Roczen to appear on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time!

Ken Roczen is one of the brightest off-road racing stars in the world. The 19 year old German won the 2011 MX2 FIM World Championship and wrapped up his first 250SX Supercross title in May.

The Red Bull KTM rider will have an interesting treat for his native fans this weekend by appearing in action at the Lausitzring for the German Grand Prix and the ninth round of the AMA MX series in the United States at the same time…sort of.

The thirteenth fixture of seventeen in the FIM Motocross World Championship will visit the Eurospeedway motorsport complex for the first time. Construction started on a fast and jumpy motocross layout late last week with over 1000 trucks transporting dirt onto the asphalt track and the placing the temporary MX course over Turn 1 and adjacent to the spectator banking. Where does Roczen fit in? Well ‘94’ is currently fighting Eli Tomac to land the AMA 250MX title but organisers at the Lausitzring and KTM have teamed up to offer a big screen TV and stream coverage of the American race from Millville direct to fans already camped at the circuit.

Only last year did Roczen travel back to Europe after his inaugural American season and scored a podium finish in the MX1 Grand Prix of Germany at Teutschenthal in a wild-card appearance. Due to the race clash this month Roczen cannot be present at his home event this time but the combination of the Lausitzring and KTM mean that his progress in looking to complete an unprecedented AMA double for his country can be keenly followed with the American series entering the crucial final stages.

Roczen – hailing from Mattstedt  – helped launch the Lausitzring project late last summer when it was announced at the 2012 Motocross of Nations. Talkessel in Teutschenthal has normally been the staple venue for the German round but its role as host of the biggest motocross race in the world – the Nations on September 29th – means Lausitzring was able to forge a new project.

There will be some curious reactions to the experiment that will see the MX track built and cleared away in less than two weeks. It will be the second meeting on the 2013 schedule to take place at a permanent road racing facility (the season opener occurred at Losail in Qatar) and the GP stars will be keen to see how the new dirt reacts to MX1, MX2 and European EMX125 action across the weekend.

The Eurospeedway at the Lausitzring is easy to get to and is located around 150km southeast of Berlin. Action starts on Saturday and more information can be found at: https://www.lausitzring.de/