Ken Roczen claimed the MX2 World Championship on home soil on Sunday with a runner-up finish in the German-based Grand Prix of Europe.
The Red Bull Teka KTM star was victorious in the opening moto, beating Brit Tommy Searle by eight seconds with Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus third.
In the second run a scrappy Roczen could not better third, but with Searle passing Jeffrey Herlings the German was guaranteed the title with a round to spare. Searle meanwhile took the overall win, ahead of Roczen and Herlings. Tonus and Gautier Paulin rounded out the top five.
“It’s crazy, everybody saw that it was pretty emotional,” Roczen commented afterwards.
“The first thing I did when I got into my motorhome was start crying like a baby again. I did not feel the pressure that much, but it is always in your head that you can win the World Title, so this race in Gaildorf was different than all the other races,” he continued. “The last three laps have been provably the longest in my life, after the crash I was a little bit frustrated and I was so tired that I basically rode and rode and tried to keep the place that I had,” Roczen concluded.
MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 40:44.246; ; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:08.406; 3. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:13.049; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:23.816; 5. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:42.918; 6. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +1:00.372; 7. Michael Leib (USA, Husqvarna), +1:18.185; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +1:19.485; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:21.598; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:24.541;
MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 39:50.968; ; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:06.609; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), +0:11.837; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:14.615; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:21.711; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.374; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:47.970; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:16.055; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +1:26.252; 10. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +1:29.542;
MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 47 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 38 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 33 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 27 p.; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), 23 p.; 10. Antonio Jose Butron Oliva (ESP, KTM), 19 p.;
MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 635 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 585 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 526 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 458 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 391 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 369 p.; 7. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 295 p.; 8. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 287 p.; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 269 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 253 p.;
MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 686 points; 2. Kawasaki, 575 p.; 3. Yamaha, 525 p.; 4. Suzuki, 162 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 151 p.; 6. Honda, 144 p.; 7. TM, 7 p.;
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James Weeks
International
