Ken Roczen is a German motocross racer who became the first German in four decades to win an MX championship when he won the 450MX crown in 2014. Roczen showed great promise immediately after moving to 450cc by winning his first race as a rookie in Anaheim. .
He defeated Ryan Dungey in the 2014 AMA Motocross Championship and, the following year, won the Monster Energy 450 class cup. Unfortunately, Ken suffered a series of injuries in 2017 and 2018 that derailed his career.
However, he came back to finish fourth in the Supercross Championship and second in the Motocross Championship. In 2020, he ranked third in the Supercross standings after taking four wins throughout the season. This piece will look at the personal life of Ken Roczen.
Ken proposed to his wife Courtney Savage while she was helping him recover from his first career-threatening injury.
In 2017, Ken was the favorite to win the AMA Supercross Championship after winning the first two races. However, Ken suffered a terrible accident in the third race that broke almost all the bones in his left forearm. Ken had a tough road ahead of him if he wanted to get back on his bike, but doctors warned him there was little chance he could resume competitive racing.
Ken and his then-girlfriend, Courtney Savage, decided to forget about motorsports altogether. They stopped talking about it, stopped watching races, and stopped following anyone associated with the sport. “The last thing you want to do with an injury like this is watch other guys win,” Ken said. ESPN.
Savage rarely left Ken’s bed while he recovered enough for the upcoming surgery. They played cards, informed their loved ones about Ken’s condition, and discussed their future together. Savage’s support during this difficult period convinced Ken that she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. On February 17, 2017, Ken proposed to the love of her life at a coffee shop.
“I knew for a while that we were going to be together for a long time,” Ken said. “All of this confirmed it to me and I wanted to propose to her in Vail. It is a positive place for us. I called his father from the hospital and got his blessing.”
Ken returned to the track after a year of recovery and showed that he had not lost his skill. However, he did not recover 100% and in February 2018 he suffered fractures in his right arm after another accident. He miraculously got back on track several months later and competed in the 2018 Motocross Championship.
In late 2018, Ken and Savage got married. He said Motocross Action Magazine that marriage wasn’t something he wanted to do until he met Courtney. “My parents weren’t married, and it was something I never really wanted to do, until I found Courtney,” she said. “Courtney was there when no one else was.”
Ken’s parents’ trailer home once caught fire while the family was traveling across Europe to support Ken’s career.
Ken was born on April 29, 1994 near Leipzig, Germany. His father, Heiko Klepka, was a cyclist who ran an amateur racing team, but didn’t make much money. Ken started riding at the local track when he was 3 years old and his talent showed early on.
Roczen started racing competitively soon after getting on the bike. Most of the time, he competed in the older age groups because he was too good for his peers. Ken’s parents didn’t want to waste his talent, so they traveled with him to competitions all over Europe.
The family’s motorhome took a lot of beatings as it traversed the continent. On a trip to Italy the old workhorse caught fire but kept going. Sponsors began pouring in when Ken was 9 years old and helped ease the burden on his parents. Ken’s father supported him during his youth, but they parted ways when Ken signed with RCH Suzuki. In an interview with Motocross Action MagazineKen explained the decision to separate from his father:
“I decided that we needed to separate for a while. I didn’t really see us moving forward and improving. We both needed to reset our lives, so that was it.”
Ken’s parents were devastated after he suffered his injury in 2017. His mother, Steffi Roczen, had never seen her son run because she couldn’t bear to see him crash. When she first saw him in the hospital bed looking frail, she Steffi burst into tears. “I gave him a hug and he didn’t want to let go of my arms,” she said. ESPN.
Ken was afraid that Heiko would blame him or his bike for the accident. However, he ended up having one of the best times with his dad because, for the first time in Ken’s life, they talked about something other than racing. ken said ESPN:
“With him and me, it was always about racing. That was the first time in my life that I was at home and could do more than work out and go to the track.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn