RCH Racing made an official announcement on Thursday regarding the future of Ken Roczen, a two-time winner this season and the former points leader in the 450SX Class. After being forced out of action a week ago in Daytona with a lingering ankle injury, it was revealed that Roczen will remain sidelined for the next month, missing races in Indianapolis, Detroit and St. Louis, and will plan to make his return in Houston on April 11.
The past few weeks have been rough on the sophomore German rider, beginning with a huge crash in practice during the championship's first of two visits to Atlanta. Roczen came up short on a jump and nearly went over the bars, but as he avoided catastrophe on the track he lost control of the bike and veered into the wall on the side of the stadium floor, making heavy contact and suffering the ankle injury that has bothered him ever since. That same night in Atlanta, Roczen had another big crash in the main event, finishing 18th.
The next weekend in Atlanta, Roczen re-aggravated the ankle in practice after planting his foot awkwardly, which ended his afternoon early. He raced that night and soldiered on to an eighth-place finish. This past weekend in Daytona, practice doomed him again, this time eliminating him from competition. Roczen was carried off by the Asterisk mobile medical crew and failed to log a single timed lap before retiring from action.
After meeting with doctors this week and consulting with his RCH Racing team owners Carey Hart and Ricky Carmichael, Roczen and the team made the tough decision to take some time off, effectively eliminating Roczen from championship contention.
"It's a tough decision but we can't afford not to take this seriously," explained Roczen, who was diagnosed with a partial ligament tear, high ankle sprain and deep bone bruise. "I had it looked at again this week and we all decided that the only way my ankle is going to heal properly is if I take some time off. There's a weekend off in between St. Louis and Houston so this will actually give me a month to recover. I'm really bummed because Daytona was the first race I missed in a long time. It'll be tough to be on the sidelines, but if I continue to ride and keep aggravating my ankle, it's not going to get any better. Unfortunately, it is what it is. For the next three races, I'll be resting and cheering for [teammate] Broc [Tickle]."
Roczen began the ultra-hyped 2015 Monster Energy Supercross season on a tear, winning two of the first three races, including the season opener in Anaheim. He gave RCH Racing its first taste of victory and vaulted the team into title contention. The German sat atop the championship standings and carried the red number plate for four races until a crash in Oakland and a 15th-place finish gave control to Ryan Dungey, Roczen's former Red Bull KTM teammate.
Since then, Roczen's season has been filled with ups and downs. Rather than risk further, potentially more serious injury, Roczen will take advantage of the rest and likely start to shift his focus towards defending his 450 Class title at the AMA Pro Motocross Championship this summer.
