Roc 'n roll

And what better way than with riding impressions of the 2011 Championship winning Red Bull Teka Factory KTMs of MX2 champ, teenager Ken Roczen and MX1 king Antonio Cairoli. 

 

Former British champ Paul Malin drew the plum job of giving the awesome factory bikes a gallop – starting this week with Ken Roczen's 250SX-F. 

 

Maler also got to try the similar steeds of Kenny's team mates' Jeffrey Herlings and Jeremy Van Horebeek.

 

Having ridden Marvin Musquin's title winning 2010 250SX-F machine twelve months earlier, I was interested to know how it stacked up against Ken Roczen's 2011 World Championship winning machine.

 

The main difference in terms of development was the use of the fuel injection system (EFi) that Roczen used last year. 

 

When this (EFi) was unveiled at the MXON in Colorado in the hands of Marvin Musquin, there seemed to be a lack of power compared to the factory bike fitted with the carburettor that he'd been using throughout the season.

 

And alarm bells started to ring at the prospect of KTM taking a backward step. 

 

However, as Dirk Gruebel – the technical guru at KTM for MX1/MX2 Factory Racing – said, the Nations always comes a little early and this was just sort of thrown in there.

 

Any problems experienced that day were more to do with there being a lack of testing time. 

 

And that was not something they struggled with in the off-season, as the stats will show. 

 

When Roczen and Herlings arrived at the first GP of 2011 in Bulgaria they seemed to be on a different planet to their rivals.

 

It looked like it would be a battle for the minor places for everyone else, which for the most part is exactly how the MX2 championship panned-out.

 

The result of all that testing meant the riders were armed with a stronger, punchier engine right off the bottom, with a good set of legs that pulled right the way through the rev range. 

FOR FULL FEATURE AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 16Pictures: KTM IMAGES/ RAY ARCHER

 

WITH the 2012 FIM World MX Championships due to kick-off in just a few short weeks, we thought we'd get into the swing of things early. 

 

And what better way than with riding impressions of the 2011 Championship winning Red Bull Teka Factory KTMs of MX2 champ, teenager Ken Roczen and MX1 king Antonio Cairoli. 

 

Former British champ Paul Malin drew the plum job of giving the awesome factory bikes a gallop – starting this week with Ken Roczen's 250SX-F. 

 

Maler also got to try the similar steeds of Kenny's team mates' Jeffrey Herlings and Jeremy Van Horebeek.

 

Having ridden Marvin Musquin's title winning 2010 250SX-F 

machine twelve months earlier, I was interested to know how it stacked up against Ken Roczen's 2011 World Championship 

winning machine.

 

The main difference in terms of development was the use of the fuel injection system (EFi) that Roczen used last year. 

 

When this (EFi) was unveiled at the MXON in Colorado in the hands of Marvin Musquin, there seemed to be a lack of power compared to the factory bike fitted with the carburettor that he'd been using throughout the season.

 

And alarm bells started to ring at the prospect of KTM taking a backward step. 

 

However, as Dirk Gruebel – the technical guru at KTM for MX1/MX2 Factory Racing – said, the Nations always comes a little early and this was just sort of thrown in there.

 

Any problems experienced that day were more to do with there being a lack of testing time. 

 

And that was not something they struggled with in the off-season, as the stats will show. 

 

When Roczen and Herlings arrived at the first GP of 2011 in Bulgaria they seemed to be on a different planet to their rivals.

 

It looked like it would be a battle for the minor places for everyone else, which for the most part is exactly how the MX2 championship panned-out.

 

The result of all that testing meant the riders were armed with a stronger, punchier engine right off the bottom, with a good set of legs that pulled right the way through the rev range. 

 

FOR FULL FEATURE AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 16