News 18 May 2011

Glen Helen victory like a home win for crowd favourite Roczen

German rising star Ken Roczen was a crowd favourite on his way to 1-1 results at Glen Helen on Sunday. Image: Hoppenworld.com.

German rising star Ken Roczen was a crowd favourite on his way to 1-1 results at Glen Helen on Sunday. Image: Hoppenworld.com.

Red Bull Teka KTM Factory rider Ken Roczen has said that he saw the Glen Helen United States Grand Prix as a home race for himself, after living in the U.S. for the better part of 2011.

The 17-year-old German rookie sensation has been a revelation in this years Western Region SX Lites series, showing incredible speed and finally putting it together at the final round in Las Vegas for a win.

Backing this up a week later with a win at the U.S. GP, he was understandably happy.

“I like to consider this as one of my home races now that I have been living in California the first half of the year. It feels great to get a win here for my European team but to also have my American team celebrate with me,” commented Roczen.

Roczen dominated the MX2 division at the Glen Helen Grand Prix event, winning his qualifying heat and both races. Despite some pressure from his fellow Ktm teammate Jeffrey Herlings, he was able to comfortably come away from the event with maximum points.

“I had some good fights with Jeffrey. I made some mistakes, which I am not very happy about but I like to ride in the mud,” said Roczen, referring to the wet first moto conditions.

“Here its kind of sandy and I knew Jeffrey was going to be fast but I won both motos and it was good.”

Watch for Roczen in the remainder of this year’s Motocross World Championship, set to switch to the AMA full time in 2012 with KTM.

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