Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross

Kit Palmer | December 14, 2017

Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross – For the first time since suffering his arm injury nearly a year ago, Ken Roczen officially met with the press today at the factory Honda HRC Team test track in Corona, California, where Honda held a meet-and-great event with the media and its 450 factory race team—Ken Roczen and Cole Seely. The Honda-supported GEICO Honda 250 team was also on hand, with riders Jeremy Martin, Christian Craig, Cameron McAdoo, RJ Hampshire and Chase Sexton all in attendance.

Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross

But Roczen was the one who was in the spotlight, and for good reason. It’s been nearly a year since his ugly crash at Anaheim II that nearly cost him his left arm. Many people thought he’d never ride again, let alone race at championship level, but here he is!

Roczen says he’s looking forward to racing again at Anaheim I, and he looked good on the bike on the Honda test track today. He put in a number of laps at race speed, though it was difficult to gauge just how fast he was going with only one other 450 on the track to compare to, but there’s no denying that he looked fast and comfortable on the bike.

So, how is the arm? That was the question everyone wanted to know. “The arm feels pretty good,” Roczen said. “I go back and forth between soreness—like if I ride a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of push-ups on my arm and everything, and it will get sore every once in a while, but other than that—I have a lot of restrictions [with] movement [of the arm], but I’ve gotten used to it by now to where I don’t really think it bothers me too much riding. I should say, all in all, my arm will never be the same, but I’ve adjusted so well I can ride just like I rode before the crash, so I’m very fortunate to be in this position.

“I feel like that I heal pretty quick, even [my] doctor said that he’s never seen anybody heal [so fast] from and injury like that.”

Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross

Roczen says he feels confident that he’ll be able to win again. “The position we’re in right now, we have a good shot winning races and hopefully a championship towards the end, so for me going into Anaheim, I’m just going to enjoy myself. I’m so glad to be back in the spotlight with people and get to race again, because that’s what I miss the most.”

Considering how badly damaged the arm was, Roczen is super happy to be back on the bike again after a tough year of recuperating. “Being on the couch is the most miserable thing ever, especially for that long,” he said. “I’m getting paid but I’m not in use for anything; I’m trying everything, not bumming around, I’m trying everything I can to get this arm back going, but there was such a long healing process that I was just kind of waiting and waiting and I didn’t see anything getting better for a long time; it took a long time to get a little bit [better]. All in all, my arm feels pretty solid.”

But the arm, he admits, will never be like it was. “I’m very limited with the things I can do, like I can’t throw a ball—I’m a lefty—and things like that, but, hey, as long as it’s good enough for riding then I’m fine with it.”

Roczen has been training extra hard as of late, getting ready for the 2018 supercross season, and he feels that he’s made good progress.

“I had the best boot camp that I’ve ever had,” he said. “I feel super fit and strong.”

Roczen said that one of the biggest obstacles he had to overcome during his recuperation was getting his shoulder back into shape.

“My shoulder [got] super-weak having been in a sling for so long. That took a long time. I had huge problems with my shoulder for a long time. I still have pain once in a while, but the shoulder problem has been solved over the last couple of weeks.”

Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross

Since the crash, Roczen has endured 11 surgeries and more are the horizon—at least one more.

“[I have] another possible surgery…just to get some scar tissue removed, and getting the wrist to move a little bit more, but right now I’m happy where I’m at.”

Besides the injury, recently, Roczen has come under fire for what he posted on Instagram, responding to people’s expectations as to who is going to win the 2018 supercross title. Many assumed Roczen was talking about Marvin Musquin, who has been in the spotlight lately for winning so many races during the off-season, but Roczen flatly denied that his post was directed at any of his competitors. (The Instagram post read: kenroczen94 All this talk about who’s side the momentum is on and people pretending like it is all layed out since one rider won a lot the year before he will win the championship. This guy won monster cup…ohh momentum is on his side… he is going to win the championship… ITS BULLSHIT. Stop acting like it is always all layed out. 2018 is a new year. I have won monster cup before and didn’t get the SX championship either. It DOESNT MATTER WHO WINS 3 months before the season even starts. i have ridden for a few months now and i have trained frikken hard. I am going to come out swinging in 2018 like nothing ever happened. End of the story. Whether it’s a win at A1 or not. 17 races is the series.)

“It wasn’t toward Marvin,” Roczen said. “It was toward the people that think that whoever won six or eight months ago or whatever, it doesn’t matter. Things can turn around. I’ve won Monster Cup before, I was ready, I was fast, yeah, I won Anaheim but it didn’t work out for the championship. It was nothing against Marvin, nothing against Tomac—Marvin is going good, it looks like he is going really good right now, and he’s winning a lot, almost everything, so it’s going to be very tough, but I just disagree with fans that—I wouldn’t say don’t know anything—but they make assumptions; Tomac won 11 months ago during supercross, well, I don’t know, that doesn’t always mean he’s going to win the championship or anything like that. It was not against any other rider, no names were mentioned; if I had a problem with a rider, I would have mentioned their name, that is for sure.”

Ken Roczen Talks Injury And Supercross

As for the rest of the Honda riders, everyone we spoke to felt they are on the right track in their preparation for Anaheim I; training is going well and they are all looking forward to go racing again, especially young guns Cameron McAdoo and Chase Sexton of the GEICO Honda.

Honda announced that Martin, who is set to race the 250SX East Championship, will ride the first three rounds of the supercross series (which are in the West) in the 450SX class.