Roczen Says He’s Ready To Go At Houston
Kit Palmer | February 12, 2011
German sensation Ken Roczen is making his Supercross (450cc) class debut today at the Houston Supercross at Reliant Stadium, round six of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, and the Red Bull KTM rider looks well prepared after the first practice session.Roczen has been competing in the West Supercross Lites Series and with this being the opening round for the East Lites riders, Roczen is using the opportunity to get in some time on the KTM 350 SX, which he is riding today.
Roczen says he’s feeling well in tune with the larger bike. “I feel great on it,” he said moments ago. “The 350 is a really good mix between the 250 and the 450, it’s not too much power but it has a lot of torque and stuff. The power is really good and it makes my style even smoother. And the handling, and turning, is really good. But, overall, there’s not a big difference [between the 250 and 350], actually.”The GP MX2 star says he’s anxious to go heads up against the “big boys” of Supercross.”Oh yeah, this is going to be sick,” he said. “It’s something very special, to race with all of the other guys.”Roczen added that he’s not putting a lot of pressure on himself to do well tonight and has moderate expectations.”I really just want to qualify and do my 20 laps,” he said. “That’s all I want. And, of course, I don’t want to get injured for sure. The race [results], I don’t really care, but we’ll see.”
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
