INTERVIEW
P54
2014 450 NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPION KEN ROCZEN
BY SHAN MOORE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COX
D
espite already being an
MX2 World Champion,
Ken Roczen admitted
being a bit nervous going into
the Utah final despite holding a
comfortable 20-point lead over
his teammate Ryan Dungey for
the 450 AMA National title. But,
despite a couple of close calls
along the way, Roczen was able
to put those nerves in check and
come away with his first AMA Mo-
tocross Championship.
"This is special because it's
my first year on the 450, which
for most people that switch from
the 250, they don't have the best
first year, which made this that
much sweeter," said Roczen.
"My dream as a kid was to come
to America, and I think everyone's
dream over there is to come over
here. But it's very hard to do this,
and I got very lucky with KTM be-
cause they wanted to build over
here what they were building in
Europe. So I had the choice,
which is what everyone dreamed
of, I could come over here or stay
over there and I wanted to come
over here."
You wouldn't know from look-
ing at him now, but Roczen admit-
ted that things were not so easy
when he first got to America.
"I was 16 and I said, 'I'll do it',
and I came over here, but the rac-
ing was definitely much harder,
and I really didn't have any Super-
cross experience," said Roczen.
"Honestly, what was so weird,
was that on the starting line, even
the bikes smelled different to me,
and they were louder, so it was a
LIVING THE DREAM
Ken Roczen talks about his championship season
