To Hell & Back: Ken Roczen's Own Nightmare, Relived

It was 9:30 p.m. on a brisk January evening at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

- Mike Emery

The collective roar from the crowd erupted as the 30-second board went sideways and the revs increased for the gate drop of round three’s 450-class main event. Ken Roczen entered the race undefeated, but on lap 10 the unthinkable happened as America’s favorite German charged toward the front of the pack. The stadium gasped in horror as they watched Roczen get ejected from his Honda CRF450R and launched high into the air in what would be the costliest mistake of his young career. His year ended the instant he made impact, and the weeks that followed were suspenseful, to say the least. The severity of Roczen’s arm injury could have resulted in amputation, but thanks to the swift action taken by him and his team within the minutes, hours, days, and months that followed, his career hopes were saved as well as his ability to function—not just as an elite athlete but as a normal human being.

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned, it’s that Ken Roczen doesn’t accept defeat. He has spent the last eight months defining himself as a fighter. The German has overcome the odds no matter how badly stacked they are against him. This is Ken’s account of that life-changing night and of the recovery that’s followed. He’s already been to hell and back, and he’s just getting started.

THE LEAD-UP 

Roczen’s dominance during the summer of 2016 set the tone for what many predicted would be his most impressive year yet. After inking a multi-year contract to Team Honda HRC, he lined up for 2016 Monster Energy Cup with only a few days’ worth of testing on the new red bike and won two of the night’s three races with ease. Although the overall victory escaped him due a strange crash that sent him flying over the bars, he and his team weren’t fazed. The success of that night was just more proof that he was going to be a title favorite in 2017.