Interview - Ken Roczen
By Steve Cox on 30th Dec 14
FROM a young age Ken Roczen has stood out as a motocross rider destined for greatness and by the age of 20 hed achieved it with a World MX2 title in 2011, an AMA SX title in 2013 and an AMA 450cc outdoor crown in 2014.
‘K-Roc' moved to the US full-time in 2012 with KTM and the following year won the 250cc West Coast SX title before moving up to the big-bike class for 2014.
At the end of the season he announced he was leaving KTM for the RCH Suzuki team.
We caught up with the German superstar at the Suzuki test track as he prepared for the start of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series.
TMX: When you were 12-years-old in Germany what was it like to look at the racing scene in the USA?
Ken Roczen: When I was younger all I watched was American racing, especially supercross. For some reason it was always supercross!
Obviously, it's something I'd never even seen before and everything just seemed so big.
The first time in my life – in 2008 I believe it was – I came to the USA and it was pretty insane to see how the whole dirt bike scene is here. Just the pits, everything.
It's so different, the tracks and everything. It was just hard to believe that I was going to be there anytime soon.
But then everything went by so quickly and next thing I knew I was already here.
But when I got here in 2010 – to prepare for the 2011 SX Lites West Coast series – I hadn't even ridden any supercross races in Europe, apart from Dortmund once and you can't really compare that.
I came here the first year and I hadn't even ridden KTMs and I'd never even ridden on such big tracks before.
I came mid-November so I had a little over a month to get ready, so it was hectic. I winged it. I came and I'd never been on a track, never walked a track, never really seen anybody really ride it before.
You know when you watch a lot you kind of see things. It was like closing my eyes, then opening my eyes and I'm on the track and you kind of go and try to figure it out. That's what it was. So it was pretty insane. I think I learned pretty quickly.
for the full interview and pictures see TMX issue 1952 (January 1,2015)
