INTERVIEW
2014 CYCLE NEWS RIDER OF THE YEAR KEN ROCZEN
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I came here and I'd never been on a real
Supercross track—never even walked one—
and never really seen anybody really ride it
up close before. You know, when you watch
a lot you kind of see things. For me,
it was like closing my eyes, then
opening my eyes and I'm on
the track and you kind of
just go for it and try to
figure it out. That's what
it was. It was pretty in-
sane. I think I learned
pretty quick."
He did. At the first
few races in 2011,
16-year-old Roczen put in
good laptimes, but he had
considerable trouble putting
a whole race together. Roczen
achieved a podium at Anaheim 2 that
year before he went back to Europe to start
the MX2 World Championship. While in Eu-
rope, he missed the Seattle Super-
cross, and then returned to grab
second place at the penulti-
mate round in Salt Lake City.
A week later, he won his
first Supercross in Las Ve-
gas before heading back
to Europe to finish his
dominant performance in
his final MX2 World Cham-
pionship series.
Not only did Roczen have
to go back and forth across
the Atlantic to race, but he also
had to go from racing Supercross, to
racing outdoor motocross, then back to Su-
"I THINK IT WAS
JUST THE PERFECT TEAM
AND I HAD THE PERFECT
PEOPLE AROUND ME
TO START MY LIFE IN
THE U.S. IN THE MOST
COMFORTABLE WAY AND
THE BEST WAY."
