![]() "It's like McGregor says, 'If you dedicate yourself to something, you can do it.' I want to be loved, to go further than anybody ever has. "I want to transcend the sport," Roczen says that day. To say he's confident heading into this season. ![]() He'd arrived at the stadium an hour earlier driving a cherry red Acura NSX supercar, a film crew in tow. Ripping a page from the self-promo manual of Irish MMA star Conor McGregor, Roczen is wearing a custom navy-and-red plaid suit, blue paisley tie, light blue dress shirt and a Breitling watch. To a man, they're dressed in the typical garb of an off-duty motocross pro: jeans, collared shirt littered with sponsor logos and a baseball cap fronted with an energy drink brand.Īnd then there's Roczen. The top riders in the 450 class - the big leagues of the sport - are seated at tables in Angel Stadium for their annual season-opening media conference in Anaheim, California. To understand where Roczen is today, it's vital to know where he was two years ago, on the first Thursday in January, two days before the start of the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. 5, Roczen will line up at the start once again to try and claim his first 450 Supercross crown. Besides, he knows the question on everyone's mind: Can Ken Roczen win again? He'd rather let his riding prove he's still the guy he was before two brutal crashes derailed his career. He's tired of talking about the past, tired of making promises he's not sure he can keep. When a guy in a USA beanie asks Roczen to autograph his program, he notes that Roczen uses his right hand, even though he's left-handed.Īs he signs, Roczen peppers his fans with rapid-fire questions that leave no time for their inquiries. When a man reaches for a handshake, he notices that Roczen instead throws an arm around his shoulder and pulls him in for a photo. ![]() He's aware that fans are watching him carefully, scanning his hands for any sign of weakness. Everything about his look is bright and pristine, precisely the image he wants to project.įor nearly an hour, Roczen smiles and signs everything from T-shirts to posters. ![]() His sunshine yellow Team Germany jacket extends past the wrists of new white gloves, leaving nothing exposed. He's dressed in crisp white motocross boots over black riding pants and a white-and-gray flat-brimmed Red Bull cap. has polished his German accent to a smooth SoCal timbre. "Let's get this party started!" Roczen says. "Toughest man in motocross!" another man yells from the back.Īfter making initial cut, Toni Breidinger hopes to give W Series a spinīrehanna Daniels goes over the wall and into NASCAR history books The neat line quickly dissolves into a chaotic cluster of outstretched cellphones. "He's back! Team Germany is in the house!" someone shouts as Roczen emerges from his RV and walks toward the mud-stained crowd, a white plastic chain separating scrum from star. What unites them is a desire to meet Roczen, one of the most charismatic and popular riders in the sport, and more importantly the opportunity to catch a glimpse of his hands. meeting: men and women wearing red, white and blue Team USA and Team France hoodies, kids waving German flags and a trio of men dressed in kangaroo onesies with the Australian flag sewn onto the pouches. Roczen's autograph line this October morning is a virtual U.N. It's opening day at the 72nd annual Motocross of Nations, a prestigious race known as the Olympics of motocross, and as the leaves on the eastern redbuds shift from the emerald of summer to the translucent gold of fall, race teams and fans from Austria to Venezuela overflow the hotels and campgrounds of tiny Buchanan, Michigan, turning it into the muddy center of the motocross world. Subscribe today!Īs the first drops of a three-day rain begin transforming the dirt at Michigan's RedBud Motocross facility into thick, gray slop, fans form a line outside Team Germany's red Honda rig to await the arrival of 24-year-old motocross star Ken Roczen. A version of this story appears in ESPN The Magazine's December/January issue.
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