Talented German teenager Ken Roczen admits that he was more nervous before his Monster Energy AMA Supercross debut in the 450 class than what he has been for any race in his career.

The 16-year-old finished an exceptional seventh aboard KTM’s 350SX-F in Houston last Saturday night, just his sixth Supercross race ever after contesting the opening West Coast Lites rounds of the year.

“I am so excited to finish inside the top 10 – I was more nervous than I had ever been going into this race,” Roczen said. “The guys in the SX class have been my heroes for a long time and it was pretty cool to get to race with them.

“I am very happy to have raced this event and hope to do a few more.”

Roczen scored the result despite injuring his heel in a heat race collision with Ivan Tedesco, managing to block out the pain in the 20-lap main event.

“I was not thinking very positive before the main event because my heel was still hurting me from the heat,” he added. “But it was not bad in the main and I forgot about the pain when I was riding.”

Houston marked Red Bull KTM’s best round of the year with Andrew Short taking fifth, Roczen seventh and Mike Alessi rounding out the top 10.