German Ken Roczen had a great outing at only his second ride at the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations as of this year the 16 year old was the youngest rider to line up at the gate in the three races and even took the individual victory in the MX2 class.
This stunning performance adds to the records of the 16-year-old Wunderkind, currently the youngest ever Grand Prix winner following his maiden win in 2009.
Missing out the award last year as he was five months older than eventual Ricky Carmichael MXoN Award winner Jeffery Herlings, this year Roczen took the honours and did it in style.
Ending the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship with a bitter second to Marvin Musquin due in part to several mechanical failures, Roczen was determined to put on a great show at the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations and so he did.
Representing Germany in the MX2 class, the youngster almost won yesterday‰Ûªs qualifying heat losing a two way battle with American Champion Trey Canard. Though Roczen made up for that in today‰Ûªs races.
In race one he starred a strong recovery after yesterday‰Ûªs rival Canard crashed with Zac Osborne in front of him and blocked the way through turn one. Roczen moved from the tail of the group to an eventual sixth, even moving past fellow Suzuki rider and multiple World Champion Steve Ramon on the bigger450 machine.
In race two Roczen had ambitions of victory when he took the lead at lap two. Unfortunately the 16 year old could not resist 450cc mounted Ben Townley who was on the attack and demoted the young German down to second, he then dropped to third after Kyle Regal came through. The eventual third place of Roczen was Germany‰Ûªs best individual result of the whole day, helping the team to lead the classification after the second moto and to take an eventual podium.
In 2011 Roczen and his longtime sponsor Teka will both move to KTM and contest the World MX2 Championship with high ambitions.
"Today I rode two good races and felt awesome," Roczen said. "My start was not great in the first moto but my speed was OK and I felt that I rode well. Leading that second moto was something unreal and the whole experience is definitely a highlight. I'm really happy to have ridden for Germany and to be on the podium also to compete against some riders we have only seen on the TV!"
Main Photo: Roczen in action
Credit: Youthstream
