last season. I know that’s at the forefront of Broc’s mind, as well.”