Roczen thrills bumper crowd at Mx of Nations

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Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2's Ken Roczen helped Team Germany to second position overall in qualification for the 64th Motocross of Nations in front of a packed crowd at Thunder Valley, Denver by taking second position in an exciting MX2 Heat race.

The sixteen year old duelled for the full 20 minute and 2 laps with AMA National 250 Champion Trey Canard and the 2010 MX2 World Championship runner-up almost snatched victory but lost the front end of his powerful RM-Z250 in a turn on the final circulation; gifting the chequered flag to the American.

High temperatures and relentless sunshine hammered the hilly and jumpy hard-pack track just outside of Denver, one mile above sea level and close to the famous Red Rocks amphitheatre. Roczen was the star performer for Suzuki in the first day of the prestigious and historical annual event that also saw team-mate Arnaud Tonus in action for Switzerland and Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1's Clement Desalle and Steve Ramon for Belgium. Each of the 30-entered countries were fielding their fastest three riders in three divisions; MX1, MX2 and MX Open (either 250cc or 450cc motorcycles).

Tonus faced an uphill task riding his RM-Z250 against the bigger bikes for Switzerland in the MX Open class but was consistently quick for seventh in the Heat race and posted the best finish for the Swiss select (who ranked 11th at the end of the day). Desalle finished fifth in the same outing that took place under a dipping sun but had to recover from a first-corner crash that left him near the rear of the pack. The 2010 world championship runner-up took the second best rank for Belgium, who were the fourth highest nation at the end of the afternoon. Ramon was sixth in the MX1 sprint that was the first race of the day and of the event. The Belgian suffered broken goggles on the opening lap and also still needs to refine the set-up of his factory RM-Z450WS.

Tomorrow will see three 30 minute and 2 lap motos in which the MX1 class will race with MX2, then MX2 with MX Open and then MX Open with MX1. The Nation with the lowest score (with 1st taking 1 point, 2nd 2 points and so on until the end of the classification for each race) will walk away with the Peter Chamberlain trophy.

Ken Roczen: It was a great race and I really enjoyed it. I could see some places in which I was a bit quicker than Trey but he was really fast and we kept together. You needed a good eye to find an overtaking chance. On that last lap I just came out of the rut and hit a bump and couldn't save the bike. It was a shame but I'm not disappointed; just really looking forward to tomorrow."

Clement Desalle: "I lost the rear wheel and spun round, Boog hit me and I went down. From there I just tried to recover some positions. It was weird with the sunshine; not easy to see the bumps and the shadows seemed to change every lap! We have a decent enough position for tomorrow."

Steve Ramon: "I like the track, there is a lot of grip and it is fun to ride. My speed was good but we need to change a setting on the bike to get a bit more power at this altitude. I also had a problem with my tear-offs on the second lap and the lens cracked on my goggles."