VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P55
F
or anyone to have accom-
plished what Ken Roczen ac-
complished in 2014 would
have put them in the running to be
named the Rider of the Year, but when
you consider all that Roczen had to
overcome to get where he is today, it
was almost a no-brainer. Roczen's story
is remarkable, and his road to the 2014
AMA 450cc National Motocross Cham-
pionship, in his rookie 450cc season,
was completely different from any of his
competitors'.
We'll start at the beginning.
CROSSING OCEANS
Unlike any of his 450cc competitors
in this year's outdoor-title chase, Ken
Roczen didn't grow up in the USA. He
just grew up dreaming of the USA. And
if you haven't lived it, it's hard to un-
derstand how big of a difference that
makes in a racer's life.
"When I was younger, all I watched
was American racing; especially Super-
cross," Roczen said. "For some reason,
it was always Supercross. Obviously,
it's something I'd never even seen be-
fore, 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."
He couldn't believe how big it all
was—how many people were involved,
how many racers, etc.
"It's so different, the tracks and ev-
erything," Roczen said. "It was just hard
for me to believe that I was going to be
there anytime soon. But then, next thing
I knew, I was already here! But I hadn't
even ridden really any Supercross rac-
es in Europe, besides Dortmund once,
and you can't really compare that. When
I came here the first year, it was in 2010.
I had just signed with KTM from Suzuki
over in Europe, and I hadn't even ridden
the KTM when I got here. I came here
and rode the KTM for the first time at
a Supercross track, and I didn't know
what I was doing. The suspension is so
stiff. And I'd never even ridden on such
big tracks before. And I came here in
mid-November, so I had a little over a
month to get ready [to race Anaheim 1
in 2011], so it was hectic. I winged it.
BY STEVE COX
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COX AND SIMON CUDBY/KTM IMAGES
K
R
Wunderkind
KEN ROCZEN:
2014 CYCLE NEWS RIDER OF THE YEAR—WHO ELSE?
