It’s a story worthy of a Hollywood movie: On May 9, 2026, Ken Roczen became the American Supercross Champion in the 450cc class. This title is considered the holy grail of dirt bike racing. The roots of Roczen’s professional career stretch back 20 years, when he became champion of the 85cc class in the ADAC MX Masters. His journey has been marked by highs and lows, seemingly insurmountable setbacks, and major obstacles. At one point, Roczen himself no longer believed he could ever win the title in the premier class—and yet he achieved it. Hardly any other motorsports athlete embodies such an inspiring story as Ken Roczen.

Ken Roczen was born on April 29, 1994, in the small Thuringian town of Mattstedt. He was recognized as an exceptional talent from an early age—and impressively lived up to the expectations that came with it. In 2011, he became the youngest motocross world champion of all time. Fifteen years later, he made history again by winning the AMA Supercross Championship: At age 32, he became not only the first German champion in the series but also the oldest titleholder in the championship’s history.

The Path to a Professional Career

At the tender age of three, Ken Roczen began competing in motocross. Coached by his father Heiko, Roczen drew attention to himself early on and stood out as a great talent. Sponsorship deals are usually signed for one or two years, but in Roczen’s case, the motorsports executives at Red Bull, Fox, and Suzuki Germany decided to jointly invest in his development over the long term. Wolfgang Thomas, then head of Fox Germany, recalls: “Dietmar Lacher had already told me about Kenny. Helmut Wahl from Red Bull Germany had also already identified him as a potential talent. Together, we then went to Bert Poensgen, the head of Suzuki Germany, to tell him about our idea for a joint long-term sponsorship. Bert was immediately open to it, and so we secured a partnership with each other for the coming years.”

This verbal “agreement” paved the way for a professional career. Added to this was the support of the ADAC Sports Foundation. Thanks to Poensgen’s network, Roczen received factory support from Suzuki before he even reached his teens and quickly made a name for himself on the international stage. At just twelve years old, he won the ADAC MX Junior Cup in 2006 and was named ADAC Junior Motor Sportsman of the Year. That same year, Roczen first encountered future American rivals such as Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, and Justin Barcia at the “Mini O’s” in Florida.

From Early Riser to World Champion

In 2007, Roczen made the switch to the big 250cc four-stroke machine and, after securing his first victories in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup, finished third in the championship, even though he still seemed physically very small for the bike. A brief return to the 85cc Suzuki ended with him winning the Junior World Championship. In 2008, at just 14 years old, he became the ADAC MX Youngster Cup champion.

Since the minimum age for the World Championship was 15, Roczen had to wait until his birthday before making his Grand Prix debut in Portugal in 2009 as the youngest GP starter in history. Just four races later, Roczen won his first Grand Prix at his home Grand Prix in Teutschenthal, becoming the youngest GP winner of all time. This record remains unbroken to this day. In the ADAC MX Masters, he competed on his 250cc Suzuki against larger-displacement motorcycles and became champion of the premier class for the first time after Kornel Nemeth was retroactively stripped of the title.

2010 was also marked by success, and Roczen finished as MX2 World Championship runner-up behind Marvin Musquin while simultaneously defending his title in the ADAC MX Masters—this time on his own merits.

In 2011, he joined the Red Bull KTM factory team—a move that marked his definitive international breakthrough. At the start of the year, Roczen competed for the first time in the AMA Supercross Lites Championship and celebrated his first professional victory on American soil in Las Vegas. In the World Championship, he dominated the MX2 class and capped it all off at his home Grand Prix in Gaildorf: the first German male motocross world champion in 43 years—and the youngest world champion of all time.

Full-time in the USA

At age 17, Roczen moved to the USA, where he joined the American Red Bull KTM factory team in 2012. He finished his first full Supercross season in the 250cc class as runner-up. At the end of the year, Roczen fulfilled another dream for German motocross fans: Together with Max Nagl and Marcus Schiffer, he won the title with the German national team at the Motocross of Nations in Lommel, Belgium. Roczen was also named ADAC Motorsporter of the Year.

In 2013, Roczen won the AMA Supercross Lites Championship on the West Coast and moved up to the 450cc class in 2014. In 2015, he returned to Suzuki to join the RCH Suzuki Team, with which he won the AMA Pro Motocross title in 2016 after a dominant season. He won nine of the twelve events and finished second in each of the remaining three.

The crash that made history

But the next phase of his career was overshadowed by serious setbacks. After moving to the Honda factory team, Roczen looked like a surefire AMA Supercross champion at the start of the 2017 season. But following a severe crash that resulted in multiple serious arm injuries, the question was suddenly no longer whether he would ever win races again—but whether his arm could be saved at all. What would have meant the end of a career for many became, for Roczen, the beginning of one of the most impressive comeback stories in the sport. Numerous surgeries and a long rehabilitation period followed. Roczen made an impressive return to racing in 2018. His positive attitude and unshakable will made him an inspiration within the motocross scene worldwide.

In the years that followed, Roczen remained competitive despite health setbacks. In 2020, he won an AMA Supercross race in St. Louis for the first time in three years, thereby answering the question many fans and insiders had been asking: whether he could ever win again. After a difficult 2022 season, he found himself without a contract. After numerous tests, he followed his gut and decided to make a fresh start with the private HEP Suzuki team—even though the bike was said to no longer be technically competitive.

Kickstart Kenny

Roczen’s gut feeling would prove to be right. In February 2023, “Kickstart Kenny” proved to himself and the world in Arlington that he can still win races in the world’s most prestigious Supercross series—even on a Suzuki. After a several-year hiatus, Roczen returned to the German MXoN team and triumphed at the Motocross of Nations in Ernée, France, by winning the MXGP individual rider classification.

Daniel Johannes of the Johannes-Bikes Suzuki Team, a longtime companion of Roczen’s, recalls: “I was very moved in Ernée and had told Ken that I’d asked his father beforehand whether Ken still had what it takes and the will to win again. Ken simply gave me a hug and said that he hadn’t been sure himself for a while.” Roczen and Suzuki proved: “Yes, we Ken!”

In 2024 and 2025, Roczen put in strong performances but failed to finish either season due to injury. Many had since written off the crowd favorite in the title race. To win the title, you have to finish the season…

The dream comes true

But in 2026, fans and competitors saw a Ken Roczen who seemed to have finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. “Of course, we all want to be champions, but I realized that I first had to overcome other hurdles,” Roczen explained. “At the season opener in Anaheim, I focused only on the first race weekend and not on the entire championship. First, I wanted to achieve smaller goals—a podium, a win, then another win—to prove to myself that I was capable of doing it before I focused on the championship.”

Even with a 31-point deficit at the midpoint of the season, Roczen remained calm. “I knew I had no more room for error or setbacks if I wanted to be in contention for the championship. And I wanted that!” He closed the gap step by step and took the championship lead with a victory in Philadelphia in the third-to-last race. With just a one-point lead over Hunter Lawrence, the finale in Salt Lake City turned into a nail-biter. Roczen took the lead as early as the second turn and fulfilled his long-awaited dream: winning the AMA Supercross Championship.

In doing so, he completed one of the greatest comeback stories in Supercross history. Roczen became the first German and only the second European champion in the series after France’s Jean-Michel Bayle in 1991. At the same time, he is the oldest titleholder of all time and the first Supercross champion on a Suzuki since Ryan Dungey in 2010. An interesting fact: Roczen has raced for Red Bull and worn Fox gear his entire career. And by achieving his greatest dream on a Suzuki, he has come full circle, closing the loop that once began with the “pact” between three men.

In an inspiring speech, Roczen said from the podium: “I, too, have doubts and worries that drain my energy. But that’s normal. I work on it every day and have never stopped believing in my dream. So if you have a dream and work hard for it, you, too, can achieve your goals.”