Ken Roczen to KTM

The online dirt bike community has been buzzing the last few days about Ken Roczen joining KTM. The 16-year-old German racer made quite an impression in 2010, finishing second in the MX2 World Championship behind his now KTM teammate, Marvin Musquin. Now, in 2011, he’s going track-side with the Orange bike, racing in the opening races of the AMA Supercross Lites West Coast competition and then heading back to Europe to compete in the MX2 World Championship. It’s going to be an interesting year in racing, and with Roczen on the KTM team it just got even more gripping as we await Anaheim 1.

Roczen, who burst onto the senior scene for several races in 2009 as soon as he passed the age limit, is expected to set the track on fire this year. In his first full season in the 2010 competition he sent out plenty of signals that he will be a force to be reckoned with. To further sharpen his already impressive skills, Ken has been in the USA training with the Orange line up under the guidance of Roger DeCoster. “The Man”, as DeCoster is affectionately known, a legend in the sport after a distinguished racing and management career, heads the new Red Bull KTM factory team that will contest the major US competitions.

Roczen’s Racing History

Ken first sat on an MX bike at just two-and-a-half years old and rode his first race at three. Born in 1994, he first entered the racing record book in Germany when he won the German Outdoor Junior competition in 2000 and 2001. He won the ADAC MX Junior Cup in 2006 and was second in the Junior Worlds in the same year. One year later he claimed the Junior World championship title and was firmly on the radar of the talent spotters for senior competition. “Kenny” as he is affectionately known at home in Germany went on to capture the Supercross title in Dortmund Germany in 2009 and earned the title of “Prince of Dortmund”. Even racing only part of the season because of the age limit restriction in 2009, he still finished in fifth place. Then in 2010, he turned up the gas to take 10 victories in the MX2 world championship to finish second behind Musquin in what was a closely fought battle right down to the final races.